HC Deb 11 November 1991 vol 198 cc393-4W
Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of occasions on which the one-hour and the eight-hour World Health Organisation guideline values for ozone were exceeded at each Warren Spring Laboratory monitoring site in the last year for which data are available.

Mr. Baldry

The number of days during which the one hour (76ppb) and the eight hour (50ppb) World Health Organisation guideline values for ozone were exceeded at the Department of the Environment's monitoring sites in 1991 are as follows:

WHO guideline exceedences, days
1-hour 8-hour
Stevenage, Herts 5 7
Sibton, Suffolk 3 19
Bridge place, London 0 0
Aston hill, Wales 1 15
Lullington heath, Sussex 7 24
Strath Vaich, Highlands 0 20
High Muffles, Yorkshire 4 23
Lough Navar, NI 4 8
Yarner Wood, Devon 14 33
Ladybower, Derbyshire 6 14
Harwell, Oxfordshire 13 20
Bottesford, Notts 2 11
Eskdalemuir, Dumfries 1 12
Great Dun Fell, Cumbria 6 19
Wharleycroft, Cumbria 4 26
Glazebury, Iancs 2 5
Bush, Midlothian 1 1

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will review the air quality bulletin system to ensure that appropriate information and advice is provided to the public during eight-hour sustained pollution episodes.

Mr. Baldry

The advice currently issued during ozone episodes follows recommendations in a report by the Chief Medical Officer's advisory group on the medical aspects of air pollution episodes, published in May this year. In accordance with the group's recommendations, it is issued when hourly mean ozone concentrations exceed, or are expected to exceed 100 parts per billion. We see no reason at present to alter this practice, but the arrangements will be kept under review.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the United Kingdom-wide newspapers, radio and television stations which have agreed to print or broadcast his Department's advice on what to do if air quality becomes poor.

Mr. Baldry

Advice on what to if air quality becomes poor is obtained from the telephone information system and from general practitioners.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the United Kingdom-wide newspapers, radio stations and television stations which agreed to print or broadcast air quality bulletins on a regular basis.

Mr. Baldry

Air quality bulletin information is currently available on a daily basis on page 583 of Ceefax and in theGuardian and the (London) Evening Standard. Weather forecasts on BBC and ITV report episodes and forecasts of poor air quality. The air quality bulletins are provided free of charge to all radio and television stations and newspapers that take the weather information provided by the Meteorological Office.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to assess the effectiveness of the air quality bulletin system in its first year of operation.

Mr. Baldry

My Department assesses continuously the effectiveness of the bulletin system. It has been extended, improved and made more accessible in a number of ways since its introduction in October 1990. The media are making increasing use of it.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the weekly average number of calls received by his Department's air quality call line(a) in total and (b) seeking advice on what action to take if air quality becomes poor.

Mr. Baldry

The weekly average number of calls received on the Department's air quality call line during October 1991 was about three and on the air quality advice line, 32 over the same four week period.

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