§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new classes of environmental information held by his Department were made available to the public between July 1992 and July 1993; what new rights to participate in the decision-making process on environmental issues were extended by his Department to the public in this period; and what new rights to seek remedies in the event of breach of environmental laws or failure to provide environmental services were introduced by his Department for the public.
§ Mr. AtkinsSince December 1992 the public have had statutory rights of access to all classes of environmental information subject to safeguards on confidentiality. In addition, a comprehensive system of public registers was already in place to enable the public to inspect information relating to the work of the pollution control authories. The environmental information regulations introduced the right of appeal to the courts for failure to release environmental information and the White Paper "Open Government"—Cm 2290—announced that the Government are consider-ing whether an independent tribunal should be established to hear disputes.