Crustacean Mortality in North-east England: Independent Expert Assessment Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Sara Britcliffe
Main Page: Sara Britcliffe (Conservative - Hyndburn)Department Debates - View all Sara Britcliffe's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Crustacean Mortality in North-east England: Independent Expert Assessment
Sara Britcliffe Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mark Spencer
I take at face value the advice of my hon. Friend. I think that DEFRA was and is seeking to have that trust. The way we establish the facts is to ask world-leading experts to look at those facts and come to a conclusion, independent of any interference or guidance from anyone else. That is what the independent panel did. It came to its conclusions and we put them into the public domain. We are as keen as anybody else is to establish what may have caused this disaster. We do not want to see a repeat of it, and we will do all we can to ensure that does not happen and to establish the facts as we can.
Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)
The Opposition have accused the panel of not seeking evidence from outside sources. The terms of reference suggest the panel looked at all the available evidence. Can the Minister please clarify?
Mark Spencer
The expert panel acted entirely independently. It took evidence and advice from all sources to try to establish the facts. That was all considered and is repeated in the report.