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Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour) on Monday, 21 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 March 2005. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Thursday, 3 March 2005 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information she has received from the Chairperson of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) concerning (a) the suspension of Dr Keith Baverstock from the Committee and (b) the current status of Professor David Ball on CORWM; and if she will make a statement on progress made to date by CORWM in meeting its planned timetable.
Answer

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information she has received from the Chairperson of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) concerning (a) the suspension of Dr. Keith Baverstock from the Committee and (b) the current status of Professor David Ball on CoRWM; and if she will make a statement on progress made to date by CoRWM in meeting its planned timetable. [217827] Mr. Morley: CoRWM's sponsoring Ministers in Defra and the devolved administrations have jointly commissioned a review with the terms of reference: "To consider (i) concerns identified by Dr. Keith Baverstock concerning the operation of the CoRWM Committee and (ii) the role and personal contribution of Dr. Baverstock in delivering the corporate aims and objectives of CoRWM. To report the outcome of this review, and to provide recommendations to CoRWM's sponsoring Ministers". This follows receipt of representations from both the CoRWM Chair, Gordon MacKerron, and Dr. Keith Baverstock. Dr. Baverstock has been suspended from the Committee pending the outcome of this review. The review is being carried out by the independent assessor, approved by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), who was involved in the CoRWM appointments process. The assessor will be considering the information provided by relevant parties in arriving at his recommendations to Ministers. Subsequent to the commissioning of this review, Professor David Ball informed Defra that he has voluntarily suspended himself from CoRWM's activities while the situation giving rise to Dr. Baverstock's suspension is resolved. In the meantime CoRWM's work continues unchanged from the programme set out in its First Annual Report 2004, available on its website-- www.corwm.org.uk. This will lead to the Committee publishing its short list of options and proposed assessment methodology for public and stakeholder consultation during the course of March 2005.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
431 c1275W;431 c1269W; 217827
Session
2004-05
Subjects
Disciplinary proceedings Committee on Radioactive Waste Management Baverstock, Keith
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk