§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a list of the titles of each report made to his Department by Shell UK about options for the future of the Brent Spar, the name of the person or organisation responsible for the report and the date on which they were written; and if he will place copies of each report in the Library. [31022]
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 26 June 1995]: Copies of the Brent Spar best practicable environmental option assessment and impact hypothesis produced by Rudall Blanchard Associates Limited dated December 1994 were sent to the Oslo and Paris Commission on 16 February 1995, and are in the public domain. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House. The supporting studies submitted by Shell to my Department were as follows:
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Study Date A General arrangement of Spar December 1994 B Inventory March 1993 C Decommissioning and Abandonment Screening Study for the Brent Spar Facility/McDermott Engineering Europe April 1993 D Likelihood and Extent of Contamination by Low Specific Activity Scale, Sand and Sludges within the Oil Storage Tanks and Associated Systems on the Brent Spar Loading Facility/ICI Tracerco May 1995 E Brent Spar Abandonment Assessment of items and Materials for Retention Metocean April 1994 F Brent Spar, Onshore Disposal Feasibility Study/McDermott Engineering Europe April 1993 G Brent Spar Removal and Dumping Global Maritime April 1993 H Environmental Impacts of Two Disposal Options for the Brent Spar Buoy/AURIS Environmental May 1994 I Safety Assessment of the Removal and Disposal of Brent Spar/Aberdeen University Engineering Services May 1994 J Brent Spar Scraping Study Heerema Engineering Services (UK) May 1994
Study Date K Evaluation of Environmental Aspects of the Deep Water Disposal Option/Metocean April 1993 L Brent Spar Radiological Impact Study ICI Tracerco May 1994 M Best Practicable Environmental Option Preliminary Evaluation Report/Metocean June 1994 N Scope of Work for Deep Sea Surveys of Potential Disposal Sites/Shell Export/SOAFD June 1994 I am considering, in consultation with Shell and the companies responsible for the supporting studies, whether they may also in due course be placed in the Library of the House. Such consideration will need to take account of commercial confidentiality and intellectual property rights.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will list, for the period January 1991 to June 1995, all meetings held and all correspondence or other documentation received or sent between Ministers or officials in his Department and Ministers or other representatives of other foreign Governments in which options for the future of the Brent Spar installation were mentioned, giving for each separate meeting or documentation(a) the date on which the meeting was held, the correspondence or documentation received or correspondence or documentation sent. (b) a full list of attendees at each meeting or authors and recipients of the correspondence or documentation and (c) the topics discussed at the meeting or title and nature of the correspondence or documentation; and if he will place each piece of correspondence or documentation in the Library, [31010]
(2) if he will publish a list for the period January 1991 to June 1995 of all meetings held and all correspondence or other documentation received or sent between Ministers or officials in his Department with any of the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies or any of its subsidiaries including the Shell petroleum Co. Ltd UK, in which options for the future of Brent Spar installation were mentioned, giving for each separate meeting or documentation (a) the date on which the meeting was held, the correspondence or documentation received or correspondence or documentation sent, (b) a full list of attendees at each meeting or authors and recipients of the correspondence or documentation and (c) the topics discussed at the meeting or title and the nature of the correspondence or documentation; and if he will place copies of each piece of correspondence or documentation in the Library. [31001]
(3) if he will list, for the period January 1991 to June 1995 all meetings held and all correspondence or other documentation received or sent between Ministers or officials in his Department and Ministers or officials in other Government Departments in which options for the future of the Brent Spar installation were mentioned, giving for each separate meeting or documentation (a) the date on which the meeting was held, the correspondence or 154W documentation received or correspondence or documentation sent, (b) a full list of attendees of each meeting or authors and recipients of the correspondence or documentation, and (c) the topics discussed at the meeting or title and nature of correspondence or documentation; and if he will place copies of each piece of correspondence or documentation in the Library. [31011]
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answers 26 June 1995]: It is my intention to make available in the Library of the House as soon as possible an appropriate set of documents relating to the Brent Spar in accordance with the code of practice on access to government information.
§ Ms Roseanna CunninghamTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) which of the reports referred to his Department by Shell dealt specifically with the option of onshore decommissioning; and if he will make a statement, [31252]
(2) if he will list each report made available to him by Shell on which the decision was based to dispose of the Brent Spar by dumping if offshore; which of these were passed to his Department for inspection (a) in their entirety or (b) in summary form; and if he will place copies in the Library. [31253]
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answers 28 June 1995]: The reports submitted by Shell to my Department are listed in the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) today. The reports were submitted in their entirety. Two dealt specifically with onshore disposal: "Brent Spar Onshore Disposal Feasibility Study" by McDermott Engineering (Europe) Ltd, and "Brent Spar Scrapping Study" by Heerema Engineering Services (UK) Limited.