§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the location and owner or operator of each clinical waste incinerator in the Argyll and Clyde652W of State for Health in her answer to the hon. Member for Knowsley, North (Mr. Howarth) of 30 March, Official Report, columns 887–90.
§ Mr. StewartInformation on the numbers of discharges, by health board of treatment, with a principal diagnosis of asthma is shown in the table for calendar years 1979–1992.
health board area; whether these clinical waste incinerators comply fully with current pollution control legislation; whether they are likely to comply with any known new standards; when the most recent report on the operation of these incinerators were submitted to him; and what action he has found it necessary to take.
§ Mr. StewartThe NHS in the Argyll and Clyde health board area owns and operates clinical waste incinerators at the Royal Alexandra hospital and Inverclyde Royal hospital. The plant at both hospitals meets current statutory requirements but will not comply with the statutes which come into force in October 1995.
Whilst there have been operational difficulties from time to time with the incinerators, I understand that currently the equipment is performing to specification.
A small amount of clinical waste is also burned at the Linwood municipal incinerator installation mainly as a back-up to the local NHS incinerators. This plant meets the present statutory requirements and is, I understand, scheduled to be closed by the end of this year.