§ Mr. CabornTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress his Department has made in its inquiry into(a) the cause of the explosion at Castle Peak B power station in Hong Kong in 1992 and (b) the safety of similar power stations in the United Kingdom. [983]
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§ Mr. Page[holding answer 29 October 1996]: The safety of power stations in Hong Kong is a matter for the Hong Kong Government. However, I understand that a police inquiry being conducted in Hong Kong has not yet reached any conclusions and in view of this we cannot tell whether it may have any relevance to the question of safety at power stations.
The Health and Safety Executive consulted the electricity industry through the Electricity Association's generation safety managers group and asked what action had been taken to avoid a possible read across of the Castle Peak incident to UK power stations. A reply was received from the Electricity Association which detailed the action taken by the five companies that had or operated hydrogen generating plant. I understand that either the design and/or the operation of the plants are different from that at Castle Peak, or that any necessary modifications have been made.
§ Mr. CabornTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many power stations in the United Kingdom are equipped with hydrogen plants similar to the Hong Kong Castle Peak B plant which exploded; and what steps have been taken to warn them of the possibility of a similar occurrence here. [985]
§ Mr. Page[holding answer 29 October 1996]: Five electricity companies operate hydrogen plants in the United Kingdom. The detailed design of the plants is different to that at Castle Peak. While some plant similar to that used at Castle Peak is installed in one United Kingdom power station, detailed consideration of that plant's design by the utility and the manufacturer following the accident confirmed that the plant's design was such not to make it susceptible to the type of incident which occurred at Castle Peak.
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LA Rent arrears1 at end March 1995 LA vacants2 at 1 April 1995 Amount (£000) Percentage of rent roll Number Percentage of dwellings Council Tax arrears3 (£000) Community charge arrears (£000) Barking and Dagenham 942 2.0 427 1.6 1,440 1,558 Barnet 1,401 3.8 124 0.9 6,678 10,281 Bexley 505 2.5 139 1.6 1,679 2,644 Brent 13,750 29.3 301 1.8 8,892 26,035 Bromley 0 0.0 5 6.3 1,963 1,944 Camden 8,986 10.7 543 1.8 12,379 22,095 City of London 256 4.2 24 1.1 n/a n/a Croydon 2,208 4.7 265 1.6 5,392 4,246 Ealing 10,809 19.1 210 1.3 n/a n/a Enfield 4,037 9.9 342 2.2 8,815 8,396 Greenwich 14,984 19.6 795 2.5 6,494 9,737 Hackney 32,675 31.6 3,894 9.8 4,588 10,470 Hammersmith and Fulham 6,553 15.1 343 2.1 6,752 7,186 Haringey 20,318 33.4 303 1.5 n/a n/a Harrow 793 3.6 108 1.6 3,595 4,787 Havering 561 2.2 219 1.6 1,506 3,628 Hillingdon 933 2.2 159 1.2 4,857 6,586 Hounslow 2,483 7.1 333 2.0 4,087 15,618 Islington 16,072 16 1,483 4.0 n/a n/a Kensington and Chelsea 2,351 9.4 108 1.4 4,672 5,083 Kingston upon Thames 507 3.0 97 1.7 n/a n/a Lambeth 19,491 19.8 2,176 5.1 40,172 75,423 Lewisham 7,482 9.3 1,051 3.0 n/a n/a Merton 1,168 4.5 89 0.9 3,211 4,238 Newham 7,886 13.6 735 2.8 12,052 24,397 Redbridge 1,142 5 515 7.6 n/a n/a Richmond upon Thames 1,062 5.5 246 3.2 1,887 4,056 Southwark 26,160 20.8 1,129 2.1 10,811 25,290
§ Mr. CabornTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what account his Department's inquiry into the cause of the explosion at Castle Peak B power station in Hong Kong in 1992 has taken of(a) reports by the Hong Kong Governor's board of inquiry and (b) the investigation by the Hong Kong police into a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. [984]
§ Mr. Page[holding answer 29 October 1996]: Investigations by the Hong Kong police are matters for the Hong Kong Government.
Following a request by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Health and Safety Executive consulted the electricity industry through the Electricity Association's generation safety managers group on what action had been taken to avoid a possible read across of the Castle Peak incident to United Kingdom power stations. This included forwarding to the association a copy of the technical report by the China Light and Power Company which had been prepared on the recommendation of the coroner who investigated the cause of the explosion at Castle Peak B power station.