§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many coastal local authorities(a) do not have and (b) have oil spill contingency plans that have not been updated since the publication of the National Contingency Plan for dealing with pollution incidents. [123613]
§ Mr. JamiesonThere are 164 coastal local authorities in the UK. Of these, only one does not have an oil spill contingency plan as yet. Of the 53 coastal local authorities who published contingency plans prior to the National Contingency Plan, all but one has either rewritten, or begun the process of reviewing/rewriting their plans.
§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to give coastal local authorities a statutory responsibility to prepare and maintain oil spill contingency plans. [123614]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe question of whether coastal local authorities should have a statutory duty to prepare contingency plans for shoreline pollution incidents was raised in the context of the Emergency Planning Review, and my Department will be commenting on the resulting draft Civil Contingencies Bill, which has recently been published.