To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to publish (a) the letter to be sent to local authorities in respect of volunteer communities for the prospective hosting of a nuclear waste repository and (b) the local authority recipients to whom the letter is to be sent. (186449)

Responses to the recent consultation document “A Framework for Implementing Geological Disposal” are still being considered. Once that process has been completed, we will publish a White Paper setting out the next steps. This will happen later in the year. At that stage, we expect to invite communities to express an interest in entering into discussions about the siting process, and in finding out more about what hosting a facility might involve. Decisions on how this invitation is to be made and publicised have yet to be taken.