Ergebnisse von TA-Projekten - neue TA-Projekte

Over the past ten years, many agencies and organisations in the UK (perhaps most notably the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, RCEP and the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment) have highlighted a lack of a strategic and consistent approach to environmental pollution; with a number of existing agencies responsible for different aspects of the environment. Consequently, there have been calls for a single, integrated agency that can tackle protection of the environment coherently and systematically, and to this end the 1995 Environment Act established separate agencies for England and Wales (the Environment Agency) and for Scotland (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, SEPA).

On 1 April 1996, the Environment Agency took over the responsibilities of its predecessors. The Agency will operate with an initial staff of 9,500 people and will operate in its first year with a budget of £550M. The formation of the Agency raises questions over how readily the disparate cultures and methods used by the Agency's predecessors will be integrated within the one Agency.

In view of these developments, and the wider debate about the increasing role of risk assessment in policy formulation and decision-making, the Board of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) decided that POST should examine how risk assessment is used in environmental protection and how this may influence the emerging Agency. In June 1996, the Office presented its report.

The report begins by looking at the background to the Agency, and reviews current practices in the use of risk assessment and other appraisal methods. The report then examines how the Agency might use risk assessment in the future. Finally, issues are discussed that consider the strengths and weaknesses of risk assessment, and how the system can deal with the inherent limitations of science in decision-making. In recent years, public confidence in the risk assessment process and regulating agencies has become an increasingly important aspect, and ways are also discussed in which this can be encouraged and the risk assessment process adapted to incorporate better communication and public participation.

In conclusion, the report states:

Risk assessment is being used more often in decision-making, because of an increased need to deal with uncertainties more systematically and to improve the regulatory system. More specifically, the emerging Environment Agency aims to create a new culture; bringing together the best aspects of its predecessors and Government guidance requires the Agency to base its decisions on sound science, while also taking account of uncertainties, and the need to work towards sustainable development.

These changes are set against the backdrop of questions concerned over how far science can contribute to decision-making in the face of uncertainty and more emphasis too on 'risk psychology' in decision-making. While no single method could arrive at universally acceptable decisions, many conclude that decision-making should be open, accountable and inclusive; seeking to achieve consensus; and taking proper account of both the natural and social scientific dimensions of risk.

The importance of risk assessment and its public acceptability has been illustrated on several occasions in the last year. Thus, from the Brent Spar episode, Shell UK has acknowledged that "technocratic compliance with rational, science-based regulation is not, in itself, enough". Comparative risks also feature widely in public debate ranging from the dangers of drugs such as ecstasy to the risks of eating beef.

In view of the importance of credibility and trust in generating public confidence in the management of risks, its is hoped that this review will be useful to Parliamentarians who must deal on a day to day basis with the public's perception of risks.

(compiled from the report by I. v. Berg)

Bibliographic data

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (ed.): "Safety in Numbers? - Risk Assessment in Environmental Protection". June 1996, 61 pp., £ 12,--. ISBN 1-897941-21-8.

The report can be obtained from

The Parliamentary Bookshop
12 Bridge Street, London
SW1A 2JX
Tel.: + 44 (0) 71-219-3890