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Dumping at Sea
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the quantity of arms dumped at sea off the United Kingdom coast in each of the last five years, indicating the proportion dumped by the various armed services.
Mr. Aitken : The MoD does not dump redundant ammunition and stocks off the coast of the United Kingdom. The only dump site used for disposal at sea lies in the Atlantic some 400 miles off Lands End at a depth of some 4,500 m. The information requested is as follows :
8
tonnes
|1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |<1>1992
--------------------------------------------------------
Navy |3,000 |280 |882 |114 |2,750
Army |70 |1,165 |893 |936 |5,031
RAF |174 |99 |nil |43 |624
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |3,244 |1,544 |1,775 |1,093 |8,405
<1> Figures given for 1992 reflect the total tonnage
planned in this year's sea dumping programme.
Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to conduct and receive inspections under the provisions of the conventional forces in Europe treaty.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The parties to the conventional forces in Europe--CFE--treaty decided at the Helsinki CSCE summit that the treaty should be provisionally applied from 17 July, for 120 days or until the final state party deposits its instrument of ratification. Under the treaty, each of the 29 participating states has the right to conduct a number of inspections on the territory of other parties, with the purpose of verifying the number of items of treaty-limited equipment they hold, monitoring the destruction of equipment to match permitted levels of holdings and clarifying any doubts
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about compliance with the treaty. During the initial 120-day baseline validation period we are obliged to receive around 30 inspections, and expect to make about the same number ourselves. Inspectors from the joint arms control implementationgroup--JACIG--will conduct CFE inspections on behalf of the United Kingdom, starting soon after the treaty enters into force. JACIG personnel will also escort inspections of facilities in the United Kingdom. We will co-operate fully with such inspections and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate our compliance with the CFE treaty.
South Atlantic Fund
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has about the future of the South Atlantic Fund.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The South Atlantic Fund is an independent body, for which its own trustees are responsible. I understand from the trustees that they are today announcing that the fund is to close on 31 December 1992. The balance of money in the fund will be disbursed, in appropriate shares, to the single service benevolent funds, which have given assurances that they will use this money to meet any future needs arising out of the Falklands conflict for as long as it is necessary.
Military Survey Defence Support Agency
Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what are the key performance targets for the Military Survey defence support agency for 1992-93.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : The key performance targets are as follows : 1. To maintain the operational readiness of the Military Survey defence support agency in accordance with the Army standards and to respond, as appropriate, to emergency and operational requirements. 2. To meet resourced targets for production, training and development for time scale, quantity and standard, as laid down in approved plans.
3. To provide the necessary support for the implementation of the Military Survey modernisation project and to initiate training. 4. To achieve a 2 per cent. increase in efficiency in year while remaining within budget.
5. To implement appropriate phases of the "Options for Change" and manpower reductions in accordance with forecast manpower planning targets.
6. To continue to improve the costing and management of geographic requirements.
7. To implement improved costing and budget systems and identify selected performance measures by 1 April 1993.
ENVIRONMENT
Water Quality
16. Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on progress in implementing the investment programmes to improve water quality.
Mr. Maclean : During 1991-92 the water companies invested more than £3,000 million, an increase in real terms over 1990-91 of more than 15 per cent. The Director General of Water Services will publish a fuller assessment as soon as he has analysed the July returns from companies.
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20. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on drinking water quality.
Mr. Maclean : The chief drinking water inspector's report for 1991 will be published shortly. It will confirm that water supplies in England and Wales continue to be of very high quality.
Water Extraction
18. Mrs. Gillan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last reviewed the mechanism for granting permission for water extraction ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The water abstraction licensing system was last reviewed when the Water Act 1989 was passed.
Urban Development Corporations
19. Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his latest estimated dates for the winding-up of urban development corporations.
Mr. Redwood : I shall confirm the wind-up dates for the urban development corporations following the end of the annual corporate planning round which is currently under way.
24. Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what grant has been paid to the London Docklands development corporation since 1987-88 ; and what was the total grant to the other nine urban development corporations in England.
Mr. Howard : Since 1987-88, the London Docklands development corporation has received grant in aid of £1,006.650 million. The total grant paid to the other English urban development corporations for the same period is £819.396 million.
Mr. Blunkett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance has been given to urban development corporations on the allocation of funds from their budget, for community development and grant aid work with local community groups, in relation to organisations which are an extension of the development corporation itself ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Urban development corporations themselves decide which community initiatives and groups they wish to support but refer to the Department if the projects are outside their delegated spending authority or raise particular issues.
Standard Spending Assessments
21. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received regarding standard spending assessments.
Mr. Robin Squire : We receive a large number of representations on standard spending assessments throughout the year and these are all given very careful consideration.
Water Prices
22. Mr. Nicholls : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to alter the constant K in the RPI plus K formula for water price increases.
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Mr. Maclean : The Director General of Water Services is responsible for setting limits on water price increases. He will undertake a periodic review of K for all the companies at the first opportunity, and the revised limits will take effect from 1 April 1995.Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account the Office of Water Services takes of the level of rainfall in each water company area when agreeing proposed water charges.
Mr. Maclean : Water companies have a duty to ensure that they have sufficient supplies of water available to meet demands from customers. The Director General of Water Services has a duty to ensure that the companies are properly able to finance their functions. In setting new price limits he will take account of factors which influence the costs of companies in different areas.
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to require water companies to charge more equal rates to consumers across England and Wales.
Mr. Maclean : The Director General of Water Services is responsible for ensuring that companies can finance their functions and that in setting their charges they do not give undue preference to or unduly discriminate against any class or group of customers. Expenditure by individual companies on the provision of services necessarily varies and each must be able to set charges which reflect its own costs.
Local Government Finance
23. Mr. George Howarth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate of the amount of capital receipts being held by local authorities in England and Wales.
Mr. Redwood : It is currently estimated that English local authorities held about £0.8 billion of usable capital receipts at the end of March 1992. In addition, authorities are estimated to hold over £5 billion of capital receipts which have been set aside as provision to meet credit liabilities.
Figures for Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
28. Mr. Enright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the proposed financial settlement for local authorities for 1993-94.
Mr. Robin Squire : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities on 21 May 1992, Official Report, column 195.
Enterprise Zone, Barrow-in-Furness
25. Mr. Hutton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on his policy with regard to creating an enterprise zone in Barrow-in-Furness.
Mr. Redwood : Our policy remains that the creation of new enterprise zones will be considered only in exceptional circumstances. We are looking at the case for a zone in Barrow.
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Darwin Initiative
26. Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in implementing the Darwin initiative and biodiversity undertakings given at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Howard : The Darwin initiative is still in its early stages. We are currently discussing with interested organisations the best way to proceed with the development of this Initiative.
The United Kingdom is already well placed to discharge its responsibilities under the biodiversity convention, in relation to its own biodiversity. The convention will require us to keep our systems under review and we will do so.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
29. Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list his plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche).
Housing, Leicester
30. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the number of local authority houses in Leicester in 1979, 1989 and 1991.
Sir George Young : Leicester city council reported a total of 35, 945 council dwellings in its April 1979 housing investment programme return. Corresponding figures reported in 1989 and 1991 were 31,639 and 30,172 respectively.
Water Conservation
31. Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he intends to take for the conservation of England's water resources.
Mr. Maclean : The statutory responsibility for conserving water resources lies with the National Rivers Authority, and my Department maintains close liaison with the NRA. We shall shortly be publishing a consultation paper to obtain views on a wide range of options for bringing about the more efficient use of water.
Enterprise Zones, Free Ports
32. Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what funds have been allocated by his Department to enterprise zones in free ports during each of the last three years.
Mr. Redwood : None. There are and have been no enterprise zones in free ports or free zones.
Council Tax
33. Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on the implementation of the council tax ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Robin Squire : We are holding regular discussions with local authorities at both ministerial and official level and are pleased to see that good progress is being made in the preparations for the council tax.EC Presidency
34. Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the initiatives on environmental policy to be undertaken by his Department as part of the United Kingdom's six months' presidency of the European Community.
Mr. Howard : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given orally today to the hon. Member for York (Mr. Bayley).
Competing for Quality in Housing"
35. Mr. Simpson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many responses he has so far received to his consultation paper "Competing for Quality in Housing".
Environmental Issues
36. Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the help he proposes to give to local authorities to promote environmental issues.
Mr. Maclean : It is for local authorities to decide how to promote environmental issues, in the light of local circumstances and their overall environmental strategies, and in consultation with all sections of the community.
Low River Flows
37. Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next expects to meet the chairman of the National Rivers Authority to discuss low river flows.
Mr. Maclean : The authority's plans for dealing with water resource problems including low river flows were among matters raised at my recent meeting with my hon. and noble Friend to discuss the authority's 1992 corporate plan.
Gravel Extraction
10. Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has recently had with environmental groups on the problems arising from the twin industries of gravel extraction and tipping of waste in landfill sites.
Mr. Baldry : My recent discussions with environmental groups have not covered gravel extraction and landfill of waste.
Homelessness
Mr. Welsh : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, what was (a) the total expenditure and (b) the additional specific allocation for tackling homelessness which was provided in the latest financial year with a breakdown by (i) region and (ii) local authority.
Column 826
Mr. Baldry : Total capital expenditure on measures for tackling homelessness is not separately identifiable. However, in 1990-91 and 1991- 92 the Government made £300 million available to local authorities and housing associations in the areas of England with the highest homelessness pressure for schemes to create permanent lettings. A total of £236 million of this was allocated to local authorities. An additional £11 million was allocated in 1991-92 for local authority cash incentive schemes to release council properties for homeless families. These measures seem likely to produce more than 17,000 new lettings. The latest available figures for 1990-91 outturn and 1991-92 allocations, (excluding the additional cash incentive allocation which is not separately identifiable), are given in the table.
Homelessness SCA allocations
Authority |1990-91 |1991-92
|Outturn |Allocation
|(£'000) |(£'000)
-----------------------------------------------------
London
Barnet |414 |620
Bexley |1,031 |-
Brent |4,593 |5,278
Bromley |436 |1,000
Camden |5,891 |5,983
Croydon |2,562 |3,331
Ealing |3,825 |4,549
Enfield |1,988 |2,433
Greenwich |3,392 |3,109
Hackney |4,884 |4,762
Hammersmith |4,132 |4,506
Haringey |5,261 |6,576
Harrow |1,000 |950
Havering |27 |250
Hillingdon |2,250 |2,317
Hounslow |2,727 |2,832
Islington |4,832 |5,033
Kensington |2,491 |3,424
Kingston |1,300 |700
Lambeth |4,252 |5,260
Lewisham |2,771 |2,568
Merton |500 |500
Newham |4,809 |4,176
Redbridge |500 |440
Richmond |1,243 |1,120
Southwark |4,.008 |3,771
Sutton |459 |1,020
Tower Hamlets |4,043 |4,113
Waltham Forest |2,067 |2,943
Wandsworth |3,075 |2,925
Westminster |4,174 |4,511
Total |84,937 |91,000
South East
Adur |- |134
Arun |80 |80
Ashford |- |120
Basingstoke |199 |-
Bracknell |- |150
Brighton |808 |983
Canterbury |437 |220
Chichester |- |150
Crawley |- |202
Cherwell |80 |100
Dartford |- |200
Dover |186 |1,013
Eastbourne |243 |300
East Hampshire |425 |350
Eastleigh |- |200
Elmbridge |130 |180
Fareham |238 |175
Gillingham |282 |321
Gosport |400 |300
Guildford |688 |378
Hart |150 |175
Hastings |526 |424
Havant |590 |285
Horsham |194 |200
Hove |100 |200
Lewes |80 |150
Maidstone |215 |450
Mole Valley |- |200
Newbury |- |57
New Forest |940 |720
Oxford |391 |556
Portsmouth |1,884 |1,360
Reading |522 |610
Reigate |760 |165
Rother |242 |200
Runnymede |100 |100
Rushmoor |281 |457
Sevenoaks |- |368
Shepway |413 |243
Slouth |44 |500
Southampton |567 |1,306
South Oxford |130 |177
South Wight |73 |-
Spelthorne |700 |165
Swale |- |200
Tandridge |- |192
Test Valley |388 |200
Thanet |250 |290
Tunbridge Wells |360 |600
Vale of White Horse |115 |120
Waverley |- |220
Wealden |150 |220
West Oxford |95 |47
Windsor |313 |220
Winchester |60 |29
Woking |165 |200
Wokingham |28 |200
Worthing |529 |255
|15,549 |17,616
Eastern
Aylesbury Vale |500 |120
Basildon |485 |438
Braintree |280 |564
Brentwood |- |10
Broxbourne |439 |-
Colchester |700 |500
Dacorum |- |500
East Herts |250 |315
Harlow |500 |750
Luton |685 |500
Milton Keynes |700 |-
North Bedfordshire |135 |379
North Hertfordshire |- |100
Rochford |- |270
St. Albans |- |740
South Bedfordshire |330 |108
Southend |656 |403
Stevenage |660 |525
Tendring |185 |40
Three Rivers |- |50
Thurrock |110 |92
Watford |- |120
|6,615 |6,524
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Dioxin
Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the daily intake of dioxin in a human being at which Her Majesty's Government would take action to stop the source of such pollution ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Sackville : I have been asked to reply.
The tolerable daily intake--TDI--for dioxins is 10 picograms toxic equivalents per kilogram body weight per day. This TDI was recommended by a World Health Organisation regional office for Europe expert group in 1990 and subsequently endorsed by the United Kingdom committee on the toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment.
It is Government policy that when intakes of any contaminant are found to regularly exceed the TDI, action is taken to investigate the problem and, wherever possible, to reduce exposure to the contaminant.
Spent Nuclear Fuel
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to ensure all liquid and gaseous radioactive wastes created in the reprocessing of imported spent nuclear fuel at Sellafield are collected at discharge sources and returned to the country of origin of the irradiated foreign fuel.
Mr. Maclean : Before liquid wastes are discharged from Sellafield, almost all the radiologically significant material is removed by effluent cleaning plants. The solid wastes and sludges produced by these plants are subject to the normal return arrangements. The remaining liquid and gaseous wastes, which are of little radiological significance, are disposed of under an authorisation from the regulatory authorities, the chief inspector of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Radiation Monitoring
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to extend the scope of RIMNET--the radiation incident monitoring network--to the Isle of Man ; and if he will make a statement on progress made in establishing RIMNET to date.
Mr. Maclean : There has been a monitoring station at Ronaldsway on the Isle of Man since RIMNET commenced operating at the end of 1988. Details of the system currently in operation are contained in the HMSO booklet "The National Response Plan and Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (RIMNET) Phase 1", copies of which are available in the Library of the House. A contract to upgrade and extend RIMNET was let in March 1991, and is due for completion later this year.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his Department routinely receives and examines the annual report on radioactivity monitored in the environment by the Isle of Man Government.
Mr. Maclean : No. A copy of this report goes to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at Lowestoft.
Column 829
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what communications his Department has had with the Argus project on monitoring radioactivity in the environment.Mr. Maclean : Officials within my Department are aware of the Argus project and have discussed its operation with the system operator.
Council Debts
Mr. Simon Coombs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the 20 non-metropolitan councils in the order of the level of their indebtedness, with the relevant figures in each case.
Mr. Robin Squire : The 20 non-metropolitan district and county councils reporting the highest levels of indebtedness are shown in the table.
Credit ceiling<1> at 31 March 1991
|£ million
---------------------------------------
Lancashire |377
Nottingham |373
Kingston-upon-Hull |328
Bristol |308
Leicester |272
Staffordshire |260
Cleveland |256
Kent |250
Essex |227
Derbyshire |214
Berkshire |210
Leicestershire |206
Devon |192
Cheshire |190
Middlesbrough |183
Nottinghamshire |177
Hampshire |176
Blackburn |166
Humberside |165
Derby |156
<1> The credit ceiling represents the
difference between an authority's
outstanding credit liabilities and any
provision made to meet those
liabilities.
Source: Local authority returns. No
data are available forEmbridge DC.
Pollution Inspectorate
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many staff there are in Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution ; how many of those are qualified inspectors ; where they are located ; and what is their annual budget.
Mr. Maclean : There are currently 309 staff in post in Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, of whom 162 are inspectors and 147 administrative staff.
The approved complement for 1992-93 has been increased to 377.5 staff. HMIP is currently recruiting additional staff up to this complement.
HMIP staff are located as follows :
|Numbers
---------------------------------------
Bedford |33.0
Birmingham |3.5
Bristol |42.0
Cardiff |15.5
Chelmsford |2.5
Darlington |8.0
East Grinstead |2.5
Lancaster |18.0
Leeds |28.5
Lincoln |7.5
London |<1>121.0
Newcastle-under-Lyme |1.0
Runcorn |16.0
Sheffield |10.0
<1>Including 18 staff due to move to
Reading in autumn 1992.
HMIP's forecast expenditure for 1992-93, on a full economic cost basis, is £27.5 million, including £7.5 million research expenditure.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many (a) inspections and (b) prosecutions have been undertaken as part of the work of HM inspectorate of pollution in each of the last five years.
Mr. Maclean : The number of inspections carried out by HMIP is as follows :
Visits to works (
England and Wales)
|Number
----------------------
1987-88 |10,164
1988-89 |9,782
1989-90 |7,887
1990-91 |3,867
1991-92 |6,327
Note: These figures
include visits to or
in connection with
scheduled and
non-scheduled works
by inspectors and
sampling teams, and
visits regarding
radioactive emissions
to air by inspectors
and sampling teams.
In addition to the
above visits there
were a number of
meetings with
companies in
connection with
scheduled work but
not involving site
inspection.
The number of prosecutions taken by HMIP over the last five years are as follows :
|Number
----------------------
1987-88 |3
1988-89 |2
1989-90 |4
1990-91 |1
1991-92 |11
All prosecutions except one in 1989-90 resulted in convictions.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution has made of each of the nine proposals for power plants and incinerators in the east London corridor ; and what assessment is had made about them cumulatively.
Mr. Maclean : Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution has received five applications under the terms of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to operate new power plants and incinerators in the east Thames corridor and is scrutinising them to satisfy itself that they meet the requirements of the Act. So far, one has been determined. HMIP is aware that other applications might be made and is carrying out an assessment of the possible effect on air quality in east London of each individual plant and the cumulative effect of them all.
Column 831
Hazardous Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 7 July, Official Report, column 152 , if he will set out the actions Her Majesty's Government intend to take to fulfil the requirements set out in the amendments to chapter 20 of "Agenda 21" on hazardous wastes as agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Maclean : We are currently looking at the implications for United Kingdom policy of "Agenda 21", including chapter 20.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to establish further marine biological sites of special scientific interest in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : There is no such designation and we have no plans to introduce one. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 July 1992 to my hon. Friend the Member for Kincardine and Deeside (Mr. Kynoch) at column 252 .
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