Chamber and committees

The industrial sites included in the pollution emissions register recently published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are already tightly regulated by SEPA. All sites are regulated under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 and the requirements of that regime mean that installations will have demonstrated, or will need to demonstrate, that they are using the best available techniques to prevent or minimise pollution.The Scottish Executive will encourage SEPA to develop the pollution emission register as quickly as practicable and in particular to improve the online search facilities and expand the scope of the information included. Improving public access to environmental information will highlight the progress of measures being taken to reduce industrial pollution in Scotland. The answer given to question S1W-33969 on 13 February 2003 sets out how SEPA plans to develop its online register. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.