To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many of Her Majesty's inspectors of pollution are currently responsible for the west midlands area.

There are currently six pollution inspectors in post discharging Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution regulatory responsibilities in the west midlands area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on morale within Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.

Morale in HMIP is high, and staff are preparing with energy and enthusiasm for integrated pollution control and the other new responsibilities proposed for them under the Environmental Protection Bill.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on staffing levels within Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how far Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution is below its full staff complement;(2) how many of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution inspectors have been appointed as a result of the recent recruitment round.

There are currently 206 staff in post in Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, compared with 148 when HMIP was established in April 1987. The staff complement has recently been increased further to 250. HMIP therefore has 44 vacancies within the increased complement. Twenty-five of the vacancies are for professional staff, of which seven are reserved for successful candidates to date from the current recruitment competition. We are continuing to recruit actively to fill the remaining posts.HMIP has also introduced an additional assistant pollution inspector recruitment grade, for candidates with full professional qualifications and at least two years industry experience, who will qualify as pollution inspectors through further training and experience in the inspectorate. This will widen the recruitment for future pollution inspectors, while fully maintaining the present professional standards. The first recruitment competition for APIs is now in progress.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has made an assessment of staffing and inspection levels within Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution necessary for the effectiveness of the enforcement powers contained within the Environmental Protection Bill; and if he will make a statement.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution inspectors will be required to undertake (a) the writing of IPC (IPR) authorisations under the Environmental Protection Bill, (b) the writing of new Batneec notes under the Environmental Protection Bill and (c) routine site inspections of scheduled processes.

[holding answer 17 May 1990]: I am committed to ensuring that Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution will effectively discharge its responsibilities and the new duties proposed for it in the Environmental Protection Bill. The level of resources required to accomplish this is kept under continual review.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution inspectors are available in the field to undertake inspections of scheduled processes.

[holding answer, 17 May 1990]: There is currently a total of 69 inspectors posted to Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution's regional field force.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the proposed inspection rates for Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution in MINIS 9 and MINIS 10 have been achieved.

[holding answer, 17 May 1990]: Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution came close to meeting most of the proposals for inspection activity set out in MINIS 10, bettered a number, and did not fully achieve some others. The figures are as follows:

	1989–90 Performance	MINIS 10 Target
Air:
Inspections	7,350	7,550
Samples taken	1,350	1,900
Water:
Inspection of sewage treatment works	545	500
Discharge consents issued to water authorities	1,302	800
Radioactive Substances Inspections:
Nuclear premises	259	270
Non-nuclear premises	606	680
Waste:
Visits to Waste Disposal Authorities	1154	350
Inspections of major hazardous waste facilities	2267	3100
1 of which 22 programmed
2 50 programmed
3 programmed

A full account of the year's activity will be given in HMIP's MINIS 11 return, which will be published in due course.As I described in the answer I gave today we have recently increased HMIP's complement to 250 posts, and are actively recruiting professional staff to bring the inspectorate up to the increased strength.The MINIS 10 return, available in the Library, reported on achievement of MINIS 9 proposals.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what inspection rates are proposed for Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution in MINIS 11; and what were the proposed rates in MINIS 9 and MINIS 10.

[holding answer 17 May 1990]: The Department's MINIS 11 directorate returns will as usual be published when ministerial colleagues and I have completed consideration of them. The MINIS 9 and 10 returns are available in the Library.