HC Deb 21 June 2002 vol 387 cc606-7W
Bob Russell

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to make publicly available the publications issued by the Government and on behalf of the Government which were distributed at the United Kingdom Noise Forum's inaugural conference on 20 May. [62570]

Mr. Meacher

These were placed on the DEFRA website http://defraweb/environment/noise/research.htm on 20 May 2002.

Bob Russell

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason the press was excluded from the United Kingdom Noise Forum's inaugural conference. [62572]

Mr. Meacher

Attendance at the Conference was by invitation only. The Conference held three separate workshops in the afternoon, which sought to generate ideas and solutions, which could assist Government in considering different ways in which to tackle the different problems noise cause. It was felt that it would be inappropriate for the press to be present during these sessions as this might have prevented fully frank and open discussions. However, the press attended the Conference at 4.00pm both to listen to my statement to the Conference and the summaries that arose from the workshops.