Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2011

My Lords, I am very grateful for the Minister's explanation. I am still thinking about the banana reference, which I did not quite get. If he would elucidate further on that, it would be an enormous help. He made clear the reasons behind the regulations. They are intended to be simpler and more user-friendly, while maintaining standards for the regulation of low-level radioactive substances and complying with EU directives. As he knows, the regulations were first consulted on by the Labour Government in 2009. As a result of the consultation, a fair number of changes were made. Normally, I would raise concerns about an order coming into force so quickly following its discussion—I understand that it will be the day after it has been signed. However, in this case there should be widespread knowledge and understanding among those groups that are affected by the regulations. For the reassurance of the Committee, it would be helpful if the Minister would state whether he is entirely satisfied that all those who need to know about the regulations do so, and, if are any gaps, what efforts are being made to ensure that we pick up those who may have missed some part of the consultation process since 2009. These are very technical regulations. I, too, regret that the noble and right reverend Prelate is no longer with us, because he would be helpful. Few noble Lords will understand Part 3 of the regulations. Table 2, headed ““Concentration of radionuclides””, lists various concentrations in becquerels per gram. I confess that I have no understanding of what that means and so in many ways feel inadequate to the task of effective scrutiny. I therefore seek reassurance from the Minister. Can he say whether any concerns were raised through the consultation that the regulations would in any way compromise public safety? I gave notice that I would ask that question. If those concerns were raised, how were they addressed? Those who were consulted would have greater knowledge than I or other Members of your Lordships’ House would have. Jamie Reid, the shadow Minister for Defra, who represents the constituency in which Sellafield lies, and who is an expert and supporter of the nuclear power industry, raised a number of specific questions in the other place about the impact of the changes on the nuclear decommissioning programmes on the different sites and the costs involved. Given the detail of the questions that were raised, I do not propose to go into those areas today. Support for the statutory instrument is not dependent on answers to those questions but I thought that the information should be made available. The Minister in the other place agreed to write to Jamie Reid and it would be helpful to have a copy of that letter and for a copy to be placed in the Library.