Examination of Witnesses (Questions 235-239)
21 JULY 2004
MR ELLIOT
MORLEY AND
MS SUE
ELLIS
Q235 Chairman: Minister, you are most
welcome. Again, one of our most regular attendees; indeed some
people think you are a member of the Committee, but we are having
to disabuse them of that particular fact. Nevertheless you are
extremely welcome. You have brought Sue Ellis, I know, with you.
Perhaps Miss Ellis would identify what she does?
Ms Ellis: Yes, I am Head of the
Waste Management Division in Defra.
Q236 Chairman: Obviously we have the
two key players as far as this is concerned. Can I ask you at
the outset, Minister, who is in charge in the United Kingdom Government
of determining and enacting policy as far as the dismantling of
ships is concerned?
Mr Morley: May I say, it is always
nice to attend the Committee, Chairman, and it is nice to follow
up on this because it has been a very useful exercise, I think,
the way the Committee is structured in terms of looking at the
key issues surrounding this and the wider ones; indeed I can see
where your question is leading on this. In terms of dismantling
ships, it is primarily a market-led situation in relation to the
development of the facilities within the UK. That, of course,
is subject to the regulations which are laid down domestically
in relation to our own regulations, most particularly the waste
licence, of course, having that, and, of course, the ships themselves
are subject to a range of international treaties, the OECD rules,
which I know that you are familiar with, which follow on from
the Basel agreement. So there is a range of particular issues.
There is no kind of government department in charge of the scrapping
of ships, if that is what you are hinting at. You will be aware
that—
Q237 Chairman: Shall I rephrase my question?
Mr Morley: Yes; okay.
Q238 Chairman: It is quite clear that
in terms of the candidate before us, he understands the issues,
he ticks the boxes in knowing what the policy areas are that we
are going to question you on, but my simple question was: who
is in charge in the UK Government of policy on the dismantling
of ships? In other words, you have quite rightly identified many
of the areas which policy is required for, but who is in charge?
Who is the dismantler, or dismantlers, as the case may be?
Mr Morley: I think, because there
are a number of key issues and conventions here, the responsibility
in terms of policy is probably shared between ourselves and the
Department of Transport. I was going to go on to say—
Q239 Chairman: Probably. Probably or
it is?
Mr Morley: It is shared between
ourselves.
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