| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 244
limited circumstances water suppliers may find it worth pursuing : I understand that the Council of the Isles of Scilly has recently commissioned a desalination plant.Landowners (Compensation)
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how much in total was paid out in compensation to landowners under the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, in 1991 ; how many individual payments were made ; and if he will give details of individual payments over £10,000 ;
(2) how much compensation to landowners under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has been paid in the current year ; what is the number of applications still waiting a decision and their location ; and what is the amount being asked for in compensation by the landowners concerned.
Mr. Maclean : No payments were made in 1991 by English Nature under the provisions of section 30 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Emissions
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list, for each of the EC nations, the targets they have adopted for stabilising or reducing (a) carbon dioxide, (b) sulphur dioxide, (c) nitrogen oxide and (d)
hydrocarbons/volatile organic compounds ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : A number of EC countries have declared targets on different bases and at different times for carbon dioxide emissions. All EC member states have now signed
Column 245
the United Nations framework convention on climate change. This will commit all developed country parties to take measures aimed at returning emissions of each greenhouse gas, including carbon dioxide, to their 1990 levels by 2000.The EC Large Combustion Plant Directive (88/609) requires member states to make specified reductions in their annual emissions of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen from existing plant. The targets vary country by country, but range from 29 per cent. to 70 per cent. reductions in sulphur dioxide emissions by 2003, and from 0 per cent. to 40 per cent. reductions in nitrogen oxides emissions by 1988--in all cases over 1980 emissions. The targets are listed in annex I to the directive, available in the Library of the House. All EC member states are parties to the convention on long-range transboundary air pollution within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Seven of the 12--Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands--are all parties to the sulphur protocol to the convention, which requires a reduction of at least 30 per cent. in national annual emissions of sulphur by 1993, from 1980 levels. All member states except Portugal have signed the nitrogen oxides protocol to the convention, which requires national annual emissions to be stabilised at 1987 levels by 1994. All member states except Ireland have also signed the latest protocol to the convention, requiring national emissions of volatile organic compounds, including hydrocarbons, to be reduced by at least 30 per cent. by 1999, in most cases from 1988 levels.
In 1984 the United Kingdom Government adopted the aim of reducing annual sulphur dioxide emissions from all existing sources by 30 per cent. on 1980 levels by the year 2000. We are on target to meet this objective, and more. In 1984 we also set ourselves the ambitious aim of achieving a 30 per cent. reduction from 1980 levels of nitrogen oxides emissions by the end of the 1990s. This has been made even more difficult by the recent growth in road traffic, but it remains an aim for which we strive.
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library details of the recipients of any management or compensation payment under the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Mr. Maclean : No, this information is confidential to the parties concerned.
Home Insulation
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the proportion of the existing United Kingdom stock of dwellings that lack (a) draught stripping to doors and windows, (b) insulation to hot water cylinder, (c) roof insulation, (d) cavity wall or solid wall insulation, (e) floor insulation and (f) double glazing ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Latest estimates for Great Britain are as follows :
Proportion of households lacking |Per cent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) Draught stripping to doors and windows (includes
only those households without double glazing) |35.0
(b) Insulation to hot water cylinder |6.0
(c) Roof insulation |11.0
(d) Cavity wall or solid wall insulation |75.0
(e) Floor insulation |n/a
(f) Double glazing |54.0
Recycled Materials
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for the last available year, the amount of (a) paper and cardboard, (b) ferrous metals, (c) glass and (d) non-ferrous metals, including aluminium recovered as a percentage of consumption in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) each of the other EC nations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : In 1990 the use of recycled materials as a percentage of consumption in the United Kingdom was as follows :
|Percentage
--------------------------------------
Glass |21
Paper and board |31
Aluminium<1> |12
Copper |47
Lead<2> |62
Tin<3> |57
Zinc |22
Ferrous metal |46
<1>Excludes aluminium scrap which
moves directly from the aluminium
metal industry to other industries.
<2>Relates to the actual quantity
recovered, not the recycled scrap
used in manufacture.
<3>Includes in-house recycling of
waste but excludes exports.
Comparable figures for other EC countries are not readily available.
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy for the eco-labelling scheme to require a minimum requirement of recycled material content.
Mr. Maclean : Criteria for the award of a European eco-label will be decided by the EC Regulatory Committee, which comprises representatives of the Commission and member states, after consultation with interested groups. The proposal for criteria put to the committee will be based on a full cradle to grave analysis of all the environmental impacts of the product group and will, where appropriate, take account of the potential for requiring a proportion of recycled material.
Eco-Labels
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made on a system of bands of fees on the basis of the applicants revenues in order to encourage small companies to apply for the eco-label.
Mr. Maclean : The European Commission is drawing up proposals for indicative fee guidelines as they are required to do by the EC regulation. The draft proposals envisage an application fee, to meet the costs of processing the application, and an annual licence fee for the use of the label which would be related to the annual value of sales in the Community of the product awarded the eco-label.
Column 247
Consumer Services (Environmental Impact)
Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what environmental evaluation is being undertaken of consumer services with high environmental impact, with particular reference to dry cleaning.
Mr. Maclean : My Department is not aware of any environmental evaluation which is being undertaken of consumer services. In the early stages of development the focus of the European eco-labelling scheme will be on consumer products. Consumer services, such as dry cleaning, may well be covered later once the scheme is established.
Grants, London
Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to assist projects whose grants from the London boroughs grants unit have been stopped ; and whether he will consider extending Government financial support to the library at the Institute for Race Relations.
Mr. Robin Squire : The award of grants under the London borough grant scheme is a matter for decision by the London boroughs, all of whom participate in the operation of the scheme. The Government have no plans to provide alternative funding where this has been refused under the London boroughs grant scheme.
Planning Decisions
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what obligations he imposes on those to whom he has delegated responsibility for planning decisions to hear oral evidence.
Mr. Baldry : The procedures to be followed by inspectors holding inquiries are set out in the Town and Country Planning Appeals (Determination by Inspectors) (Inquiries Procedure) Rules 1988. The rules give certain parties, such as the local planning authority, the appellant and the owner of the appeal site, a statutory right to appear at the inquiry. Any other persons wishing to appear, for example local residents, may do so at the inspector's discretion.
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many appeals against planning decisions by the Worthing borough council have been allowed by him or the planning inspectorate in each of the last five years.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is as follows :
B
Planning appeals decided: Worthing borough council
Year |Appeals |Appeals |Percentage|Percentage
|decided |allowed |allowed |allowed
|Worthing |England
------------------------------------------------------------------
1987-88 |34 |14 |41.2 |37.6
1988-89 |56 |20 |35.7 |36.7
1989-90 |64 |19 |29.7 |33.4
1990-91 |75 |22 |29.3 |33.6
1991-92 |50 |13 |26.0 |33.7
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment on what criteria he delegates decisions on planning appeals to the planning inspectorate.
Column 248
Mr. Baldry : All planning appeals, except for a few exceptions, are transferred to planning inspectors for decision. However I do have the power to "recover" jurisdiction. Normally this power is only exercised in cases involving large scale development and where issues of more than local importance are likely to be raised. The criteria for recovery are published in the 1986 White Paper "Planning : Appeals, Call-In and Major Public Inquiries" (Cm 43).
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why the planning inspector dealing with the appeal against the granting of planning permission for the Homebase store on land at Littlehampton and Yeomans road, Worthing, failed to take oral evidence from those opposed to the last-minute change of plans put forward by the applicants.
Mr. Baldry : The question of an alternative layout for the proposed development arose towards the end of the four-day public inquiry. As a result it was not possible for the inspector to hear further evidence from all those who had already appeared at the inquiry without an adjournment. This would have prolonged the time before the appeal was determined. However, to ensure that local objectors views about the alternative layout were taken into account, the inspector arranged for them to be given an opportunity to make written representations to him before he made his decision.
Travellers
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects that the consultation paper being compiled by his Department, concerning the problems caused by hippies and new age travellers, will be issued.
Mr. Baldry : I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my right hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) on 19 June 1992 at column 693.
Research Animals
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to use the United Kingdom presidency of the EC to press for an end to the import of wild-caught and captive-bred primates throughout the EC for research purposes.
Mr. Maclean : The import of primates into the EC is already controlled under existing regulations governing the wildlife trade. These are conservation measures, intended primarily to ensure that wild populations are not seriously depleted. They are not concerned with the purposes of import, except for endangered species. During our presidency, we shall be giving priority to the negotiation of a new European Community regulation to tighten these controls significantly, but we have no plans to see a general ban on the import of animals for use in research, which is primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next intends to meet representatives of the Governments of the Philippines and Indonesia to urge them to end their trade in primates for research.
Mr. Maclean : I have no plans to do so. The Government of Indonesia are already well aware of
Column 249
concern in the European Community about the effects of wildlife exports. This has led to a suspension of imports of Indonesian specimens of many species, including primates, into the EC. We are prepared to take similar action on conservation grounds whenever trade is judged likely to pose a threat to species. The use of primates in research is, however, primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary.New Housing
Sir Paul Beresford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how he proposes to determine the provision for new housing to be made in new regional planning guidance for London and the south-east.
Mr. Howard : I have today placed in the Library of the House a copy of a letter which I have sent to the chairman of SERPLAN--the London and south east regional planning conference. SERPLAN is invited to put forward proposals for the allocation of future provision for new housing between London and the counties of the south east. These proposals should be based on a regional total rate of 57,000 additional dwellings per year, over the period 1991 to 2011. I will take account of SERPLAN's proposals, together with any other views on these matters which are put to my Department, in deciding the regional housing provision to be included in draft new regional planning guidance for the south east. The draft will then be published for consultation in due course.
Coastal Zones
Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Government will publish their response to the Environment Select Committee's second report of Session 1991-92, on coastal zone protection and planning ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Government are today publishing their response to the Environment Select Committee's report on coastal zone protection and planning. We welcome the Committee's report as a valuable contribution to the debate on the effective management of our coast. This country has a record of success in protecting the coast. Two thirds of the coastline of England and Wales is undeveloped arable land, woodland, scrub, pasture or natural habitat. The planning system provides a tried mechanism for the effective resolution of conflict on land which faces pressures from a variety of uses. It is important that we build on these achievements, to tackle the new issues that are emerging on our coast and to ensure an effective response to the challenges of the next century including pressures of economic growth and increased recreation, the impact of global warming, and demands to respond to our growing knowledge and awareness of the value of the coastal environment.
We already have a substantial programme of work underway to achieve this including :
--planning guidance for the coast and a recent policy statement on Heritage coasts ;
--guidance on responding to sea level rise, and a commitment to develop a national flood and coastal defence strategy ;
--requirements for environmental assessment of a wide range of coastal developments on land and at sea, and new procedures (under the Transport and Works Act 1992) to control many types of development in inshore waters ;
--action to reduce coastal pollutants and develop Statutory Water Quality objectives for estuarine and coastal waters ;
Column 250
--a commitment to implement the EC Habitats Directive for marine as well as land-based habitats.Our response to the Committee's report now proposes :
--support for multi-agency management plans for estuaries and inshore waters, aimed particularly at coastal recreation activities, and at nature conservation, and a review of local authority powers to control water sports and pleasure boats in inshore waters. --a review of the effectiveness of present regulatory systems controlling construction and development below the low water mark ; The Government will bring forward a discussion paper examining both these issues more fully.
The Government response also includes commitments to maintaining national co-ordination arrangements for coastal policy ; reviewing controls over marine aggregates dredging ; promoting regional coastal defence strategies ; furthering environmentally acceptable coastal defence solutions and developing policies for controlled retreat to create new habitats ; and promoting clear agreement on
responsibilities for pollution control.
Copies of the Government response are being laid before the House and will be available in the Library.
Social Housing
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing his Department's forecasts for all social housing completions, and the actual number of completions, for each year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : The Department does not prepare forecasts of housebuilding completions. Estimates of actual new housebuilding completions by housing associations and by local authorities are published in "Housing and Construction Statistics". Figures for 1979 are in table 6.1 of the annual publication "Housing and Construction Statistics 1979-1989 : Great Britain"; figures for each year from 1980 to 1990 are in the 1980- 1990 edition. Provisional estimates for 1991 are shown in table 1.2 of the December quarter 1991 edition (Number 48) of the publication "Housing and Construction Statistics ; Part 1". Copies of these publications are in the Library.
County Council Elections
Mr. Nigel Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if it is his intention that the county council elections, in counties included in the first tranche of authorities for review by the Local Government Commission, will take place as scheduled in May 1993 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Secretary of State may not use his powers under the Local Government Act 1992 to postpone elections or order fresh ones until the Commission has finished reviewing an area and he has decided on the changes to local government structure that he will recommend to Parliament. We therefore expect all county council elections to go ahead in May 1993.
Urban Development Corporations
Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current value of land held by each urban development corporation.
Mr. Robin Squire : The value at 31 March 1992 of land held by urban development corporations is set out in the table. Land held for roads and other public utilities has a nil disposal value.
Column 251
Value of Land held by Urban
Development Corporations
|£ million
---------------------------------------
Black Country |38.786
Bristol |11.492
Central Manchester |3.980
Leeds |12.284
London Docklands |54.392
Merseyside |26.846
Sheffield |15.340
Teesside |64.680
Trafford Park |22.293
Tyne and Wear |30.323
Jet Skis
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the dates on which his Department has received representations from Worthing borough council and the right hon. Member for Worthing regarding providing seaside councils with further byelaw powers to control the use of jet skis in designated areas of the sea ; for what reasons he has decided not to take any action ; and if he will now give these powers to local authorities.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I have been asked to reply.
We received representations about the provision of additional byelaw-making powers to control jet skis from my right hon. Friend on behalf of Worthing borough council in February 1992. A reply was sent on 2 March 1992. This matter has now been considered further and I refer my right hon. Friend to the Government's response to the second report from the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment on coastal zone protection and planning (CM 2011), which is published today. This states that the Government intend to issue a discussion paper which will include consideration of
"the scope for improving local authority powers to control water sports and pleasure boats in inshore waters, making it easier to implement zoning in different activities which may be incompatible for safety, nature conservation or other reasons, and to control behaviour which causes a public or environmental nuisance" (paragraph 49).
Forests
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he intends to take during the United Kingdom presidency of the EC Council of Ministers to establish an international review process for the forest and desertification principles outlined at the Earth summit ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : I have been asked to reply.
On forests I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 6 July at column 17. On desertification, we expect the UN General Assembly this autumn to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to elaborate an international convention on desertification. We will be co-ordinating the position of the EC during the General Assembly as part of our presidency responsibilities.
SCOTLAND
Approved Training Organisations
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the standards used to award the status of approved training organisations.
Column 252
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 3 July 1992] : There are seven functions for each of which aims must be met and a number of criteria satisfied for the award of approved training organisation status. These functions, which are common to both employment training and youth training, are set out :
identification of training needs ;
training designed and delivered to national standards ; effective quality management ;
recruitment, selection and competence of staff ;
equal opportunities policy ;
health, safety and suitability of premises and equipment ; financial viability.
The aims and criteria are detailed in a document entitled "Approved Training Organisation" published by the Training Agency, a copy of which is in the House Library.
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many approved training organisations there have been in Scotland in each of the last three years.
Mr. Stewart [holding answer 3 July 1992] : As at30 April 1990, 18 training agents and 157 training managers for employment training in Scotland had achieved approved training organisation stage 1. Corresponding information for youth training was not held centrally. In subsequent years, responsibility for monitoring the standards achieved by training providers has rested with local enterprise companies which maintain their own records on the training providers with which they contract.
Salmon
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether salmon imported into Britain from Ireland and Norway is subject to routine testing for ivermectin residues ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if testing for ivermectin residues in Scottish produced farmed salmon has been introduced on a routine basis ; and what information he has on the residues detected.
Mr. Lang : Samples of farmed salmon will be obtained from retail outlets throughout the United Kingdom in 1992 under the retail animal products survey, as part of the Government's food surveillance programme. Samples will be as representative of the national food supply as possible, and some 10 per cent. of the salmon samples analysed will have been imported from Norway and the Republic of Ireland. These samples will be analysed for residues of ivermectin. A 12-month programme of residue testing in farmed fish is also being conducted in the United Kingdom in response to a request for information from the EC Commission. This programme includes the analysis of 50 samples of farmed salmon, obtained either directly from fish farms or United Kingdom wholesalers, for ivermectin. These analyses have been completed and ivermectin was not detected in any samples.
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what progress has been made in the case of the alleged use of ivermectin for the treatment of sea lice in farmed salmon by (a) Glencoe Salmon in June 1991 and (b) Wester Ross Salmon in January ; (2) how many cases of the use of ivermectin for the treatment of sea lice in farmed salmonids in Scotland have been reported.
Column 253
Mr. Lang : A report on the alleged use of ivermectin at Glencoe Salmon Ltd. was made to the procurator fiscal at Fort William, who decided to take no criminal proceedings. A report concerning Wester Ross Salmon has been made to the procurator fiscal at Dornoch. There is no requirement to report allegations about the use of ivermectin to my Department. Such reports should be made to the appropriate river purification authority or to the veterinary medicines directorate.Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement concerning the decision to support continuing the minimum import price for Norwegian salmon after 30 May ; what measures he plans to introduce to safeguard the future of the Scottish salmon farming industry ; and if he will estimate the decrease in production since that decision came into effect.
Sir Hector Monro [holding answer 6 July 1992] : The minimum import price was introduced last November for a three-month period in response to a specific threat to the European Community market of a surge in supply arising from substantial quantities of frozen salmon stored in Norway. It was subsequently extended for a further three-month period until the end of May. In the light of Norwegian action to dispose of the frozen stocks, it was decided that yet a further extension of the minimum import price could not be justified.
The Government are considering proposals to help stabilise the salmon market in the longer term through the establishment of producer organisations. The production and growth cycle for salmon is such that production will not have changed since the end of May. Rates of harvesting are for individual commercial decision and will be based on many considerations.
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made by the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department in developing analytical techniques for testing for residues of ivermectin in the flesh of farmed salmon.
Mr. Lang : An analytical method for detection of ivermectin residues in salmon muscle has been developed and validated at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's Torry research station in Aberdeen.
Prisoners
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements are in place for the post-release supervision and support of discharged prisoners with mental illness ; what further initiatives he plans to improve these services ; what plans he has to ensure the proper co -ordination of service delivery ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Stewart : Psychiatric and social work supervision may, where appropriate, be the subject of conditions in the licences on which life sentence prisoners and some determinate sentence prisoners are released. In addition, community-based psychiatric and social work services are available to all former prisoners as to any other person who requires such services.
"The National Objectives and Standards for Social Work Services in the Criminal Justice System", issued by the Scottish Office in February 1991, identified in paragraphs 108 and 109 the special needs of offenders who
Column 254
are mentally handicapped or disturbed and stressed that it is a vital part of the prison-based social work task to encourage and assist such prisoners to make contact with the relevant helping agencies prior to release. In such situations, the role of the community-based social worker is to facilitate the provision of necessary rehabilitation programmes or accommodation.Disabled People
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his proposals to promote the development of arts for disabled people in Scotland.
Sir Hector Monro : My right hon. Friend's responsibilities for the arts exclude the live and performing arts which are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for National Heritage. In relation to museums and galleries, it is for the management of each organisation to consider how its buildings and its collections can be made accessible to disabled people. Such consideration is encouraged by the Scottish Museums Council whose grants to local museums are dependent to a large extent on the provision for disabled people made or planned by the applicants.
The Scottish Film Council has already successfully encouraged the seven regional film theatres which it part-funds to improve access for people with disabilities and is considering how access can be further enhanced.
Mr. McMaster : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what new initiatives he proposes to enhance the right of disabled people to have free and adequate access to (a) health services, (b) life-long education, (c) suitably adapted housing, (d) transport, (e) training and employment, (f) arts, leisure, recreation and cultural services and (g) care in the community.
| Next Section
| Home Page |