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Mr. Robin Squire : No. For the purposes of the council tax, billing authorities will serve a completion notice where the new building in question can reasonably be expected to be completed within three months.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward proposals to simplify the certification procedures for the buildres of new houses currently in force in relation to the council tax.
Mr. Robin Squire : Billing authorities will serve a completion notice on the owner of a new building when the work remaining to be done can reasonably be expected to be completed within three months. This brings the procedure for serving completion notices in respect of domestic property into line with current practice in respect of non-domestic property.
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Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what reduction in council tax will be available to disabled persons in band A properties.
Mr. Robin Squire : I refer the hon. Member to the written answers I gave the hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Ms. Anderson) on 5 November 1992, Official Report, column 370, and 18 November 1992, Official Report, column 203.
Water Metering
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received to his consultation paper "Using Water Wisely" to date ; and how many of these representations have expressed opposition to a United Kingdom water metering scheme.
Mr. Maclean : We have received 343 responses to the consultation paper. Forty-eight respondents indicated opposition to metering. It is for each company to decide the method of charging its customers.
Birds
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what evidence he has as to changes in the population of robins and other species of British birds ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The British Trust for Ornithology's common bird census report for 1991 revealed significant declines in the populations of 20 species, including robins, little owls, skylarks, blackbirds, songthrushes, house martins, bullfinches and yellowhammers. Five species including sparrowhawks and kestrels had increased in numbers. The BTO report indicated declines over a wide range of habitats.
For many species the declines are considered to be normal fluctuations and numbers could be expected to be regained quickly. The bad climatic conditions in the spring of 1991 was a factor and some migrant warbler species wintering in Africa were affected by drought conditions there.
Timber
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has made to the convention on international trade in endangered species to secure the inclusion of additional timber species on its lists, since May 1992.
Mr. Maclean : None. Additions to the appendices to the convention are considered at the biennial conferences of the parties. At the conference last March, we proposed successfully that African teak (Pericopsis elata) should be listed. We also supported the listing of American mahogany (Swietenia mahogani), Lignun vitae (Guaiacum officinale), and Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra).
We shall be considering what proposals to put to the 1994 conference in due course, on the basis of scientific evidence.
Manchester Olympics Bid
Mr. Hall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on Government support for the Manchester 2000 Olympics bid.
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Mr. Redwood : The Government are backing wholeheartedly Manchester's bid for the 2000 Olympic games and the Prime Minister and other Ministers are actively involved in promoting it. We are providing up to£75 million support. Of this, £2 million is in aid of the bid itself, matching private funds raised ; and up to £73 million is towards the construction of an Olympic arena, a national cycling centre and the acquisition and preparation of the site for the main Olympic stadium.
We look forward to welcoming members of the International Olympic Committee when they visit Manchester over the coming months in preparation for their decision on the host city in September 1993.
Valuation Officers
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he has given to valuation officers with regard to rating as one unit households which include a granny flat so that children can care for their parents at home.
Mr. Robin Squire : The Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992 --SI 1992/549--requires listing officers to treat as a dwelling for the purposes of council tax each self-contained unit constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation. Granny flats are therefore treated in the same way as all other domestic property. The council tax bill for one resident will be subject to a 25 per cent. discount. The bill will be further reduced--in some cases to zero--by council tax benefit, depending on the income and circumstances of the resident.
Bed-and-Breakfast Accommodation
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many families were placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, annually, in each year since 1987, (a) England and (b) each English housing authority.
Mr. Baldry : Estimates for the calendar years 1987 to 1991 of the average number of households in England who were being dealt with under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1985 and were temporarily placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation are given in the table.
Average for year |Households in ending December |bed-and-breakfast ------------------------------------------------------ 1987 |10,430 1988 |11,080 1989 |11,500 1990 |11,810 1991 |12,470
At 30 September 1992 the number of households in bed-and-breakfast accommodation had fallen to 10,390 households.
I have today placed in the Library a table giving the information as reported by local authorities in England for each year from 1987 to 1991, the last complete year available.
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Councillors (Attendance Allowances)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority councillors have claimed attendance allowance in the last financial year.
Mr. Robin Squire : My Department does not collect this information.
Thorne Moors
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to sign the English Nature/Fison's/Department of Environment agreement on Thorne Moors ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 December 1992 to the hon. Member for Doncaster, North (Mr. Hughes), at column 575.
PSA Building Management
Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will offer the PSA Building Management businesses for sale.
Mr. Redwood : I am pleased to announce that I am today offering the five PSA Building Management businesses for sale by competitive tender. This follows the sale of PSA Projects last month, and marks the start of the final stage in the privatisation of PSA Services. The sale will be advertised in the United Kingdom and other EC countries from tomorrow. Copies of the sale memoranda will be available from my advisers, Coopers and Lybrand. These will be sent, on request, to all bona fide prospective purchasers.
I would prefer to sell each of the five BM businesses to a different purchaser. However prospective purchasers will be permitted to bid for more than one business.
Preliminary bids need to be submitted by 9 March. Shortlisted bidders will then be provided with more detailed information and invited to make final offers.
Earth Summit
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those nations known by her Majesty's Government to have ratified agreements made at the Earth summit, stating for each which agreements have been ratified ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean [pursuant to the reply, 4 December 1992, c. 580.] : I understand that Canada has also ratified the conventions on climate change and biological diversity.
Helping the Earth
Mr. Tipping : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the cost of the Helping the Earth campaign.
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Mr. Maclean [holding answer 19 January 1993] : The cost of the three-year domestic publicity campaign is about £14 million. Each reduction of 1 per cent. in the country's energy expenditure saves some £500 million.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the difference in expenditure, for each new Commonwealth child, required and identified within standard spending assessments ; and how this figure was calculated.
Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 19 January 1993] : There are a number of elements within standard spending assessments--SSAs--where ethnicity is used in combination with other factors as a measure of social conditions. At no point are the children of heads of household born in the new Commonwealth identified as a separate ethnic category. It is not therefore possible to identify the separate contribution of these children to SSAs. The weight given to social indices within SSAs follows extensive analysis and discussion with local authority representatives.
Mains Drainage
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many communities (a) in England and Wales and (b) in the Thames Water Utilities Ltd. area, and having 125 or more close-built properties, are not on mains drainage ; whether it is his policy to ensure that such communities are put on mains drainage ; and in what circumstances any communities will be put on mains drainage other than by requisition.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 21 January 1993] : Information about the numbers of communities of 125 or more close-built properties not on mains drainage is not held centrally.
The circumstances in which communities may be connected to mains drainage other than by requisition are explained by the Office of Water Services, in its "Information Note (No. 11) on First Time Rural Sewerage", copies of which have been placed in the Library. The Department encourages first time connections to mains drainage and mains water supplies in rural areas by providing a grant covering 35 per cent. of eligible scheme costs in response to requisitions by local authorities or owners or occupiers.
In the light of concerns that have been expressed to me about the arrangements for rural water and sewerage services I am considering whether any changes to the legal and financial framework are desirable.
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