House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 May 1992

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The total gross annual pay of RAF service personnel at RAF Brawdy in 1993-94 will be approximately £2.5 million. Net pay is estimated to be about 30 per cent. less. A precise net figure could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration he has given to representatives of his Department's meeting with consultants Conran Roche or members of the task force set up by the Secretary of State for Wales to discuss alternative uses, within his Department, for RAF Brawdy and RNAD Trecwn.

Column 39

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The Ministry of Defence has been represented on the west Wales task force since its inception. Officials have already met with Conran Roche, and will do so again as necessary in the future.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the estimate of total saving to his Department's budget by ending flight training at RAF Brawdy in the financial years of 1992-93 and 1993-94 ;

(2) what will be the saving to his Department's budget in property and estate management costs by ending flight training at RAF Brawdy in the financial years 1992-93 and 1993-94 ;

(3) what will be the saving to his Department's budget in base security costs when flight training ceases at RAF Brawdy in financial years 1992-93 and 1993-94 ;

(4) what will be the saving to his Department's budget in service personnel costs by ending flight training at RAF Brawdy for financial years 1992-93 and 1993-94.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Ending flying training at RAF Brawdy will save an average of £2 million a year over a 10-year period.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total monthly net pay for all RAF personnel currently based at RAF Brawdy.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The total gross pay for all RAF personnel at RAF Brawdy was £977,373 for the month of March 1992. Net pay would have been about 30 per cent. less. A precise net figure could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of those service personnel presently employed at RAF Brawdy will be made redundant when flight training ceases at RAF Brawdy.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : No service personnel presently employed at RAF Brawdy will be made redundant as a result of the cessation of flying training.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total expenditure on local contracts and purchases by RAF Brawdy in financial years 1990-91 and 1991-92 ; and what are the estimates for 1992- 93 and 1993-94.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : For 1990-91 total expenditure on local contracts and purchases is estimated at approximately £340,000 and for 1991-92 approximately £290,000. Figures for 1992-93 and 1993-94 are not available but are expected to commensurate with the planned rundown.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF service personnel will be transferred from RAF Brawdy when it ceases flight training activities ; how many of them will go to other flight training bases ; and how many of them will go to duties other than those connected with flight training bases.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : When all activities related to flying training have ceased some 560 RAF personnel will be progressively transferred from RAF Brawdy. It is not yet possible to say how many will go to flying training stations or how many will go to other duties as this will depend on service requirements, individual preference and career development.

Column 40

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what studies are taking place by his Department's officials into alternative uses for RAF Brawdy and RNAD Trecwn ; what plans he has for these to involve representatives of the Secretary of State for Wales's task force ; and when the report will be published ; (2) what investigations were made by his Department into alternative uses within his Department for RAF Brawdy before the announcement that flight training would end there.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Although flying training at RAF Brawdy is to cease this year the station will remain open. Studies have taken place into alternative defence activities that could be accommodated at the station. None has arisen. My Department is still investigating possible defence uses for RNAD Trecwn, failing which the site will be offered to other Government Departments. Officials of my Department are taking part in the consideration of other uses currently being undertaken by the west Wales task force set up by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

Mr. Ainger : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the total annual net pay for all RAF personnel based at RAF Brawdy in the financial years 1991-92 and 1990-91.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The total gross pay for all RAF personnel based at RAF Brawdy was £9.9 million in 1990-91 and £11.3 million in 1991-92. Total net pay was about 30 per cent. less. A precise net figure could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Low Frequency Monitoring

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the latest position on proposals to establish an extremely low frequency listening post of Sron A'Choire Ghairbh beside Loch Lochy ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Aitken : I assume that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the programme to construct an experimental extremely low frequency transmitter at the location he describes. I have nothing further to add to the answer given by the then Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) on 14 February 1991, announcing our decision not to proceed with this project.

Naval Support Command

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the date on which Ministers approved the proposals to restructure the fleet support.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : In March 1992 Ministers endorsed a package of proposals designed to achieve staff savings and restructure the Department's headquarters organisation as a contribution to overall economies in the support area. One of these proposals was the establishment of a new naval support command.

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how large the establishment of the proposed naval support command will be.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The headquarters establishment of the new naval support command will be in the order of 3,300.

Column 41

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where the staff who will make up the proposed naval support command are currently situated.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : The naval support command will bring together staff currently located in or near Bath, London, Portsmouth, Weymouth and Stockton-on-Tees.

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the advantages and disadvantages of collocating all naval support command staff on one site.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : Work is under way to assess all relevant factors involved in setting up the new naval support command including the costs and benefits of full collocation. A principal advantage gained from the collocation of headquarters staff would be the greater effectiveness of multi-disciplinary groups dedicated to supporting equipments and systems in service.

Staff Relocation

Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the estimated cost of relocating staff from Eaglescliffe to Bath.

Mr. Archie Hamilton : About £2 million.

ENVIRONMENT

Development Land

Ms. Gordon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has, or what proposals he is investigating, for payment on deferred terms by developers for land obtained by them for development within areas controlled by urban development corporations.

Mr. Robin Squire : My Department is currently considering a proposal for a development under which the London Docklands development corporation will benefit from a deferred profit share arrangement.

New Forest

Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has yet decided upon a date for granting national park status to the New Forest.

Mr. Maclean : No. We intend to introduce legislation as soon as a convenient opportunity can be found.

Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if the New Forest is in the first tranche of local authorities covered by the Local Government Commission's recommendations for reorganisation.

Mr. Robin Squire : We hope to make an announcement about the Local Government Commission's programme of areas before the summer recess. Areas where there is a history of dissatisfaction with the existing local government structure will be high on the commission's list of priorities.

Local Government Reorganisation

Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the timetable for the first tranche of recommendations under the local government commission's proposals for the reorganisation of local government.

Column 42

Mr. Robin Squire : The commission will begin its reviews of areas, as directed by the Secretary of State, as soon as practicable after it has been set up. We hope that the commission will make recommendations in time for the first new authorities to be established on 1 April 1994. Others will take longer.

Mr. Temple-Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to appoint the local government commission and its staff ; and how long he expects it will take for the commission to review the structure of local government and make recommendations.

Mr. Robin Squire : We intend to set up the new local government commission this summer.

We want the commission to complete its reviews of local government structure as quickly as possible, subject to the need to give proper consideration to the complex issues involved. We hope that the commission will make recommendations in time for the first new unitary authorities to be established on 1 April 1994.

Recommendations on other areas are likely to lead to other unitary authorities being set up later.

Mr. Michael Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the procedures adopted by the local government commission in its review of local government.

Mr. Robin Squire : The procedures for the local government commission to follow are set out in general terms in section 15 of the Local Government Act 1992. My right hon. Friend will issue guidance to the commission, building on these statutory requirements. Detailed procedures for the conduct of individual reviews will be a matter for the commission itself.

Competitive Tendering

Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends to introduce legislation to extend compulsory competitive tendering to local authority housing management ; and if he will make a statement.

Sir George Young : A consultation paper setting out our proposals will be published within the next few weeks.

European Community Environmental Law

Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any agreement has been reached between the European Communities and the European Free Trade Association to apply EC environmental law in EFTA states.

Mr. Maclean : Under the agreement on the European economic area, signed on 2 May and due to enter into force on 1 January 1993, the EFTA countries will be bound by most EC environmental legislation forming part of the single market provisions. Annex XX to the agreement lists the 32 items of environmental legislation which fall into this category. The agreement also provides for closer co-operation between EC and EFTA countries in the field of the environment and specifies that

"environmental protection requirements shall be a component of the Contracting Parties' other policies".

The official text of the signed version of the agreement will be deposited in Parliament as soon as it is received.

Column 43

Waste Carriers

Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on progress made in the registration of waste carriers under the provisions of the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989.

Mr. Maclean : The Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 came fully into force on 1 April 1992 and the responsibility to apply for registration rests with those who transport controlled waste. Each waste regulation authority is required to establish and maintain a public register of carriers and the register must include a copy of each application made to the authority. As indicated in DOE circular 11/91-- paragraphs 8 and 9--a co-ordinated national database of carriers is also being established by waste regulation authorities.

Emissions

Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his policy on the principle of equal per capita emissions rights ; and if it will be included in his forthcoming submission to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

Mr. Maclean : The preamble to the United Nations framework convention on climate change recognises that per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low and that the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their social and development needs.

Hazardous Waste

Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to provide for the disconnection of all toxic industrial discharges to sewers and the immediate cessation of any new consent to discharge toxic industrial waste into sewers.

Mr. Maclean : No. Under the Water Industry Act 1991 it is for sewerage undertakers, and in the case of special category effluent for the Secretary of State, to determine whether to accept such discharges and to set appropriate consent conditions. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it is for Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, in consultation with sewerage undertakers, to include appropriate conditions in authorizations for processes subject to integrated pollution control, and for the chief inspector to have regard to the best practicable environmental option, which may include disposal to sewer.

Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether sufficient countries have ratified the Basel convention on the transfrontier movement and disposal of hazardous waste for the convention to enter into force.

Mr. Maclean : Yes. The Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal came into force on 5 May.

Column 44

Closed Churchyards

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will meet representatives from Newcastle borough council and local authority associations to discuss section 215 of the Local Government Act 1972 involving the additional costs incurred following the taking over of maintenance of closed churchyards.

Mr. Robin Squire : No. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has no plans to amend section 215 of the Local Government Act 1972, which simply continues a system which has existed since 1855. Such costs are taken into account when deciding the revenue support grant.

Earth Summit

Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment his Department has made of the "Bottom Line" booklet published by Greenpeace prior to the United Nations earth summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr. Maclean : The Department has studied the Greenpeace booklet and taken note of the views expressed by that organisation.

Wildlife

Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will introduce a wildlife enhancement scheme ; what its scope will be ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean : The wildlife enhancement scheme was launched by English Nature as a three-year pilot in November 1991. It provides annual and fixed cost payments to farmers who agree to adopt management practices which will maintain and enhance the nature conservation value of their land. The scheme is presently open to owners and occupiers in the Pevensey Levels sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) in Sussex, the Culm Grasslands SSSIs on the Devon and Cornwall border, and the Coversand Heath and Peatland SSSIs in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Sustainable Living

Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to adopt a declaration and covenant committing the United Kingdom to the ethic of sustainable living, including a definition of rights and responsibilities.

Mr. Maclean : This Government's commitment to the principle of sustainable development was clearly set out in the 1990 environment White Paper "This Common Inheritance". We will develop policies on environmental rights and responsibilities through the citizens charter initiative.

National Parks

Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will bring forward plans to give the New Forest the statutory protection of national park status.

Mr. Maclean : We intend to introduce legislation as soon as a convenient opportunity can be found.

Column 45

Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will bring forward plans to increase the resources,

responsibilities and local accountability of national park authorities.

Mr. Maclean : We cannot commit ourselves to any specific future level of resources for the national parks, but our record on funding them is a good one. National parks supplementary grant has risen by well over 50 per cent. in real terms over the last five years and 24 per cent. more money was made available to the parks in 1992-93 than in 1991-92. In January, we announced our intention to introduce legislation to create all national park authorities as independent bodies, though still within the local government framework, and to take steps to ensure truly local representation on them. The move to independence will bring to the national park authorities freedom to manage their own affairs and a more undivided commitment to park objectives. We will introduce legislation as soon as a convenient opportunity can be found.

Species Recovery Scheme

Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will expand the species recovery scheme ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean : The "recovery" scheme to assist specific native plants and animals in danger of extinction was launched by English Nature in April 1991. Fourteen species were included in the scheme in 1991-92 and English Nature plans to increase this to 21 in 1992-93.

Disabled People (Housing)

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list, by district council, the number of applications made for adaptations to the homes of disabled people in each of the last five years ; how many adaptations were carried out in each year ; and what was the average length of time to complete adaptations from the request for an adaptation to be made to its conclusion.

Mr. Baldry : The current system of renovation grants, which was introduced in June 1990 under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, includes disabled facilities grants. Information about final payments of these grants, which correspond to adaptations carried out, will be shortly published for 1990 and 1991 in "Local Housing Statistics : England and Wales" issue No. 101. An advance copy of the relevant tables has been deposited in the Library.

For earlier periods, payments of improvement and intermediate grants were made for disabled persons' dwellings under the Housing Act 1985. Details are also shown in "Local Housing Statistics", in the following issues :

1987--Issue No. 87, Table 11

1988--Issue No. 90, Table 14

1989--Issue No. 94, Table 13

1990--Issue No. 98, Table 11

Copies of these issues are available in the Library. A table showing payments during 1991 under the 1985 Act has been deposited in the Library.

Figures are not available at district level about the number of applications for grants or about the average length of time to complete work funded by grants.

Column 46

Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list by district council the number of (a) owner- occupiers and private tenants and (b) council tenants who have applied in each of the last two years for the disabled facilities grant ; how many adaptations were carried out in each category ; what was the average length of time taken to complete adaptations from the request for an adaptation to be made to its conclusion in each category ; and in each category what was the average amount paid by (i) applicants, (ii) district councils and (iii) central Government.

Mr. Baldry : A table has been deposited in the Library with the available information about payments of disabled facilities grants under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 during the financial year 1990- 91. Figures for the subsequent year are not yet available. The table shows the numbers of grants paid to owner-occupants and types of tenant and, without an analysis by occupancy, both the average value of grants and the average contribution from the applicant towards the cost of works.

The Department provides a 75 per cent. Exchequer contribution towards local authorities' expenditure in England on disabled facilities grants for owner -occupiers and private tenants. Expenditure on these grants for council tenants is eligible for 100 per cent. subsidy from the housing revenue account.

Figures of the number of applications for grants and the average length of time to complete work funded by grants are not available at district level.

Aggregates

Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres or hectares of the borough of Thurrock, Essex, are currently being exploited for the extraction of aggregates ; and which other local authority districts within south-east England have a higher proportion of their land area currently being used for this purpose.

Mr. Baldry : I regret that this information is not available.

Toxic Waste

Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list details of the importation of chemical or toxic waste into the United Kingdom via (a) the port of Tilbury and (b) other docks, wharfs or jetties within the county of Essex over the past five years.

Mr. Maclean : Information on the importation of hazardous waste into the United Kingdom is available only for the period since the introduction of the Transfrontier Shipment of Hazardous Waste Regulations in October 1988.

The information requested is as follows :

Next Section

Home Page