Asked by: Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ordering an Independent Panel Inquiry into the death of Zane Gbangbola during the floods in February 2014.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Surrey Senior Coroner has carried out a full investigation into the sad circumstances surrounding Zane Gbangbola's death, taking into account a considerable amount of evidence. The Coroner, as an independent judicial office holder, drew his own conclusions based on this evidence.
If there is a belief that the evidence was not considered properly during the original inquest, or that there is new evidence available, an application can be made to the Attorney General asking her to apply to the High Court to quash the inquest and order a fresh investigation. The High Court would take this course of action if it believed that it would be in the interests of justice. We are not aware that any such application has been made.
I believe that this remains the proper process to follow. An assessment of the merits of an inquiry should be made at the appropriate time if, and when, the legal processes have been exhausted.
Asked by: Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative - Spelthorne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under what statutory instruments the Government can regulate historic landfill sites if it is suspected that they could be contaminated with poisonous gases or chemicals.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Landfill sites are regulated by the Environment Agency under an environmental permit. Historic landfills are those that have never been or are no longer regulated under an environmental permit. The responsibility for investigating historic landfills and other land that may be contaminated rests with the local authority under the provisions of Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.