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Clinical Waste
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what measures he proposes to improve the monitoring and usage of landfill sites receiving clinical waste.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Waste disposal authorities are responsible for licensing and monitoring disposal facilities. Guidance on best practice for the treatment and disposal of clinical waste is contained in waste management paper No. 25 published in 1983.
A review of current practice is planned for 1989-90 and waste management paper No. 25 will be revised if necessary.
Bats
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department will analyse the study by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on the effect of Lindane and PCP on bats.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department of the Environment is represented on a working group on bats organised by the advisory committee on pesticides which is a group of independent experts who advise Government on pesticides. The working group will consider the report of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on lindane and bats amongst other evidence and report its findings to the advisory committee.
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Rating Reform
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether he will introduce regulations that prevent personal data contained within the community charge registers being used or disclosed for purposes not connected with the community charge by the community charge registration officer or charging authority ; and whether he will make a statement ;
(2) whether he will introduce regulations that prevent personal data being disclosed from community charge registers by the community charge registration officer or charging authority (a) to any Departments of State under the conditions specified in section 34(5)(a) of the Data Protection Act, if the disclosure is not for purposes connected with the community charge, (b) to the police, immigration and tax officials for the purposes specified in section 28 of the Data Protection Act, and (c) to the security services for the purposes specified in section 27 of the Data Protection Act, 1984 ; and whether he will make a statement ;
(3) whether he will introduce regulations that prevent personal data being disclosed from community charge registers by the community charge registration officer or charging authority to public utilities ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : No. There is no need for such regulations. Community charges registration officers and charging authorities have no power to disclose data contained in registers to any third party other than those specified in the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and regulations to be made under it.
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has made any estimate of the average change in the disposable income of equestrian and agricultural workers which will result from the implementation of the poll tax in England and Wales.
Mr. Gummer [holding answer 22 February 1989] : There are no plans for the introduction of a poll tax. In respect of the community charge, no such estimates can usefully be made because of the widely differing circumstances of individuals.
Mr. Simon Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates have been made to calculate how much it will cost Chelmsford borough council to introduce the community charge.
Mr. Gummer : The Government have made no estimates of the cost of introducing the community charge in Chelmsford borough council area. We commissioned Price Waterhouse to undertake an independent study of the total costs of preparation and collection for England and Wales and have allocated resources to authorities on the basis of those national forecasts.
Common Land
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he proposes to introduce legislation on common land, on the lines recommended by the Common land forum ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : We intend to introduce legislation based broadly on the report of the Common land forum at a suitable opportunity when parliamentary time permits.
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Nitrogenous Fertilisers
Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has had with representatives of the farming industry concerning the use of nitrogenous fertilisers and their effect on water supplies.
Mr. Moynihan : Officials from my Department met representatives of the National Farmers Union, the Fertiliser Manufacturers Association and the Country Landowners Association on 15 December 1988 prior to the publication on 16 December of the report "The Nitrate Issue". Officials from MAFF and DTI were also present.
Rates
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average unrebated domestic rates bill in England in each year since 1985-86
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The figures for average unrebated domestic rates bills in England are :
|£
----------------
1985-86 |351
1986-87 |400
1987-88 |429
1988-89 |468
Water Charges
Mr. Madel : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the chairmen of the private water companies whom he has called in to see him as a result of them announcing increases in water charges of more than 10 per cent. for the year 1989-90 ; what response they gave to him ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Howard : I asked the chairmen of any company which was proposing an increase of more than 10 per cent. to come and see me. As of today I have seen 18 chairmen. One company has so far indicated to me that it proposes an increase of under 10 per cent. Discussions with a number of other companies are continuing.
Sports Council
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take regarding the financial management and control of the Sports Council following the publication of the report of the National Audit Office.
Mr. Moynihan : The Public Accounts Committee is to take evidence on the National Audit Office's report on the Sports Council (HC 196) on 1 March. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the report before then.
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if any staff from his Department were seconded to the Sports Council during the period covered by the National Audit Office report into the Sports Council.
Mr. Moynihan : A grade 5 and his personal secretary from this Department were on secondment to the Sports Council between January 1987 to February 1988.
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Cowes National Sailing Centre
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied that full consultation took place before the Cowes national sailing centre was sold.
Mr. Moynihan : The National Audit Office has reported on the sale of the national sailing centre at Cowes in its recent publication, HC 196. The Public Accounts Committee will be taking evidence on this report on 1 March. It would not be appropriate for me to comment in advance of the hearing.
Hospital Waste
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of hospital waste is incinerated ; what controls exist to ensure its proper disposal, together with the disposal of non high-risk waste matter ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are no centrally collected figures for hospital waste. Disposal outside hospital premises including mixture with other wastes must be to sites suitably licensed under the Control of Pollution Act 1974. Incineration is subject to appropriate controls over emissions from combustion processes. For disposal within hospital premises the Government expect health authorities to seek to confirm with the same controls despite the existence of Crown immunity.
Engagements
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all his official engagements for 4 January.
Mr. Ridley : I had no official engagements that day.
Derbyshire and Staffordshire County Councils
Mr. Oppenheim : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people were employed in total, both full-time and part-time (a) by Derbyshire county council and (b) by Staffordshire county council in 1981.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Derbyshire county council employed 38,408 people and Staffordshire county council employed 42,023 people in all services in June 1981.
This compares with 47,650 for Derbyshire and 43,337 for Staffordshire in June 1988.
Rent Levels
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about the growth of private sector rent levels in the London boroughs over the last 18 months ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier [holding answer 22 February 1989] : Information on rents in London boroughs regulated under the Rent Act 1977, as amended by the 1980 Housing Act, is published in Housing and Construction Statistics 1977-1987, table 11.6, and in notes supplied to rent officers ; both of these are available in the Library.
Local Authority Services
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give in tabular form (a)
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Carrick, (b) Adur, (c) Alnwick, (d) Berwick- upon-Tweed and (e) Cheltenham district councils (i) which councils have declared themselves nuclear-free zones (ii) what is the estimated number of homeless people in the district for the most recent month for which figures are available, (iii) what is the number of empty council homes at the end of the most recent month for which figures are available and (iv) whether they have a declared policy of providing the funding for law centres ;(2) if he will give in tabular form for (a) Southend-on-Sea, (b) Three Rivers, (c) West Lindsey, (d) Wyre Forest, (e) South Somerset and (f) Chelmsford district councils (i) which councils have declared themselves nuclear-free zones, (ii) what is the estimated number of homeless people in the district for the most recent month for which figures are available, (iii) what is the number of empty council homes at the end of the most recent month for which figures are available and (iv) whether they have a declared policy of providing the funding for law centres ;
(3) if he will give in tabular form for (a) Eastleigh, (b) Hastings, (c) Hereford, (d) Kerrier, (e) Maidstone, (f) Mendip, (g) Milton Keynes, (h) Pendle, and (i) Peterborough district councils (i) which councils have declared themselves nuclear-free zones, (ii) what is the estimated number of homeless people in the district for the most recent month for which figures are available, (iii) what is the number of empty council homes at the end of the most recent month for which figures are available and (iv) whether they have a declared policy of providing the funding for law centres.
Mr. Trippier [holding answer 22 February 1989] : The information is as follows :
The information available on homelessness relates to the number of households for which authorities have accepted responsibility to secure accommodation under the homelessness provision of the 1985 Housing Act. This information is as follows :
|Number of households|In quarter ending
|accepted
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrick |21 |September 1988
Adur |52 |March 1988
Alnwick |3 |June 1988
Berwick-upon-Tweed |3 |September 1988
Cheltenham |18 |September 1988
Southend-on-Sea |65 |September 1988
Three Rivers |34 |June 1988
West Lindsey |40 |September 1988
Wyre Forest |92 |September 1988
South Somerset |31 |September 1988
Chelmsford |63 |September 1988
Eastleigh |35 |September 1988
Hastings |60 |September 1988
Hereford |32 |September 1988
Kerrier |43 |September 1988
Maidstone |63 |September 1988
Mendip |37 |September 1988
Milton Keynes |103 |September 1988
Pendle |64 |September 1988
Peterborough |110 |September 1988
The numbers of empty council dwellings (wherever situated) at 1 April 1988 are as follows :
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|Number of dwellings
------------------------------------------------------------
Carrick |19
Adur |44
Alnwick |2
Berwick-upon-Tweed |9
Cheltenham |98
Southend-on-Sea |153
Three Rivers |90
West Lindsey |49
Wyre Forest |151
South Somerset |64
Chelmsford |139
Eastleigh |99
Hastings |30
Hereford |71
Kerrier |35
Maidstone |84
Mendip |52
Milton Keynes |57
Pendle |83
Peterborough |159
Information is not held centrally on authorities which have declared themselves to be nuclear free zones or which have a declared policy of providing funding for law centres.
Local Authority Expenditure
Mr. Douglas French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will give in tabular form for (a) Carrick, (b) Adur, (c) Alnwick, (d) Berwick-upon-Tweed and (e) Cheltenham district councils (i) which political party or groups of parties control the councils, (ii) what has been the percentage change in spending by the councils in each financial year since 1986-87, (iii) what has been the change in staffing levels, in whole-time equivalents, for each year since 1985, and (iv) what has been the change in the rate poundage expressed as a percentage for each financial year since 1986 and 1987 ;
(2) if he will give in tabular form for (a) Southend-on-Sea, (b) Three Rivers, (c) West Lindsey, (d) Wyre Forest, (e) South Somerset and (f) Chelmsford district councils (i) which political party or groups of parties control the councils, (ii) what has been the percentage change in spending by the council in each financial year since 1986 and 1987, (iii) what has been the change in staffing levels, in whole-time equivalent, for each year since 1985 and (iv) what has been the change in the rate poundage expressed as a percentage for each financial year since 1986 and 1987 ;
(3) if he will give in tabular form for (a) Eastleigh, (b) Hastings, (c) Hereford, (d) Kerrier, (e) Maidstone, (f) Mendip, (g) Milton Keynes, (h) Pendle and (i) Peterborough district councils (i) which political party or groups of parties control the councils, (ii) what has been the percentage change in spending by the council in each financial year since 1986-87 (iii) what has been the change in staffing levels, in whole-time equivalents, for each year since 1985, and (iv) what has been the change in the rate poundage expressed as a percentage for each financial year since 1986 and 1988.
Mr. Gummer [holding answer 22 February 1989] : The information for the authorities listed is as follows :
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|c|Table A|c|
|c|Percentage change in net current expenditure and local rate poundage|c|
Percentage change in Percentage change in
net current expenditure local rate poundages
|1986-87 to 1987-88 |1987-88 to 1988-89<1>|1986-87 to 1987-88 |1987-88 to 1988-89
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adur |4.9 |11.8 |34.0 |7.6
Alnwick |14.9 |23.0 |-5.9 |22.0
Berwick-upon-Tweed |6.3 |11.6 |0.0 |16.9
Carrick |17.3 |9.4 |5.0 |14.7
Chelmsford |32.5 |16.3 |-11.7 |35.9
Cheltenham |12.0 |5.4 |15.2 |5.0
Eastleigh |6.4 |53.0 |0.1 |5.9
Hastings |17.4 |16.6 |7.4 |4.8
Hereford |11.4 |4.2 |0.0 |-33.6
Kerrier |11.5 |24.0 |2.6 |17.2
Maidstone |27.6 |3.5 |6.4 |1.3
Mendip |20.8 |10.5 |4.0 |11.5
Milton Keynes |20.7 |47.7 |0.0 |3.9
Pendle |10.6 |14.7 |9.3 |9.6
Peterborough |19.7 |10.6 |0.0 |8.8
South Somerset |11.7 |22.6 |3.6 |31.2
Southend-on-Sea |9.0 |12.1 |-4.5 |0.0
Three Rivers |5.2 |17.4 |6.5 |0.8
West Lindsey |60.6 |13.9 |4.4 |7.1
Wyre Forest |3.8 |23.5 |-0.6 |13.6
<1>Using local authority budgets.
|c|Table B|c|
|c|Changes in staffing levels<1> since 1985|c|
Authority Total staff (Changes at June,
PT)<2> compared with a year
earlier
|at June 1985|1986 |1987 |1988
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adur |431 |+3 |-4 |<3>-
Alnwick |203 |+1 |+10 |-6
Berwick-upon-Tweed |193 |-8 |-6 |-1
Carrick |504 |+12 |+11 |+41
Chelmsford |876 |+13 |+20 |+29
Cheltenham |813 |+19 |+36 |<3>-
Eastleigh |554 |-9 |-1 |+20
Hastings |831 |+17 |+33 |+39
Hereford |514 |+6 |+15 |+26
Kerrier |545 |+14 |+15 |+24
Maidstone |1,027 |-18 |-95 |+15
Mendip |317 |+11 |+5 |-2
Milton Keynes |869 |+20 |-10 |+1
Pendle |814 |+47 |<3>- |<3>-
Peterborough |<3>- |<3>- |<3>- |<3>-
South Somerset |725 |+4 |+26 |+3
Southend-on-Sea |1,737 |+45 |-350 |+23
Three Rivers |500 |-17 |+10 |+10
West Lindsey |412 |+2 |+2 |+8
Wyre Forest |906 |+60 |+66 |+2
<1>Figures are for general services (i.e. excluding law and order services).
<2>Full-time equivalent figures are not available at individual authority level.
<3>Data not available.
Seven authorities of those listed, namely adur, Carrick, Chelmsford, Eastleigh, Hereford, South Somerset and Three Rivers, are currently controlled by a single party. In each case SLD has overall control.
Local Authorities (Expenditure Assessments)
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list those local authorities which in the financial years 1987-88, and 1988-89, have used their financial reserves to support spending levels above their grant-related expenditure assessments.
Mr. Gummer : [holding answer 20 February 1989] : The authorities which have used their financial reserves (1) to
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support spending levels (2) above their grant related expenditure assessments in 1987-88 are given in list A and in 1988-89 are given in list B.Note :
(1) Defined as use of balances and/or unallocated contributions from special and capital funds.
(2) Defined as the latest available "total expenditure" returned by authorities.
1987-88--List A
Avon
Buckinghamshire
Cheshire
Cleveland
Derbyshire
Durham
Gloucestershire
Humberside
Isle of Wight
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Somerset
Bury
Manchester
Oldham
Salford
Tameside
Wigan
Liverpool
Sheffield
Gateshead
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
North Tyneside
South Tyneside
Sunderland
Walsall
Wolverhampton
Bradford
Calderdale
Kirklees
Wakefield
I.L.E.A.
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CamdenGreenwich
Hackney
Lambeth
Lewisham
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Wandsworth
Barnet
Bexley
Brent
Haringey
Hounslow
Newham
Richmond-upon-Thames
Bristol
Northavon
Luton
Reading
Chiltern
Crewe and Nantwich
Ellesmere and Neston
Warrington
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Stockton on Tees
Kerrier
South Lakeland
Erewash
Exeter
Torbay
Torridge
Weymouth and Portland
Darlington
Derwentside
Durham
Teesdale
Brighton
Eastbourne
Basildon
Castle Point
Rochford
Thurrock
Gloucester
Stroud
East Hampshire
Southampton
Dacorum
East Hertfordshire
Hertsmere
North Hertfordshire
Stevenage
Holderness
East Yorkshire
Medina
South Wight
Canterbury
Tunbridge Wells
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