§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on viral monitoring of sea water in respect of bathing water quality; and what are(a) the testing frequency requirements, (b) the types of viruses tested for and (c) the arrangements for publication of results. [2849]
§ Angela EagleMy Department's policy is governed by the EC Directive on the quality of bathing water. As stated in the Commission's Report on the quality of bathing water for the 1996 bathing season published last month,472W the United Kingdom is the only Member State to have organised an enterovirus monitoring programme. Concentrations of enteroviruses are checked at least twice in the season at bathing waters which failed the coliform bacteria standards in the previous season. The results for England and Wales are entered in the public register of the Environment Agency. The UK results are also published annually by my Department and are available in the Library.