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Hackney

Hammersmith and Fulham

Hartlepool

Hastings

Hereford

Hillingdon

Hounslow

Ipswich

Isles of Scilly

Islington

Kensington and Chelsea

Kingston upon Hull

Knowsley

Lambeth

Leeds

Leicester

Leicestershire CC

Lincoln

Liverpool

Luton

Manchester

Medina

Middlesbrough

Milton Keynes

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Bedfordshire

Northampton

Northavon

Norwich

Nottingham

Nottinghamshire CC

Oxford

Peterborough

Plymouth

Poole

Portsmouth

Preston

Reading

Restormel

Rochester upon Medway

Rugby

Rushmoor

Salford

Salisbury

Sandwell

Scunthorpe

Selby

Sheffield

Shrewsbury and Atcham

Slough

South Somerset

Southampton

Southwark

St Edmundsbury

Stafford

Stockton-on-Tees

Stoke-on-Trent

Taunton Deane

Thamesdown

Tower Hamlets

Trafford

Wakefield

Walsall

Warrington

Watford

Welwyn Hatfield

West Dorset

West Somerset

Westminster

Winchester

Wolverhampton

Worcester

Worthing

York

Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce regulations to require YTS trainees to pay only 20 per cent. of the community charge.

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Mr. Chope [holding answer 29 March 1990] : No. From May, 18- year-old YTS trainees will receive £35 per week plus top-up payments which can be substantial. Their liability for the community charge will depend upon their net income, but it is likely that most will be eligible for community charge benefit.

Mobility

Mr. McWilliam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many applications for rehousing under the national mobility scheme there have been in each year since its inception.

Mr. Michael Spicer : The number of nominations made by authorities on behalf of applicants for rehousing in another authority were as follows for each year :

          |Number             


------------------------------


1981-82   |16,401             


1982-83   |25,322             


1983-84   |27,776             


1984-85   |33,877             


1985-86   |26,796             


1986-87   |33,407             


1987-88   |27,224             


1988-89   |<1>20,369          


<1> Interim figure.           

Mr. McWilliam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list those local authorities which have rehoused applicants under the national mobility scheme by authority, number accepted and year accepted, and in total ;

(2) if he will list those local authorities which have unsuccessfully asked for rehousing of their residents to another local authority under the national mobility scheme by authority, number rejected, year applied and total.

Mr. Michael Spicer : The information is not held centrally.

Mr. McWilliam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of applications for rehousing under the national mobility scheme have been successful.

Mr. Michael Spicer : During the period from 1981, when the scheme started, to the end of 1988-89, 26 per cent. of all those who were nominated by their local authority for rehousing elsewhere were successful in moving to their area of choice ; a further 7 per cent. are still on waiting lists.

Bellwin Scheme

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his Department's proposals for making a scheme under section 155 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Mr. David Hunt : It will be necessary to make a scheme under this section only following an emergency and a decision by the Government to provide financial help for local authorities. The details of the scheme will reflect the nature of the emergency. My Department has recently written to local authorities in England outlining the

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changes envisaged in the Bellwin scheme following the reform of local government finance. I have placed a copy in the Library. It is proposed to pay grant at the rate of 85 per cent. of eligible expenditure over a threshold equivalent to £2 per adult.

Uniform Business Rate

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will review the uniform business rate for small rural village business concerns to include turnover and profit in its calculation.

Mr. Chope : Rateable values reflect the rent that might reasonably be expected to be paid from year to year for each property, on the assumption that the tenant pays the cost of repairs and insurance. In the 1990 revaluation, the level of value relates to 1 April 1988 but reflects the physical state of the property on 1 April 1990. To the extent that generally profit margins may be smaller in rural areas, these could be expected to be reflected in rents, which would in turn be reflected in rateable values.

House Renovation Grants

Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about changes in the system of house renovation grants.

Mr. Chope : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham) on 22 February, Official Report, Vol. 167, column 888 .

Groundwater Contamination (Oxfordshire)

Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received any information from the National Rivers Authority concerning the contamination of groundwater at the Blewbury borehole in south Oxfordshire.

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The National Rivers Authority and Thames Water Utilities have kept the Department informed of recent observations and developments concerning groundwater quality in the Blewbury area of south Oxfordshire. Carbon tetrachloride has been detected in water supplied at about half the concentration prescribed in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 1989. There is no cause for concern. Work is in hand to ascertain the source of the solvent and any corrective measures required.

Merchant Seamen

Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking following the recent ruling of the Humberside valuation and community charge tribunal concerning the liability of merchant seamen to the community charge ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chope : The Humberside valuation and community charge tribunal found that the individual circumstances of some merchant seamen whose employment required them to be absent from home for substantial periods meant they should not be registered as liable for the community charge. It is not for my right. hon. Friend to comment on the decisions of an independent tribunal.

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Correspondence (MEPs)

Mr. David Young : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many communications he has received from Members of the European Parliament since 18 June 1989 that concern local or United Kingdom matters ; and if he will make it his practice, where such matters are involved, to provide the honourable Member for the local constituency with a copy of the correspondence and the reply for information.

Mr. Trippier : This Department has received approximately 100 communications from Members of the European Parliament since 18 June 1989.

Where the correspondence raises questions of exclusively local interest, the practice is to recommend the MEP to refer the matter to the hon. Member for the constituency concerned. As with other correspondence, replies to such communications would normally be copied to the hon. Member concerned only if the MEP had himself copied his letter in this way.

Drinking Water, Northumbria

Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the location and staffing by grade and size of the drinking water inspectorate for the Northumbrian water authority area.

Mr. Trippier : The drinking water inspectorate is located in central London and recruitment is in progress. There are currently 12 staff in post : a chief inspector ; deputy chief inspector ; a further four professional staff ; and six administrative and support staff. At present, staff are not allocated to any specific region or area.

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