Written question asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative) on Thursday, 8 March 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 12 March 2007. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Monday, 16 April 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Agriculture: Air Pollution

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the risk of making public applications for compliance with the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations.

Answer: The Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 require advertisement in the local press and in the London Gazette, that a permit application has been made. A copy of the permit application itself, and any permit issued as a result, are required by the Regulations to be held on the Public Register maintained by the Environment Agency at its relevant local office.If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that making information available in this way would be contrary to the interests of national security, he may direct that the information should not be made available. Similarly, if an applicant considers that information which would be made available is commercially confidential, he may apply to the regulator for it not to be made available and may appeal to the Secretary of State if he is dissatisfied with the regulator’s decision. In these ways, the risks of publication can be assessed.

Secondary information