§ Dr. WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department publish(a) annual reports, (b) annual accounts, (c) the minutes of meetings, (d) the agendas of meetings and (e) a register of members' interests, indicating in each case if this is (i) under a statutory requirement or (ii) voluntary. [16821]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordDetails of the executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department are listed in the Cabinet Office publication"Public Bodies 1995". A copy is available in the House of Commons Library.
I refer the hon. Member to my answer to him on Tuesday 25 April 1995,Official Report, column 474. The information contained in that answer—No. 20496—remains correct with the following exceptions: Letchworth Garden city corporation ceased to be a public body on 30 September 1995 and Leeds development corporation has been wound up. The registers of 455W members' interests of the British Board of Agreement and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee are now voluntarily available for public inspection.
Two new executive NDPBs have been established since April 1995, the Local Government Residuary Body and the Environment Agency, and my Department has taken on responsibility for the Health and Safety Commission and Executive. The new bodies and the Health and Safety Commission and Executive are statutorily required to publish annual reports and accounts. None of the new bodies publishes agendas or minutes of meetings. The Environment Agency will, like the National Rivers Authority, be under a statutory requirement to make agendas and minutes of the regional committees available to the public.