§ The Minister for Local and Regional Government (Mr. Nick Raynsford)The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has today published the "Strategic National Guidance for the Decontamination of Buildings and Infrastructure Exposed to Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) Substances or Material". The guidance is available on the ODPM websitewww.odpm.gov.uk and the UK Resilience website http://www.ukresilience. info/. The guidance may be downloaded from those sites. A copy of the guidance is also available in the Libraries of the House.
The guidance has been prepared to help everyone who may be involved in planning for and decontaminating buildings and infrastructure in the event of a deliberate or accidental release of CBRN material.
The guidance is part of a suite of CBRN guidance developed under the CBRN Resilience Programme led by the Home Office. This particularly complements the guidance my hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment and Agri-Environment published on 25 March 2004 on decontamination of the open environment.
The guidance will be updated periodically. These updates will be available on the ODPM and UK Resilience websites. We welcome feedback on the document. This can be sent to cbrnenquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
The strategic guidance is accompanied by publication today of separate guidance on "Precautions to Minimise Effects of a CBRN Event on Buildings and Infrastructure". This is available in hard copy and on the ODPM and UK Resilience websites. A copy of this guidance is also being made available in the Libraries of the House. Comments and queries can be sent to cbrnenquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
The guidance on precautions provides generic advice to building and infrastructure owners and managers on pre-planning measures to prevent contamination from CBRN events, to limit the extent of any contamination which does occur, and to facilitate the decontamination process itself.