Health and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Official Report 581KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Dalgety Bay) (Scotland) Order 2012

Good morning and welcome to the 17th meeting in 2012 of the Health and Sport Committee. Everyone present should turn off their mobile phones and BlackBerrys, as they often interfere with the sound system. We have received no apologies.

Our first item is an evidence session with the Minister for Public Health on an emergency Scottish statutory instrument. Members have received a cover note setting out the purpose of the order, which came into force on the day that it was laid. As an emergency instrument, it will cease to have effect after 28 days, beginning on the day on which it was made, unless it is approved by the Scottish Parliament. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has not drawn the order to the Parliament’s attention.

I welcome to the meeting Michael Matheson, the Minister for Public Health, and his officials: David Wilson, solicitor at the Scottish Government, and Dr Will Munro, policy adviser at the Food Standards Agency. Minister, I invite you to make a brief opening statement on the order but ask you not to move the motion at this point.

Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee, convener. First of all, I apologise for my late arrival—I was caught up in an accident on the motorway.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this order, which reinforces existing precautionary advice and signs at Dalgety Bay advising people not to remove items, including seafood and bait, from the area because of radioactive contamination. Radium-contaminated items have been detected on the local beach since 1990 and are believed to have arisen from material dumped in the coastal area around Dalgety Bay when the former Donibristle military airbase was in operation. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s recent monitoring has revealed the presence of more and more radioactive particles, possibly as a result of coastal erosion exposing previously hidden deposits of radium contamination. In total, more than 2,000 items have now been recovered.

Initial studies on recovered particles show that some break down easily and others would be soluble in the human gut. However, some particles could be taken up by seafood, particularly winkles and mussels, which could pose a risk to the public if consumed. Although there is no commercial fishing or shellfish industry in the Dalgety Bay area, the FSA is aware that people have been observed gathering shellfish either for consumption or for use as bait. In light of the potential risk, the FSA carried out a radiological dose assessment based on data from the solubility studies that indicates that an ingested particle could result in a dose well in excess of the annual allowable dose. Although the chances of a particle being taken up by seafood are expected to be low, that is uncertain because there is not enough information to allow such calculations to be carried out. Several factors need to be considered, including the increase in particle discoveries, their higher activities, their ability to break into smaller fragments, recent coastal erosion and the dynamic nature of the coastal environment.

The programme of work that SEPA and the Ministry of Defence have agreed to investigate the contamination at Dalgety Bay should be completed by May 2013, and the FSA will review the need for the order in light of new data emerging from that work as well as data from seafood sampling that is being undertaken jointly by the FSA and SEPA. The order will also be reviewed if remedial works that are subsequently undertaken successfully remove the pathway by which particles can enter the food chain.

I thank the minister for those opening remarks. Do members have any questions?

Minister, you said that SEPA and the MOD hope to have completed by May 2013 further investigations into the remedial works that could be carried out. Has there been any agreement on who should bear the burden of those costs? After all, most reasonable people would expect that burden to fall on the MOD, given that its former airbase caused the contamination in the first place.

Agreement had to be reached with the MOD about the need for action to be taken. Will Munro will comment on the precise nature of that agreement but, at this stage, we must ensure that the appropriate action is taken to assess the extent of the contamination affecting the area around Dalgety Bay.

The plan that was agreed between the MOD and SEPA is being funded by the MOD and seeks to characterise the extent and kind of contamination in the area through mapping, digging pits and so on. The intention is to come up with recommendations for any necessary remediation by May 2013. As far as I am aware, the MOD has not admitted any liability, but it will pay for the works that are being undertaken and SEPA has reserved the right to invoke the radioactive contaminated land regulations if at any point the plan does not go according to its wishes.

09:45

Would it be possible for the committee to be kept up to date about on-going discussions in that respect? I note from our papers that another instrument will have to be laid before the committee within a year if the ban in the area is to be extended. Of course, we do not want the ban to be open ended and we want some certainty and a resolution. I will support the order this morning, but it would be good to be kept up to date on the discussions with the MOD.

As I have said, we will keep the order under frequent review because of the work that is being undertaken and there will, at the very least, be another review in a year’s time. I am more than happy to inform the committee of any review that is carried out and what its findings highlight, if that would be helpful.

Thank you.

You said that there is no commercial fishing in the area. Does the prohibition affect recreational fishing? You mentioned people gathering bait, so I presume that they also fish in the area. Will they be prevented from doing that?

Yes. The ban will apply to people gathering bait or mussels, cockles and so on for their own personal use. The prohibition order is required because, despite the advisory signs that have been put in place, people have been observed at this activity, and we need to be able to enforce the provisions and take action if people continue to collect bait, mussels or whatever on the site.

How will you stop someone with a rod going down on to the beach? Who will enforce the provisions?

Ministers will give powers to enforcement officers at Fife Council to enforce the provisions under the order and to take action against individuals, which might result in their being reported to the police if that is felt to be necessary or appropriate. The powers in the order allow for someone who breaches it to be fined.

As members have no other questions, we move to formal consideration of motion S4M-02866, in the name of the minister, on recommending approval of the order.

Motion moved,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Dalgety Bay) (Scotland) Order 2012 be approved.—[Michael Matheson.]

Motion agreed to.

I thank the minister and his officials for their attendance.

09:47 Meeting suspended.

09:49 On resuming—

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Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland (Practice and Procedure) (No 2) Amendment Rules 2012 (SSI 2012/132)

Item 3 is consideration of SSI 2012/132. Members have received a covering note that sets out the purpose of the instrument. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has not drawn the instrument to the Parliament’s attention. As members have no comments, do we agree that we do not wish to make any recommendation on the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.