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Community Charge
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the environment from his latest information how much local authorities are planning to spend in 1988-89 and 1989-90 on (a) revenue and (b) capital in setting up the community charge ; what were the comparable allowances made in the rate support grant settlement and in capital allocations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : On revenue, returns made by authorities in England show a provisional outturn of £33 million for 1988-89 and a budget figure of £203 million for 1989-90. On capital, the provisional outturn figure is £28 million for 1988-89. No figures are yet available for 1989-90. The resources made available to authorities are, on revenue, £110 million in the rate support grant settlement for 1989-90 ; and on capital, allocations of £25 million for 1988-89 and allocations of £135 million for 1989-90.
Football Matches (Ministerial Visits)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of occasions when he or any of his Ministers visited a football ground or football match within (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last two years ; and if he will state the grounds or matches visited.
Mr. Moynihan : I have attended the following football matches since my appointment as Minister for Sport :
Venue |Date ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Charlton Athletic |v |Arsenal |3 October 1987 Tottenham Hotspur |v |Wimbledon |31 October 1987 Charlton Athletic |v |Chelsea |20 December 1987 Manchester United |v |Charlton Athletic|1 January 1988 Luton Town |v |Derby County |16 January 1988 Charlton Athletic |v |Liverpool |23 January 1988 Hartlepool United |v |Crewe Alexandra |27 February 1988 Derby County |v |Arsenal |26 March 1988 Charlton Athletic |v |Newcastle United |23 April 1988 Millwall |v |Newcastle United |19 November 1988 Charlton Athletic |v |Luton Town |14 January 1989 Charlton Athletic |v |Kettering Town |28 January 1989 Millwall |v |Liverpool |29 January 1989 Fulham |v |Bristol City |18 February 1989 Brentford |v |Bury |25 February 1989 Charlton Athletic |v |Manchester United|22 April 1989
I have also attended the FA Cup and Littlewoods Cup finals in 1988 and 1989 as well as attending international matches.
In addition I have visited the grounds of Reading FC, Liverpool FC and Aston Villa FC on non-match days.
I understand that my hon. and learned Friend the Minister for Water and Planning and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Southampton Itchen (Mr. Chope), have also attended matches.
Shared Ownership Claims
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of shared ownership claims received by local authorities by each region in England and for England as a whole during each year from 1980-81 to 1988-89.
Mr. Trippier [holding answer 10 July 1989] : The available information is shown in the table :
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Right to buy shared ownership claims received by DOE region
|1984-85|1985-86|1986-87|1987-88|1988-89
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |- |- |- |- |-
Yorkshire and Humberside |1 |1 |2 |2 |-
East Midlands |5 |2 |5 |- |-
Eastern |10 |18 |7 |7 |8
London |49 |78 |29 |25 |33
South East |35 |36 |64 |100 |19
South West |6 |8 |4 |2 |2
West Midlands |2 |1 |- |- |8
North West (including Cumbria) |14 |6 |- |- |-
|-- |-- |-- |-- |--
England |122 |150 |111 |136 |70
Playgrounds
Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the regulations covering the construction of children's playgrounds.
Mr. Moynihan [holding answer 13 July 1989] : The construction of childrens' playgrounds is not subject to regulation. However, British Standard BS 5696 recommends specifications for construction and performance of play equipment intended for permanent installation out of doors, and a code of practice for its installation and maintenance. The code of practice is currently under revision. Furthermore, a new British Standard BS 7188, which will specify methods of test for impact-absorbing playground surfaces, is to be published later this year.
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Bristol Channel (Beaches)
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will pay an official visit to the beaches along the English side of the Bristol channel, to observe the degree of pollution apparent both on the beach and in the sea.
Mr. Howard [holding answer 13 July 1989] : My right hon. Friend has no plans to visit the Bristol channel. He receives regular reports from the Wessex and South West water authorities on the quality of bathing waters along the English side of the Bristol channel, and local authorities are responsible for dealing with the pollution of beaches. Water authorities have been asked to draw up improvement programmes with the aim of bringing all bathing waters identified under the EEC bathing water directive into compliance by the mid-1990s.
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Chlorofluorocarbons
Sir Hugh Rossi : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he proposes to take in the light of the findings of the Warren Spring laboratories on the problems associated with the United Kingdom chlorofluorocarbon bank contained in refrigeration equipment and plastic foam estimated to comprise 100,000 tonnes.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 13 July 1989] : My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced on 10 May that he was commissioning an independent study of the impact of business of the existing and envisaged control on emissions of ozone-depleting substances. The consultants engaged should deliver their report to him late this summer. The commissioning of a second phase at an early date is under consideration. It would study the technology-practical arrangements and economics of the recovery, recycling or destruction of such substances from products and industrial processes : this would cover the question of the CFC bank referred to by my hon. Friend.
National Rivers Authority
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many additional posts have been created in (a) the water authorities and (b) the National Rivers Authority as a result of the split of regulatory functions for each water authority region.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 13 July 1989] : The establishment of the National Rivers Authority as a separate regulatory body has been undertaken on the basis that the NRA must have the staff it needs to carry out its statutory functions. It is recognised that this may require some additional staff in the areas of pollution control, water resources and support services, but it is not possible to assess how many additional posts in either the water authorities or the NRA are specifically attributable to the separation of the regulatory functions beyond the 55 to 60 new posts at the NRA's central policy unit.
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people will be employed by the National Rivers Authority for each regional unit on 1 September.
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Mr. Ridley [holding answer 13 July 1989] : The best estimate of the numbers of staff who will be employed in the regional units of the National Rivers Authority on 1 September is as follows :
|Number
---------------------------
Anglian |1,015
Northumbrian |130
North West |762
Severn Trent |784
Southern |543
South West |379
Thames |1,290
Welsh |664
Wessex |371
Yorkshire |531
These figures may be subject to minor changes between now and vesting day. In addition, there will be some 55 to 60 staff in the central policy unit in London.
K Formulae
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends (a) to issue and (b) to make public the K formulae for each water authority and each statutory water company.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 13 July 1989] : I intend if possible to issue decisions on K formulae to the water authorities and to announce those decisions within the next month. Ks for the statutory water companies will be finalised and announced later in the year.
EC Competition Policy
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has recently had discussions with the European Commissioner for Competition on the implications for European competition policy of water privatisation.
Mr. Ridley [holding answer 13 July 1989] : I have had no recent discussions with the Commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, who issued a statement on 7 February saying that the Commission had not found anything in the Government's water privatisation proposals which would raise problems as far as Community law is concerned in the fields of competition or company capital structure.
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