HC Deb 22 March 2004 vol 419 cc41-2WS
The Minister for the Environment (Mr.Elliot Morley)

With the establishment of the new Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) during the course of 2003, UK Government and the devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales have been reviewing the future of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC). This is as we said we would do in the September 2001 "Managing Radioactive Waste Safely" consultation document.

In light of this review, we have concluded that RWMAC should be put into abeyance for the two to three year period during which CoRWM will be compiling its recommendations on future policy for the long-term management of the UK's higher activity radioactive wastes. At the end of this period we shall carry out a further review of Government advisory machinery needs in the radioactive waste management policy area.

This has not been an easy decision to take given the quality of the past advice we have received from RWMAC. But the key factors that have swayed my colleagues and me in arriving at this decision are: we believe that in principle it would be wrong for Government to have two "independent" advisory committees operating in the radioactive waste management policy area; we believe this could create problems of perception of the respective roles and requirements of the two Committees; we are fully committed to the CoRWM process and the need to drive this forward over the next two to three years, to arrive at a decision on how best to manage the UK's higher activity radioactive wastes; the resources available to us must be focussed on this task.

During the course of our review work, we did receive a proposal from the committee for a reconfigured and slimmed down form of RWMAC operation. We considered this very carefully, but it did not solve the basic problem of having two independent advisory committees operating in the same policy area. And we felt that this could have potentially led to a lesser degree and standard of advice than we, and potentially the Committee itself, have come to expect.

We recognise that needs for review and advice could arise during the period that CoRWM is conducting work and RWMAC is in abeyance. Our proposal, for the period of CoRWM's work, is to consider and address these in a case by case manner through our Radioactive Waste Policy Group (RWPG). This is a Group made up of UK Government, devolved Administration and regulatory body representatives that meets regularly, several times a year, to discuss radioactive waste management policy and regulatory issues. The Group has the remit to carry out reviews, calling on external advice, as necessary.

I have written to the current RWMAC Chairman and his Committee members to inform them of this decision and to thank them for the hard effort, and sound advice, that they have provided in recent years. This advice will remain available for scrutiny and use on the Committee's website www.defra.gov.uk/rwmac/.

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