To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to amend the Energy Act 2004 as it relates to the responsibilities of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in response to the Fourth Report of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee: Radioactive Waste Management: an Update. (141780)

We are considering the report and will respond within the normal timetable.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Government will review the proposed relationship between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the successor body to the Committee of Radioactive Waste Management in response to the Fourth Report of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee: Radioactive Waste Management: an Update, HL 109. (141782)

We are considering the report and will respond within the normal timetable.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how members of (a) the Criteria Proposals Group and (b) the Criteria Review Panel responsible for deciding the scientific criteria for initial screening of areas unsuitable for a geological repository for long-lived radioactive waste were chosen; what criteria were used in selecting the membership; and what budget has been allocated to service each group and panel. (143770)

The Criteria Proposals Group (CPG) and Criteria Review Panel (CRP) were established on the basis of recommendations from the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Geological Society, and the DEFRA Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor Sir Howard Dalton. Both were ad-hoc groups charged with developing criteria for inclusion in the forthcoming Managing Radioactive Waste Safely consultation document. CPG, led by Professor Peter Styles of Keele university, developed draft criteria. Its proposals were independently reviewed by CRP, led by Professor Howard Wheater of Imperial college, London. Selection of members of the groups was made on the basis of the need to involve high calibre expertise across the range of earth science and related disciplines. Members of the two groups were paid a daily rate for their work. The cost of the work is currently estimated to be of the order of £40,000.