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Pollution (Rivers and Seas)
25. Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to ensure that the British Government meet their international obligations to reduce the amount of pollution discharged into our rivers and seas.
Mr. Trippier : Regulations have been made under the Water Act 1989 to implement EEC directives on dangerous substances. In addition, we published a guidance note in July last year concerning implementation of agreements reached at the third North sea conference.
Vacant Council Properties
26. Mr. Andy Stewart : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the 10 councils with the highest number of vacant domestic properties.
Mr. Yeo : Local authorities reporting the highest number of empty council dwellings at April 1990 were Manchester, Liverpool, Salford, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newham, Leeds, Sunderland and Tower Hamlets.
Housing (Mobility Standard)
28. Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps his Department is taking to encourage private sector developers to build to mobility standard.
Mr. Yeo : In association with the National House Building Council and the Prince of Wales advisory group on disability, my Department has supported the initiative launched by the Prince of Wales in 1985, aimed at encouraging private sector housebuilders to design all new housing to be convenient for the disabled to live in or visit, coupled with house adaptations where necessary. Disabled people may obtain assistance for house adaptations under the new house renovation grant system introduced in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and this should help to increase the amount of housing suitable for people with disabilities. Local authorities' spending on home improvement grants for works to disabled persons' dwellings in England increased from £2.547 million in 1980-81 to £51.549 million in 1988-89. In addition, since October 1987 all housing association build and rehabilitation schemes have been built to mobility standards, wherever practicable.
Household Waste (Disposal)
29. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what measures he is taking to reduce the amount of household waste disposal of inland fill sites.
Mr. Trippier : The White Paper on the environment, "This Common Inheritance", (Cm. 1200), sets out a number of measures that we will be pursuing to ensure successful recycling and minimise waste. We will be pressing industry to increase both the recycling of materials and the use of recycled material ; encouraging retailers to provide collection facilities for recyclable material for their customers ; and persuading industry to expand its capacity to process reclaimed material. We will also be encouraging industry to reduce unnecessary packaging of consumer goods.
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Caravan Sites Act 1968
30. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received about the workings of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
Mr. Yeo : I receive a range of comments from hon. Members and the public about the principles and operation of the Act.
Planning Legislation
31. Sir Hal Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will introduce his new planning Bill.
Sir George Young : The Planning and Compensation Bill was introduced in another place on 15 November 1990.
Disabled Facilities Grants
32. Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will review his policy on the provision of discretionary and mandatory disabled facilities grants.
Mr. Yeo : This is a matter which is being kept under review to ensure that grant assistance continues to go to help disabled people least able to afford the cost of house adaptations.
Local Authorities (Responsibilities)
34. Mr. Buckley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his estimates of the additional costs to local authorities of the new responsibilities placed upon them for 1991-92 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : Standard spending assessments for 1991-92 will rise by a total of £5.78 billion. That is an average increase of 19.4 per cent. It takes full account, among other things, of the additional costs in aggregate of new responsibilities placed on local authorities.
Private Rented Sector
35. Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his policy on the role of the private rented sector in Britain.
Sir George Young : The private rented housing sector has been in long-term decline. The measures introduced by the Housing Act 1988 are designed to stem this decline and bring the private rented sector back into the mainstream of housing by increasing the supply and improving the quality of privately rented accommodation.
Recycling Credits
36. Mr. Paice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress in the introduction of recycling credits.
Mr. Baldry : My Department has commissioned a study by independent consultants on the operation of a system of recycling credits. We expect to receive their report shortly. When we have considered their advice we will consult local authorities and other interested parties on draft regulations governing the payment of these recycling credits.
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Capper Pass Smelting Plant
37. Mr. Cran : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will report on the progress being made by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution and academics from Lancaster university, in their research into levels of radioactivity around the Capper Pass smelting plant in Humberside.
Mr. Baldry : The study being carried out by Lancaster university under contract to my Department is proceeding satisfactorily and to schedule. The results are due to be published by 31 December 1992.
Housing Associations
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of housing association build is built to (a) wheelchair standard and (b) mobility standard.
Mr. Yeo : Approximately 5 per cent. of housing association completions of new dwellings in England reported to my Department in the year ending September 1990 were dwellings for the chronically sick and disabled, built to mobility standards. A further 4 per cent. were dwellings for the chronically sick and disabled built to wheelchair standards.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Pendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what specific measures his Department has taken to promote energy efficiency ; what further measures his Department intends to take to promote energy efficiency ; and by what amount and what percentage of its total energy bill his Department's energy bill has been reduced over the past year.
Mr. Heseltine : Since 1985, energy efficiency in my Department has been promoted by monitoring its fuel and utilities consumption, the establishment of energy conservation targets, the implementation of energy saving schemes, including the installation of more energy efficient lighting and improved computerised building management control systems, and the promotion of staff awareness relating to their energy usage and role in its conservation.
Further measures include the proposed replacement of the building research establishment heating system and the installation of lighting controls and low-energy-consuming luminaries in headquarters buildings in London and Bristol.
Over the four-year period ending March 1990, the energy bill for my Department's office estate (excluding the Property Services Agency and Property Holdings) was reduced by approximately 30 per cent. Whilst figures for the current financial year will not be available until May 1991, my Department expects to achieve further savings of 3 per cent. over 1989-90.
Subsidiarity
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will consider the application of subsidiarity to the respective powers of local and central Government.
Mr. Key : As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 5 December, we are currently conducting a
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thorough and fundamental review of the structure and finance of local government. Nothing is ruled out of its scope and nothing ruled in.Land Designation
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received urging a single, national comprehensive scheme for the designation of land which must be farmed or otherwise used in special ways for environmental or conservation purposes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : None. Government policy on the designation of land is to target areas of particular environmental value or sensitivity and to apply objectives which are relevant to those specific areas. Examples of designations for which my Department is responsible include national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and sites of special scientific interest.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is responsible for the designation of environmentally sensitive areas in which farmers are invited to maintain or adopt traditional farming methods in return for annual payments. As announced in the Environment White Paper, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is carrying out a review of environmentally sensitive areas this year.
Marine Resources
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to review the legislation affecting the planning and use of marine resources ; and if he will indicate a time scale.
Mr. Yeo : The environment White Paper announced our intention to review existing legislation to see how this could help meet conservation objectives in the marine environment.
Housing Investment Programme, Warrington
Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the housing investment programme allocation for Warrington for (a) 1990-91 and (b) 1991-92.
Mr. Yeo : Warrington borough council's housing investment programme allocations for 1990-91 and 1991-92 are £2.610 million and £2.659 million respectively. For 1990-91, the council received additional resources of £0.4 million through the estate action programme. Decisions on estate action schemes to be funded in 1991-92 will be taken shortly.
Common Land
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to introduce comprehensive common land legislation.
Mr. Trippier : We are reviewing the position in the light of the discussions held in the major interests following the statement I made on 26 July last.
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Leaseholders
Mr. Bellotti : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he proposes to take towards allowing leaseholders to buy the freehold of the property which they occupy.
Mr. Yeo : Most leaseholders of houses, but not of flats, already have the right to purchase their freeholds. In addition, a court can order the compulsory acquisition by the leaseholders of flats of the freeholder's interest in certain circumstances where he is failing in his duties. Leaseholders of flats also have the right of first refusal when the freeholder sells his interest. And it is open to leaseholders to seek to purchase the freehold by negotiation. The possibility of compulsory acquisition of the freehold interest when a commonhold is being established is one of the options considered in the paper on commonhold which the Lord Chancellor has recently issued for consultation. No decision on this has been taken.
Mr. Bellotti : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he proposes to take to enable leaseholders to exercise greater managerial control of the property which they occupy.
Mr. Yeo : Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 residential leaseholders already have considerable rights in respect of the management of their properties. In most cases, they can apply to the courts for the appointment of a manager if the landlord is not managing the block properly. Leaseholders can wholly control the management of their flats by purchasing the freehold and establishing a managing company. In addition, the Lord Chancellor has issued a consultation paper on proposals for commonhold tenure, which provides an alternative management structure. The consultation period ends on 28 February.
National Rivers Authority
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he plans to meet the chairman of the National Rivers Authority ; and what matters will be discussed.
Mr. Baldry : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment met Lord Crickhowell on 17 December and intends to meet him again on 5 February. Discussions cover a range of matters relating to the National Rivers Authority's responsibilities for the water environment.
Drinking Water
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information his Department is gathering about water companies' plans to improve the quality of drinking water, and especially on their planned investment to purify water from dangerous substances.
Mr. Baldry : Public water supplies already comply with the great majority of the standards in the Water Quality Regulations, which are in some respects more stringent than those in the EC drinking water directive ; and, even where they do not comply with all the standards, the water
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is still safe to drink. Water companies have drawn up programmes costing £1.8 billion over five years in order to improve quality further. These programmes are incorporated in undertakings under section 20 of the Water Act 1989 and in conditions attached to authorisations under regulation 4 of the Water Quality Regulations, and copies of these undertakings and authorisations are in the Library. The drinking water inspectorate makes regular checks to ensure that completion dates are being met. As part of its technical audit of water companies, the inspectorate will examine these programmes in detail, to assess whether they continue to represent the fastest practicable means of achieving compliance with the remaining standards.Playing Fields
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to discourage the sale of playing fields ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : The issue of the disposal of playing fields has been addressed in the draft planning policy guidance note on sport and recreation which my Department issued for public consultation in October last year. In the light of the several hundred responses received, my right hon. Friend will be considering carefully, in consultation with other Departments concerned, what advice should be included in the final guidance.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will require county and district councils to indicate those areas within their planning control which are suitable for use in the disposal on land of waste products at present disposed of into coastal waters.
Mr. Yeo : Assessment of the relative merits of alternative means of waste disposal is one of the matters for consideration in the waste disposal plans which authorities are already required to prepare under environmental protection legislation. Amendments to the Planning and Compensation Bill have been tabled in another place which will also require county councils in England to prepare waste disposal development plans for their areas. These plans, which will complement the present waste disposal plans, will set out authorities' land use policies and proposals for the management and disposal of waste.
Fire-resistant Materials
Mr. Michael J. Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his Department's proposals to reduce the amount of fire-resistant materials in new buildings ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : The consultation paper on proposed amendments to part B, "Safety in Fire", of the Buildings Regulations 1985 includes proposals to reduce periods of fire resistance in some situations, particularly when active fire prevention measures such as sprinklers are also being provided. Comments on these proposals are currently being considered by the fire advisory panel and the Building Regulations Advisory Committee but there are some difficult issues involved and their final advice is unlikely to be available before the summer.
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Council Houses
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many new local authority homes for rent he expects will be completed during 1990-91.
Mr. Yeo : Local authorities in England are expected to complete about 13,000 houses during 1990-91. Housing associations are becoming the main providers of additional subsidised housing for rent. Public funding for associations through the Housing Corporation will increase from £1.2 billion this year to over £2 billion by 1993-94. Together with their increased ability to draw in private funds, this will permit a sustained increase in output of subsidised housing by associations over the next few years.
Right to Buy
Mr. Mans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many dwellings each local authority has sold under the right to buy legislation or voluntarily since April 1979 ; and what percentage of the total local authority stock they represent.
Mr. Yeo : I have placed in the Library a table giving available information on local authority sales up to September 1990. It shows year by year information for each authority since 1985-86 together with cumulative figures since April 1979 and the proportion of their stock sold since April 1979.
Battersea Power Station
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he has received from English Heritage about the fabric of the former Battersea power station.
Sir George Young [holding answer 29 January 1991] : English Heritage has not to date seen the need to offer formal advice to my right hon. Friend on the state of the fabric of Battersea power station, but have kept officials of the Department informed on the progress of their direct dealings with Mr. John Broome and his company. Mr. Broome met the chairman and officials of English Heritage last October and gave them an assurance that the company would be carrying out urgent repairs to certain parts of the building which are particularly at risk, notably the control room and the directors' staircase.
English Heritage officials have been holding monthly meetings on site with the company's agents and have continued to press for these repairs. A start has been made on them, and the company has promised to tackle the remainder very shortly. I gather that Mr. Broome hopes to start work on the leisure complex scheme, for which he holds extant planning and listed bulding consents, in the late spring or early summer, subject to raising finance and concluding negotiations with Wandsworth borough council on ancillary matters.
Ministerial Responsibility
Sir Trevor Skeet : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will publish in the Official Report a list of all those Ministers who have been given a specific responsibility for environmental matters within their respective departmental portfolios.
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Mr. Heseltine : [pursuant to his reply, 24 January, column 274] : The name of the Secretary of State for Wales, the right hon. David Hunt, MP, was inadvertently omitted from the list of Ministers nominated to be responsible for environmental matters within their respective departmental portfolios.AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Food Labelling
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress in establishing a common European standard for the labelling of fats and other nutritional contents of food offered for sale.
Mr. Maclean : The directive on nutrition labelling rules was finally agreed by the Council on 24 September and was published in the Official Journal of 6 October. It lays down the statutory format for giving nutrition information on food labels. It provides for a two-stage approach with energy, protein, carbohydrates and fat in the first group, plus sugar, sodium, saturates and fibre in the second. The giving of information remains voluntary, although when given it must be comprehensive and in the agreed format. The exception to this is that, where a nutrition claim is made, the provision of the information in the agreed format is compulsory.
The first stage of the approach comes into effect from 1 October 1993 ; the second stage comes into effect two years later. There remain some detailed provisions still to be agreed but I anticipate these issues will be resolved within the initial run-in period. We are disappointed that we did not achieve earlier implementation dates and I know that consumer and health groups will be similarly disappointed. It was, however, not possible to rally majority support in Brussels for an earlier implementation date, and we thought it best to enable this important directive to be agreed without further delay and possible dilution. We shall be making the necessary changes to United Kingdom food labelling legislation, but in the meantime we shall now actively encourage the United Kingdom food industry to provide comprehensive nutrition information to the level of both first and second stages as we do already in the United Kingdom Government guidelines on nutrition labelling of food.
The second directive, giving powers to require selected nutrients to be the subject of compulsory labelling, has not been agreed, but we have ensured that it remains on the table in Brussels. There is a general support amongst a majority of member states for the principles behind this proposal, but it is felt that decisions about compulsory labelling will best be considered after experience has been gained with the voluntary system. Because the science of nutrition is relatively new and ideas and knowledge are still developing, the United Kingdom Government are prepared to go along with the majority view whilst wishing to ensure that the issue of compulsory nutrition labelling does not disappear from view.
Set-aside
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what studies his Department has undertaken or commissioned to determine what savings are made in common agricultural policy commodity
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market support by farmers forestalling increased production by joining the set-aside scheme ; and what are the results.Mr. Curry : The Department has commissioned an evaluation of the set -aside scheme by Reading university, and we are awaiting the results.
Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he will make it his policy to extend the currently experimental countryside premium top up scheme from the east of England to the whole of the farmed countryside subsequent to his Ministry taking over the running of this scheme ; whether he will extend the period of agreement under the scheme on set-aside land ; and what plans he has to ensure that any extension of the scheme is sensitive to local environmental conditions ;
(2) what advice is available to farmers who wish to manage set-aside in ways compatible with wildlife and nature conservation ; and whether he will extend the period of agreement under the existing set-aside scheme for land managed in ways compatible with the environment.
Mr. Curry : A booklet is available under the set-aside scheme which provides farmers with advice on how they may manage their land for the benefit of wildlife, nature conservation and the landscape. Advice is also available from the agricultural development and advisory service and the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and, to participants in the countryside premium scheme, from the countryside Commission and the Nature Conservancy Council.
The EC Commission's proposals on agriculture and the environment contain measures which, if adopted, would permit the Agriculture Departments to take over the countryside premium scheme and the payment of set-aside aid for up to 20 years on afforested land or land used for specified ecological purposes. Subject to adoption of these proposals and review of the existing scheme, the intention is to extend the countryside premium scheme to the whole of Great Britain.
If appropriate, the period of set-aside agreements will be reconsidered in light of any changes addopted by the Council of Ministers.
Beef and Sheep Extensification
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what studies his Department has undertaken or commissioned to determine what savings are made in common agricultural policy commodity market support by farmers forestalling increased production by joining the pilot beef and sheep extensification scheme ; and what are the results.
Mr. Curry : The Department has commissioned an evaluation of the beef and sheep pilot extensification schemes by Wye college (London university) and the centre for European agricultural studies at Wye, and we are awaiting the results.
Animal Welfare
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has made to his counterparts (a) in the European Economic Community and (b) in the United States of
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America, Australia and New Zealand, for those countries to bring their animal welfare provision in line with the standards prevailing in the United Kingdom.Mr. Maclean : No such representations have been made, except in discussions in the European Community where we are pressing for the uniform application of high welfare standards.
Strategic Food Stocks
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will give details, for each of the years 1979-80 to 1989-90, of losses from the strategic food stocks due to damage and contamination in terms of (a) type of food lost, (b) quantity of food lost, (c) value of food lost and (d) cause of loss ; (2) what steps are being taken to prevent losses to strategic food stocks caused by deficiencies in storage arrangement.
Mr. Maclean : Strategic food stocks are kept under regular surveillance by scientific and other staff and remedial action taken as appropriate to ensure the quality and condition is maintained. The average annual losses during the period 1979-80 and 1989-90 of all stocks, including the inevitable deterioration of stocks at the end of their storage life, is less than 0.1 per cent. of the total stock and is valued at less than £100,000 per annum at present-day replacement costs.
Protected Species
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many licences were issued during each of 1989 and 1990 by him under section 16(3) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; and what are the species involved, the method of taking specified and the number of each species actually taken.
Mr. Maclean : The information requested, for England, is as follows :
Æ
Year |Species |Licences |Method of |Number
|issued for |taking |taken
|England
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1989 |Badger |6 |Cage traps |7
|Glis glis |5 |Cage traps |57
1990 |Badger |2 |Cage traps |0
|Glis glis |4 |Cage traps and taking from nests|<1>0
<1> Provisional-One licence return pending.
Foodstuffs Control
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what will be the expenditure implications of the EC directive on the official control of foodstuffs.
Mr. Maclean : An extra £30 million has been added to the revenue support grant from 1991-92 to meet the costs falling to local authorities in Great Britain, as a result of new food legislation. This includes expenditure arising from the EC directive on the official control of foodstuffs.
The money will be distributed among local authorities in the usual way.
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Milk
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what response he has made to the recommendation from the Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, that the consumption of untreated milk is hazardous ; and whether he will now take steps to ban the sale of untreated milk in England and Wales.
Mr. Maclean : Following public consultation in 1989, the Government decided that consumers in England and Wales should continue to be free to choose untreated milk. However, in view of the established health risks associated with this product, new labelling and microbiological testing requirements were introduced in 1990 to ensure that consumers were properly informed and that the risks were minimised. The Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food has recommended that these new measures should be very rigorously enforced and the incidence of food-borne illness associated with the consumption of untreated milk kept closely under review. The Government have accepted this recommendation.
Livestock Extensification Scheme
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what factors determined his proposal to offer £55 per grazing livestock unit under the livestock extensification scheme ; and what information he has of publicly funded bodies which are offering a higher figure per grazing livestock unit.
Mr. Curry : When determining the rate of payment under the beef pilot extensification scheme all relevant factors were considered, including the possible effects on the financial position of those who might participate and the need to achieve value for money. There is no equivalent extensification scheme run by other publicly funded bodies.
Flood Prevention
Dr. Kim Howells : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the National Rivers Authority to discuss flood prevention schemes.
Mr. Curry : My right hon. Friend the Minister meets the chairman of the National Rivers Authority on a regular basis to discuss implementation of the Government's flood defence policy.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Petitions
Mr. Allen : To ask the Lord President of the Council what proposals he has to simplify the language required to be used under the public petition procedure.
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