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Bird Pests
Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether the proposed general licences to kill or take certain birds will fully discharge United Kingdom obligations so far as they relate to his Department's responsibilities under the 1979 EC birds directive ;
(2) if he has consulted the Joint Nature Conservation Committee on the proposed general licensing system to control the shooting of bird pest species under section 16(1) (c), (d) and (i) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; and whether the committee has approved the form and scope of the proposed licences ;
(3) whether the constituent bodies of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee had submitted their opinions on the proposed general licensing system to control the shooting of bird pest species by the final date of submission ; and what steps have been taken to obtain them ;
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(4) if he has consulted the Joint Nature Conservation Committee on the proposed general licensing system to control the shooting of bird pest species under section 16 (i), (j) and (k) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; and whether the committee has approved the form and scope of the proposed licences.Mr. Maclean : We are satisfied that the proposed general licensing system for pest bird control will meet the requirement of the EC birds directive and provide a sensible basis for pest control in the United Kingdom.
Officials of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee have been fully involved with those from my Department in the development of the licensing system and have provided the scientific advice on which the licences will be based. In discharging the special function of the country councils to jointly advise on nature conservation matters affecting Great Britain as a whole, committee officials have liaised with their counterparts in the country councils. The councils received the public consultation paper, issued in July, setting out the Government's proposals. The Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage have responded directly to the Department.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 22 October, Official Report, column 347, if he will set out a summary of the advice on radiological equivalence of radioactive wastes from the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee ; and when he expects to reply to the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee report.
Mr. Maclean : The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee's report offers advice on the technical basis of British Nuclear Fuels' proposals and their likely radiological and environmental impact for the United Kingdom. I expect to reply to the report after consulting colleagues.
Neighbour Noise
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will issue new guidelines on neighbour noise to local authorities.
Mr. Maclean : Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 contains provisions for controlling statutory nuisances, including noise. In September, my Department and the Home Office issued joint guidance to local authorities and the police on the control of noise from parties.
Wildlife Habitats
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new measures he is proposing to provide greater protection to sites of special scientific interest in order to prevent destruction of wildlife habitats.
Mr. Maclean : The additional safeguards for sites of special scientific interest announced by this Government in September 1991 came into effect on 2 January 1992. Guidance to local authorities and others on how our policies for the conservation of our natural heritage are to be reflected in land use planning, and development control, are to be set out in a planning policy guidance note, which will be published shortly.
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Home Energy Efficiency Scheme
Mr. Pickthall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, how many households in the network installer area including the Lancashire, West constituency qualify and have been improved under the home energy efficiency scheme since its inception in 1991.
Mr. Maclean : In order to be eligible for grant under the home energy efficiency scheme, an applicant or his or her spouse must be in receipt of one of five passportable benefits : housing benefit, income support, family credit, community charge benefit or disability working allowance. In addition, his or her property must meet certain criteria concerning existing levels of insulation and receipt of a grant for similar work under previous schemes. Data on numbers of households eligible in any particular area at a particular time are not available.
Within the network installer area that contains the hon. Member's constituency, 2,494 homes have benefited from home energy efficiency scheme grant since its inception in 1991.
Mr. Connarty : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many households in the network installer area covering the Falkirk, East constituency have been improved under the home energy efficiency scheme since its inception in 1991.
Mr. Maclean : Within the network installer area that contains the hon. Member's constituency, 2,119 homes have benefited from HEES grant since 1 January 1991.
City Challenge
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what analysis was made of the benefits to local communities of the first round of city challenge pacemaker authorities before deciding to embark on a second round.
Mr. Robin Squire : The decision to go ahead with the second round of city challenge was announced in February 1992. The pacemaker authorities began implementing their action plans in April 1992. However, analysis of pacemaker bids helped to inform the decision to embark on a second round and on the bidding guidance for that round. The guidance stated that one of the main aims of city challenge was to support the development and implementation of locally devised and time limited plans for the regeneration of disadvantaged areas within our cities which will significantly benefit the residents of those areas.
Urban Development Corporations
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which urban development corporations have enterd into agreements with developers which require them to employ local labour.
Mr. Robin Squire : None. Although the use of local labour is encouraged, a contractual requirement specifying that local labour must be used would be in contravention of United Kingdom legislation, the treaty of Rome, and European Community works and supplies directives.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the occasions on which boards of urban development corporations have met in public.
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Mr. Robin Squire : The boards of the urban development corporations do not meet in public.
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each urban development corporation the total amount of Government finance they have received since their inception.
Mr. Robin Squire : The total amount of Government grant in aid the urban development corporations have received, up to 31 March 1992, is as follows.
|£ million
------------------------------------------
Birmingham Heartlands |Nil
Bristol |35.233
Black Country |141.643
Central Manchester |43.500
Leeds |39.038
London Docklands |1,347.500
Merseyside |291.386
Sheffield |49.725
Teesside |160.071
Trafford Park |91.581
Tyne and Wear |142.066
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to require the boards of urban development corporations to meet in public.
Mr. Robin Squire : We have no plans to require the boards of the urban development corporations to meet in public. UDCs have the discretion to admit the public to discussions on land use planning matters and most choose to do so.
London Forum
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his plans for the London forum.
Sir George Young : My hon. and learned Friend announced on 21 October that Sir Allen Sheppard had agreed to be the first chairman of the London forum, and that Sir Hugh Bidwell has agreed to be a deputy chairman. The Secretary of State and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for National Heritage have agreed in principle with Sir Hugh that the forum should merge with the London tourist board, of which Sir Hugh is the chairman. The merger will create a single powerful private sector body to promote London overseas, with the aim of maximising business investment in the capital and expanding London's role as a centre for tourism and culture. The London forum will share an executive organisation with London First, a new private sector initiative of which Sir Allen is also the chairman. London First is a private and public sector partnership harnessing business skills to enhance London's attractions. It will improve the "product" which it will be the forum's job to promote internationally. A common supporting organisation under chief executive Stephen O'Brien will ensure close coordination of the efforts of the two bodies.
Sir Allen is now taking forward the development of a business plan for the forum, with a view to launching the new body around the turn of the year.
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Environmental Information
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will establish an independent body to oversee the implementation of procedures under the EC directive on the freedom of access to information on the environment.
Council Tax
Ms. Janet Anderson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will take steps to ensure that disabled persons living in band A properties will be entitled to a reduction in their council tax liability ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : The scheme of council tax reductions for people with disabilities will ensure that no one pays more council tax in respect of additional accommodation which they need because of a disability. If a dwelling is allocated to band A, any additional accommodation cannot have resulted in an increase in council tax liability, and no reduction is therefore appropriate.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much his Department spent in total on transitional relief and the community charge reduction scheme ; and what was the original estimate of the amount required.
Mr. Robin Squire : My Department has so far paid out £1,950 million in transitional relief and community charge reduction scheme grant. Further grant payments totalling about £500 million will be paid this and next year. Early estimates put the cost of the schemes at about £2,830 million.
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will publish a table showing for each collecting local authority in England the latest figures available of uncollected community charge and the percentage of the total community charge that this figure represents ;
(2) if he will publish a table showing for each collecting local authority in England the amount of uncollected domestic rates in 1989-90 and the percentage of the total rate that this figure represented.
Mr. Robin Squire : My Department does not collect figures for the amounts of domestic rates and of community charges outstanding. Figures for community charge arrears outstanding at 31 March 1991 were published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in "Revenue Collection Statistics 1990-91 Actuals", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. Figures for uncollected domestic rates are not available, although the chartered institute has published gross arrears of domestic and non-domestic rates at 31 March 1990 in "Rate Collection Statistics 1989-90 Actuals", a copy of which is also available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each collecting local authority in England how much was bid by
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that authority for Government funds to cover the set-up costs of the council tax and how much his Department gave to each authority in 1992-93.Mr. Robin Squire : Authorities were not asked to bid for funds to cover the costs of implementing the council tax. Independent consultants, CSL Ltd., were employed to advise on these costs. They estimated that the revenue costs of implementing the council tax would be £114.6 million. The Government agreed to pay 75 per cent. of these costs by way of a special grant of which £56.74 million will be paid to authorities this year, and a further £29.23 million will be paid in 1993-94 on receipt of audited claims. The allocation to billing authorities of this grant is given in Special Grant Report (No. 4) approved by the House in June this year, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. The other 25 per cent. of costs will be met through revenue support grant.
In addition, supplementary credit approvals to the value of £41.2 million are available to authorities in respect of capital expenditure they incur on implementing the council tax.
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what items of local authority expenditure were included in the Government's calculations of council tax set-up costs.
Mr. Robin Squire : This Department employed independent consultants CSL Ltd to advise on the total cost of preparing for the introduction of the council tax by April 1993. The costs, both revenue and capital, taken into account by the consultants covered staffing, accommodation, computer hardware, computer software, stationery, publicity and training.
Capital Receipts
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each housing authority in England the amount of unapplied capital receipts from (a) housing sales and (b) other capital sales.
Mr. Robin Squire : I have arranged for the available information to be placed in the Library of the House.
Separate figures for housing receipts and other capital receipts are not available.
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing for each county council in England the total amount of unapplied capital receipts.
Mr. Robin Squire : The total usable receipts for each county council in England as at 31 March 1992 are shown in the table.
|£000s
-----------------------------------
Avon |2,150
Bedfordshire |1,250
Berkshire |1,500
Buckinghamshire |600
Cambridgeshire |1,000
Cheshire |1,500
Cleveland |55
Cornwall |1,400
Cumbria |1,250
Derbyshire |2,175
Devon |3,000
Dorset |1,000
Durham |1,132
East Sussex |1,178
Essex |726
Gloucestershire |2,075
Hampshire |5,000
Hereford and Worcester |1,549
Hertfordshire |6,000
Humberside |1,000
Isle of Wight |250
Kent |3,800
Lancashire |2,000
Leicestershire |2,100
Lincolnshire |4,005
Norfolk |1,225
North Yorkshire |1,350
Northamptonshire |3,000
Northumberland |600
Nottinghamshire |1,500
Oxfordshire |4,000
Shropshire |1,000
Somerset |4,800
Staffordshire |1,500
Suffolk |1,000
Surrey |4,000
Warwickshire |2,100
West Sussex |8,100
Wiltshire |1,191
Montreal Protocol
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals Her Majesty's Government will make at the forthcoming preparatory meeting for the Montreal protocol.
Mr. Maclean : The Government, together with our EC partners, will be proposing that the phase-out dates for production and consumption of CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride and 1,1,1 trichloroethane be brought forward to 1 January 1996 with an interim cut of 50 per cent. for 1,1,1 trichloroethane and 85 per cent. for the other substances by 1 January 1994. In addition, we shall be pressing for tight controls on HCFCs to be introduced and a freeze on the production and consumption of methyl bromide at 1991 levels by 1995.
House Condition Survey
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 15 July to the hon. Member for Crosby (Sir M. Thornton), Official Report, column 833, if he will make a statement on the reasons for the time taken to prepare the report on the 1991 English house condition survey.
Sir George Young : The 1991 English house condition survey began in September last year and has involved three separate surveys--a physical inspection of 25,000 dwellings, interviews with households and a postal survey of local authorities and housing associations. Data collection for the last of these surveys will be completed this month. Results will be published just as soon as the analysis is completed.
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Crown Immunity
Mr. Jenkin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to issue a public consultation paper on the removal Crown exemption from planning legislation.
Sir George Young : My right hon. and learned Friend has today issued a public consultation paper on the removal of Crown immunity from planning law. My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales also propose shortly to issue public consultation papers as regards Scotland and Wales. The consultation paper proposes that all Crown bodies should be required to apply to the local planning authority for planning permission, listed building consent, conservation area consent, and hazardous substances consent, and to the Secretary of State for National Heritage for scheduled monument consent in the normal way. There will be some exceptions to these requirements, principally where national or prison security is involved, and for trunk road proposals, which are already subject to statutory procedures equivalent to town and country planning procedures. In the case of national security, it is intended to make provision in the legislation for a certification system whereby the appropriate Minister or official would certify projects which would be exempt from the legislation on grounds of national security. A similar procedure will apply to prison security.
The Government consider that it would be inappropriate for the enforcement provisions of the planning legislation, particularly those which contain criminal sanctions or permit the local authority to enter land, to apply to the Crown. It is proposed that in lieu of the enforcement provisions and injunctive or criminal proceedings the "enforcing" authority would be able to apply to the High Court for a declaration of the rights of the parties. If the Crown is shown by a declaration to have acted in breach of planning control, it would, of its own accord, remedy the position.
One consequence of the proposals will be that Crown developers will be legally required to undertake environmental impact assessments of their proposals, as required by EC Directive 85/337, in the same way as other developers, replacing the non-statutory arrangements in DOE circular 15/88, Welsh Office 23/88.
The statutory regimes in part VIII of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for outdoor advertisement control and tree protection will also apply to Crown land, subject to certain modifications and exceptions.
These proposals will be embodied in primary legislation when a suitable opportunity arises.
Supplementary Credit Approvals
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to announce the supplementary credit approvals for (a) improvement grants and (b) other purposes.
Mr. Howard : Provisional awards of supplementary credit approvals-- SCAs--for mandatory house renovation grants will be notified to local authorities shortly. On the SCAs issued by my Department for other purposes, we have already announced to local authorities our intentions for 1992-93. The SCAs themselves will be issued by 30 September 1993.
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Rating Revaluations
Mr. McFall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what additional resources will be made available to the Valuation Office in connection with outstanding rating appeals from the 1990 revaluation of non -domestic property.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Department's existing expenditure plans in respect of Valuation Office agency rating services are set out in figure 119 of the Department's annual report for 1992. This shows the following provision over three years :
Year |£ million ------------------------------ 1992-93 |115.3 1993-94 |115.4 1994-95 |118.2
This provision covers work on outstanding and new rating appeals against the 1990 rating list, and work in connection with the 1995 general revaluation.
Darwin Initiative
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in relation to the Darwin initiative.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 26 October 1992] : Consultations with interested institutions and organisations are continuing. I expect to make a statement later this year.
Household Waste
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the first results will be available from the national household waste analysis project, currently being undertaken by Warren Spring laboratory and Aspinwalls on behalf of his Department.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 2 November 1992] : The first phase of the project--developing the methodology--has been completed and a report should be available by the end of 1992. Preliminary results from the first samples will be available from Warren Spring laboratory from the beginning of 1993. A full report of the 1992-93 results will be available in the late summer of 1993.
Recovery and Recycling
Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any consideration has been given to making a cradle-to-grave analysis of potential benefits to be gained from combining recovery and recycling facilities with incineration and energy recovery facilities.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 2 November 1992] : My Department and the Department of Trade and Industry have been studying the concept of combining recovery and recycling facilities with incineration and energy recovery facilities. The DTI's energy technology support unit started a five year research programme on the concept in 1991. Preliminary results will be published in due course.
Water Supplies
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment the Office of Water Services has made of the health and safety danger posed by
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pre-payment water meters in domestic properties in the event of an accident in the home or of heating systems running dry.Mr. Maclean [holding answer 4 November 1992] : I understand that OFWAT will be closely monitoring inter alia the health and safety aspects of a trial of pre-payment meters by Severn Trent Water Limited. OFWAT has asked the company to produce a leaflet for the customers concerned, giving advice about the precautionary action customers should take if they interrupt their supply by not inserting a pre-paid card to buy further units. However, I understand that all electronic pre-payment water meters enable water to be taken on credit in the event of an emergency.
Contaminated Land Register
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will improve the clarity of the definition of the areas of land that are to be included in the proposed regulations relating to the contaminated land register.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 4 November 1992] : It would be our intention to accompany any regulations made under section 143 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 with guidance about their implementation, including criteria for defining areas of registrable land.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will reconsider his proposals to include land that has been used for mineral extraction from the contaminated land register.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 4 November 1992] : Our recent consultative draft of regulations proposed under section 143 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 did not include mineral extraction as a registrable use of land ; the proposed regulations would apply only to the most contaminative uses of land.
Methane Emissions
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what the contributions to the United Kingdom total methane emissions from landfills in Scotland and Northern Ireland will be.
Mr. Maclean : Direct estimates of total methane production from landfills in Scotland and Northern Ireland have not been made. An estimate based on population and waste arising statistics suggests that the figure is likely to be between 10 and 15 per cent. of the total for England and Wales, or between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes per annum.
Geopathic Stress
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research his Department is currently carrying out into geopathic stress ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Department is supporting studies at Lancaster university to determine the sensitivity in the United Kingdom of vegetation and of plant pathogenic micro-organisms to increased fluxes of ultraviolet- B radiation which may result from depletion of the
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stratospheric ozone layer. These studies will feed into the periodic reassessment of available scientific, environmental, technical and economic information required under article 6 of the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.HOUSE OF COMMONS
Parliamentary Procedure
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Lord President of the Council when he expects to bring proposals for reform of parliamentary procedure before the House.
Mr. Newton : I informed the House during the debate on the report of the Select Committee on Sittings of the House on 13 July that I hoped to identify a basis of agreement for discussion through the usual channels, with the aim of being in a position to bring forward substantive motions at an early stage once the House returned. That remains my intention.
WALES
Arable Support Scheme
Mr. Jonathan Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received concerning the arable support scheme for Wales.
Mr. David Hunt : I have received a number of representations concerning the arable support scheme. The rates (converted using the green rate applicable on 22 September 1992) payable in Wales for the main scheme in 1993-94 are :