§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he has received from the Norwegian Meteorological Office as to the estimate produced by the photochemical model for Europe with regard to the likely effects upon levels of ozone in the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom policy for reducing oxides of nitrogen. [35086]
§ Mr. ClappisonAs part of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme's work programme within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on Transboundary Air Pollution—UNECE-LRTAP—a photochemical model has been developed and is used as an aid policy dvelopment. Preliminary results show that ozone in the UK is indeed a transboundary problem and that the UK receives significant amounts of ozone from other European countries. As the UK reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides, levels of ozone may rise and then decline as further reductions in nitrogen oxide emissions are made. Because of the complesities associated with the formation of ground level ozone in Europe, the EMEP results will be developed and considered more fully within the UNECE with the aim of developing a European-wide strategy for ozone reduction.