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Mr. Robin Squire : The Government have powers to ensure that competitive tendering is rigorously applied by all local authorities. We have not hesitated to use them where necessary. If my hon. Friends--or Opposition Members--know of cases in which English authorities are failing to fulfil the competition requirements of the legislation, I shall certainly follow them up.
Mr. Sweeney : Does my hon. Friend agree that there is widespread public support for the Government's policy on competitive tendering? Will he confirm that he will take all the necessary steps to ensure that backsliding Labour authorities comply with the Government in introducing it?
Mr. Squire : I fully agree with my hon. Friend's comments on the importance and popularity of CCT ; indeed, I understand that its popularity has now spread to the Opposition Front Bench.
My hon. Friend may be interested to know that, last year alone, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State issued 53 notices and 22 directions under the legislation, which in each case represents nearly 50 per cent. of the total issued since the legislation was introduced.
Mr. Alan W. Williams : Does the Minister accept that the policy of compulsory competitive tendering is now in a mess and that it has always depended on private companies paying low wages--lower than those previously paid by local authorities? That is illegal, according to the European Community's acquired rights directive. Will the Minister also comment on reports that the Government may be liable to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation to low-paid workers who have been cheated out of their wages over the past 12 years by the illegal policy of compulsory competitive tendering?
Mr. Squire : I entirely reject the suggestion that the success of CCT is in any way based on poor wages and impoverished terms of employment. It is based on the need to ensure that local services are handled efficiently and effectively, whether they are
providedin-house--that is, by local authority employees--or by an external contractor.
Mr. Mans : In the light of my hon. Friend's earlier reply, will he look closely at the activities of Labour-controlled Lancashire county council in relation to competitive tendering? Will he also consider the fact that the council's lack of enthusiasm for competitive tendering-- indeed, its resistance to it--is one good reason why it will set such a high council tax in the coming financial year?
Mr. Squire : My hon. Friend makes a fair point : high council taxes- -and high community charges--are often linked with inefficiencies in the way in which councils deliver their services. I invite my hon. Friend to forward to me any information that may suggest that Lancashire county council is acting in an anti-competitive manner. I promise that we shall investigate any such information very carefully.
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Mr. Henderson : Does the Minister accept that one reason why there is such confusion among local authorities about whether the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations should apply is that, although the Secretary of State announced in the most recent environment Question Time that the directive concerned did not apply to local authorities, the Minister has been telling local authority associations that they may wish to insert in their contracts a clause saying that it does apply to them? Is not it time that not only local authorities but the public knew where they stood and that British workers enjoyed the same rights as workers in every other part of Europe?
Mr. Squire : In his new-found enthusiasm for CCT, the hon. Gentleman has rather overlooked what my right hon. and learned Friend and I have actually said. If he is to support CCT, the hon. Gentleman must take on board the important point that each case must be examined on its merits. There is no question of a blanket inclusion or exclusion. Let me say again that if there is any question of local authorities seeking to apply such measures to each and every transaction, we shall investigate the possibility of anti-competitive behaviour.
Litter
15. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the operation of the litter provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The main measure of the effectiveness of the new litter laws is whether Britain is getting any cleaner. A survey by the Tidy Britain Group, one year after the laws were introduced, showed an average 13 per cent. immprovement in cleanliness.
Mr. Burns : Will my hon. Friend join me in congratulating Chelmsford borough council on the way--both proactive and reactive--in which it is pursuing litter louts througout the borough by appointing litter wardens? Does he agree with Mr. Sadler, the council's director of environmental services, who believes that, provided that the laws are fully enforced and the necessary powers are used to the ultimate extent, a deterrent is created and people are prevented from becoming the litter louts that they might otherwise become?
Mr. Maclean : I admire the way in which my hon. Friend speaks up for Chelmsford with a Basildonesque-type passion. Of course, I congratulate Chelmsford on the excellent way in which it has implemented our litter laws and I call on other local authorities to respond in as positive a fashion. My hon. Friend is right to suggest that the people of this country now have greatly enhanced powers to insist that their councils keep their areas clean. We shall look again to make sure that enough people know about their new rights and are prepared to exercise them.
Mr. Hardy : Is not Britain still the scruffiest, most litter-ridden country in Europe? Whatever the Tidy Britain Group may say, and splendid though its work may be, millions of our fellow citizens are ashamed of the state of our land.
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Mr. Maclean : No, I reject that entirely. Even if the hon. Gentleman thinks that some parts of the country are not as tidy as they should be, the way in which he expressed his view will do nothing to encourage the millions of people who are keeping the country clean. We need to give those people more positive encouragement, not denigrate their efforts. I happen to have with me a paper issued by the Tidy Britain Group which gives details of the results of a survey that the group conducted last year in capitals throughout Europe. London came second only to Berne in Switzerland for tidiness and cleanliness. I congratulate Londoners on keeping their city tidy. I hope that they will keep up their efforts, but without becoming too boring.
Mr. Oppenheim : Would not the workings of the Act and, indeed, the lot of refuse collectors be facilitated if councils themselves were to refrain from producing rubbish such as Derbyshire county council's notorious and discredited political newspaper, Insight, which finds its way instantaneously into hundreds of thousands of bins all over the county? Would not the county council be best advised to stop wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on such rubbish and instead spend it on reinstating hundreds of teachers whom they are threatening with redundancy-- [Interruption.]
Madam Speaker : Order. The points that I made earlier apply to the entire House.
Mr. Maclean : My hon. Friend is right. It is a pity that the paper to which he referred is being chucked in rubbish bins, as it could be properly recycled. However, I should be worried to use paper recycled from anything published by Derbyshire county council. I can think also of a few Sunday newspapers that would be better recycled than read.
Urban Programme
16. Dr. Berry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a further statement on the effects of the abolition of the urban programme on his inner city strategy.
Mr. Howard : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bristol, East (Ms. Corston) earlier today.
Dr. Berry : Would the Secretary of State care to reconsider the reply that he gave to my hon. Friend? Can he confirm that urban programme funding for Bristol has been cut drastically in recent years? Does he accept that the Government's continual changing of policy towards inner city areas poses a problem for local authorities, which, like the one in Bristol, are trying to plan urban regeneration?
Mr. Howard : In deference to your rulings, Madam Speaker, I shall avoid repeating what I said earlier to the hon. Member for Bristol, East. On the question of changing the approach, we think that it is part of our responsibility constantly to look at how resources may be made available and may be made to work most effectively in dealing with the problems that arise in the inner cities. That is why we are determined to get away from the old process whereby money was made available to local authorities as a matter of routine, was taken by them as a
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matter of routine and was spent by them as a matter of routine--a process that did not produce the results that should have been produced.Housing Market
17. Sir Fergus Montgomery : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the effect of the housing market package announced in the Chancellor's autumn statement on the housing market.
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Sir George Young) : We now expect housing associations to exceed their original target of 16,000 purchases by well more than 1,000. Sixteen thousand six hundred and sixty six purchases have already been approved and more than 5,700 purchases completed, so nearly 6,000 homeless families have already benefited from this initiative. In addition, cash grants will enable 3,500 housing association and local authority tenants to become home owners, freeing their current homes for homeless families. Taken together with the recent substantial fall in interest rates, this package should certainly have a positive impact on the housing market.
Sir Fergus Montgomery : Does my hon. Friend agree that the £580 million allocated to the Housing Corporation to enable housing associations to buy 17,000 properties must, of necessity, help to get the housing market moving again?
Sir George Young : My hon. Friend will be pleased to learn that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors came to the same conclusion : that the steps that we have taken have helped to restore confidence in the housing market and that, to use its words, the fundamentals for recovery are now in place.
Mr. Raynsford : Does the Minister accept that the properties acquired under the housing market package, although welcome, will not be sufficient to keep pace with the increased number of repossessions since the package was announced in the Chancellor's autumn statement? Does he recognise that a far more energetic housing programme is required if we are to meet the needs of the badly housed and the homeless? When will he accept that local authorities should be able to use their accumulated capital receipts for housing purposes, as he himself argued 10 years ago?
Sir George Young : I regret the hon. Gentleman's rather grudging response to the substantial injection of money into the housing market in the autumn statement, which will enable some 17,000 families within a period of four months to move into decent accommodation. As for repossessions, the hon. Gentleman will know that the recent figures for court orders showed a substantial reduction of about 23 per cent. As interest rates fall, the pressure on home owners will, of course, be reduced substantially.
Sir Michael Neubert : While recognising the beneficial effects of the autumn statement measures on the housing market, may I ask my hon. Friend whether there is any encouraging evidence of increased activity in new house building?
Sir George Young : The reduction in base rates from 15 to 6 per cent. dramatically alters the terms of trade for
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house purchase. That fact, coupled with the reduction in house prices over the past three years, means that home ownership is now a much more practical and attractive proposition and I am sure that builders will take heart from that.Mr. Battle : It strikes me that the Minister is having difficulty convincing his colleagues of any movement in the housing market. Will he inform the House how many housing associations have bought only semi- developed sites as opposed to complete homes which, in practice, breaks the Government's instructions for the package and will mean that the number of homes that he boldly claims will be available are not yet built? People in desperate need cannot camp on the footings of speculative sites bought with public money. What has happened to the Government's policy of buying empty repossessed houses?
Sir George Young : The hon. Gentleman is totally misinformed. The housing market package is aimed at houses which will be occupied by the end of March. There is no question of our buying houses that are half- completed.
Mr. Hendry : Does my hon. Friend agree that, taken together, policies such as having housing associations as managing agents, the rough- sleeping initiative, the flats above shops initiative and the Government's task force for providing new uses for empty properties owned by the Government amount to the most concerted effort ever to tackle homelessness and are a clear demonstration of the Government's determination to tackle the problem?
Sir George Young : I congratulate my hon. Friend on summarising a range of attractive and effective housing policies which are bringing decent homes within the reach of more and more people.
Energy Review
18. Ms. Lynne : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to ensure that the Government's energy review will fulfil the environmental commitments made at Rio de Janeiro last year.
Mr. Maclean : The coal review has been the subject of full consultation between my Department and the Department of Trade and Industry. The hon. Lady must await the forthcoming White Paper, but I can confirm that
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the Government remain fully committed to meeting the United Kingdom's international environmental obligations.Ms. Lynne : Can the Minister guarantee that everything in the energy White Paper will meet the commitments made by the Government at the Rio summit?
Mr. Maclean : I thought that I just said so, but let me reaffirm it in different words : whatever energy mix the White Paper might recommend or suggest, the United Kingdom remains fully committed to meeting the international obligations to which we signed up in Rio. We shall meet our targets, whatever the fuel mix.
Mr. Clifton-Brown : The convention on climate change is designed to stabilise our CO emissions by the year 2000 to the levels that existed in 1990. Will my hon. Friend confirm that, as coal is almost pure carbon, unless there is a satisfactory review of the amount of coal we burn, it will be impossible for us to meet our international obligations?
Mr. Maclean : No, I do not accept that. I accept that coal is high in carbon. It is also high in sulphur dioxide. Nevertheless, I am confident that we shall be able to meet our international obligations, irrespective of the fuel mix that we decide to use. I admit that our targets will not be easy to reach and that things will be rather tough in the next few years. That is why we must make sure that we get them absolutely right. Some fuel mixes are slightly easier than others from the point of view of meeting targets, but, whatever the mix, we are committed to succeeding.
Ms. Short : Is the hon. Gentleman aware that Britain could do much better in reducing global warming? Will he look at Labour's recently produced policy on energy conservation? At present, the energy generators make money by selling more and more energy. If we encouraged them to sell insulation, we would reduce global warming, create jobs and reduce people's bills. As ours is an entirely good policy, will the Government adopt it?
Mr. Maclean : I assure the hon. Lady that I have looked at it closely. I hope that Labour Members will talk more and more about it because it represents a thoroughly uneconomic policy. The costs that they envisage to bring about the small benefits that they perceive are nonsensical, well thought out and well intentioned though it may have been. We are determined to reduce the wastage of energy in this country, and I believe that there are better economic models to follow than Labour's policy of double glazing for all.
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