---

Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what restrictions are placed on the Health and Safety Executive in respect of providing information to local authorities on accidents at THORP without the consent of British Nuclear Fuels plc. [9146]

Sir Paul Beresford: The Health and Safety Executive may release such information to an officer of a local authority authorised to receive it, where HSE has acquired the information under statutory requirements. However, HSE would normally make the information available only if there was a health and safety purpose in doing so.

Section 28 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 contains restrictions on the release of information obtained under statutory requirements or in the exercise of inspectors' powers. Associations of local authorities, unlike individual local authorities, do not fall within the exemptions from these restrictions.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he made of the health and safety consequences of incidents (a) during the construction of THORP at Sellafield and (b) since it commenced operational activity. [9145]

Sir Paul Beresford: Conditions attached to the Sellafield nuclear site licence require BNFL to have arrangements in place to investigate and report incidents at THORP to HSE's nuclear installations inspectorate. These apply throughout the lifetime of the plant, including the construction stage. Additional arrangements exist to comply with other regulations, such as the Reporting of

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 605

Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 relating to non-nuclear incident reporting.

The HSE routinely monitors BNFL's arrangements including the conduct of its investigations, and carries out separate investigations where appropriate, which take into account the health and safety consequences of the particular incident. Significant incidents are reported in the HSE's quarterly statements of nuclear incidents.

Radiation (Sellafield)

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what requests British Nuclear Fuels plc has made to his Department for permission to increase the levels of radiation released into the atmosphere from its plant at Sellafield. [9143]

Mr. Clappison: No requests have been made to this Department. However, British Nuclear Fuels has applied to the Environment Agency for a variation to its current certificates of authorisation under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 to dispose of waste gases, mists and dusts from premises on its Sellafield site.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what levels of radiation have been released into the atmosphere from the BNFL plant at Sellafield in each of the last five years; and what are the current levels. [9144]

Mr. Clappison: Information about air-borne discharges of radioactivity in past years from British Nuclear Fuels' Sellafield site is contained in the company's "Annual Report on Radioactive Discharges and Monitoring of the Environment", the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's "Radioactivity in Food and the Environment" and the Department of the Environment's "Digest of Environmental Statistics". Copies of all these are available in the Library of the House.

Details of current discharges are contained in public registers held by the Environment Agency and local authorities in the area. The information may be obtained from the Environment Agency at Mitre house, Church street, Lancaster, LA1 1BQ.

Health and Safety Commission

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which appointments to the Health and Safety Commission lapse before 1 May 1997; on what dates; and if he will consult Her Majesty's Opposition before making the new appointments. [9571]

Sir Paul Beresford: Two appointments to the commission lapse on 31 March 1997. Any new appointments will be made in accordance with the extensive consultation requirements set out in section 10(3)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974; and with the guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Secretary of State has no plans to consult on the appointments beyond that.

Staff

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for his Department (a) how many people in total are employed, (b) how many of the

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 606

total number of staff are (i) male and (ii) female and (c) how many (I) men and (II) women are employed on a (1) full-time and (2) part-time basis. [9492]

Sir Paul Beresford: The figures for the Department of the Environment and its executive agencies are given in the table:

	Male	Female	Total
Department of the Environment
Full-time	2,098	1,414	3,512
Part-time	30	280	310
Total	2,128	1,694	3,822
The Planning Inspectorate
Full-time	429	211	640
Part-time	10	30	40
Total	439	241	680
Building Research Establishment
Full-time	435	182	617
Part-time	5	68	73
Total	440	250	690
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Full-time	28	27	55
Part-time	0	0	0
Total	28	27	55
Health and Safety Executive
Full-time	2,429	1,599	4,028
Part-time	21	397	418
Total	2,450	1,996	4,446

The figures are taken from the Department of the Environment's Staff On-Line Information System (SOLIS) and the Health and Safety Executive's Personnel information database (PRIMA). Other figures were supplied by the relevant executive agencies. The figures show the actual numbers of staff-in-post for December 1996 except for Health and Safety Executive--these figures are for 1 April 1996.

Mr. Hain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff there have been in (i) his Department and (ii) executive agencies of his Department in each year since 1992. [9624]

Sir Paul Beresford: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I sent on 3 December 1996 in response to his previous named day question for Monday 25 November.

The figures supplied in the annexe to that reply provide the following sub-totals:

	1 April 1992	1 April 1993	1 April 1994	1 April 1995	1 April 1996
Department of the Environment
Permanent	4,244	4,599	4,236	3,973	3,632
Non-Permanent	237	223	293	300	268
Building Research Establishment
Permanent	654	638	646	670	622
Non-Permanent	34	37	31	68	107
The Planning Inspectorate
Permanent	613	608	622	612	596
Non-Permanent	13	6	11	7	37
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution
Permanent	285	347	398	403	343
Non-Permanent	20	19	30	25	32
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Permanent	61	55	60	49	(4)43
Non-Permanent	6	6	10	11	12

The figures are taken from the Department of the Environment's Staff On-Line Information System (SOLIS), and show the actual numbers of staff-in-post employed as at 1 April 1992-1996.

(4) This is a correction to the figures previously supplied.

18 Dec 1996 : Column: 607

Health and Safety Executive

	1 April 1992	1 April 1993	1 April 1994	1 April 1995	1 April 1996
Permanent	4,218	4,441	4,418	4,233	4,006
Non permanent	104	97	127	158	145

The figures for the Health and Safety Executive were taken from their Personnel information database (PRIMA). These figures are for Full Time Equivalent Staff in Post.

Official Ministerial Visits

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each of the Ministers in his Department how many official ministerial visits they have undertaken since 1 January; and how many of these have been abroad. [9387]

Mr. Gummer: The information requested is as follows:

	Visits in the UK(5)	Visits outside the UK
John Gummer	42	17
David Curry	43	4
Robert B. Jones	44	5
The Earl Ferrers	30	4
Sir Paul Beresford	52	1
James Clappison	38	3

(5) A visit may incorporate travelling to more than one place.

Housing Association Starts

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received about the number of new housing association starts (a) in total and (b) in the eastern region next year. [9440]

Mr. Clappison: In the month to 13 December we received a total of 41 letters from Members of Parliament enclosing letters from housing associations about new housing association starts, including seven from associations in the eastern region.

---