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Coventry Cyrenians and Norton House
Mr. Jim Cunningham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will consider the provision of emergency help to Coventry Cyrenians and Norton House in Coventry ;
(2) what long-term plans he has to provide increases in grants to Coventry Cyrenians and Norton House ;
(3) what representations he has received from Coventry Cyrenians and Norton House about the effect of recent cuts in grants.
Sir George Young : My Department has received no request for emergency help from the Coventry day centre--Norton House--or from Coventry Cyrenians ; nor has either organisation made formal representations about the level of grant it is receiving in 1993-94 under section 73 of the Housing Act 1985 as revenue funding for homelessness
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projects. Coventry day centre has sought to vary the terms of its current grant agreement, and we will consider that request when we have received further information.I will be considering shortly, on their merits, the applications which both organisations have made for grant under section 73 in 1994-95. Any future applications will be treated similarly.
Quangos
147. Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the names of all former British representative members in the European Parliament who since 1979 have been appointed to quasi- autonomous non-governmental organisations, excluding appointments as justices of the peace, giving in each case the title of the post, any salary payable and the duration of the appointment.
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Mr. Baldry : Such information is not available centrally.
Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the names of all individuals who are or were members of the House of Lords who since 1979 have been appointed to any quasi-autonomous non- governmental organisations, excluding appointments as justices of the peace, giving in each case the title of the post, any salary payable and the duration of the appointment.
Mr. Baldry : The following members of the House of Lords currently serving on the boards of executive non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department. Information on previous appointments is not available centrally.
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Name of body Postholder Position Annual First appointed Present appointment
|salary (£) |to board |From |To
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commission for the New Towns |Lord Finsberg |Deputy Chairman |9,790 |1 September 1992 |1 September1992 |31 August 1996
|Lord Bellwin |Member |5,310 |1 April 1985 |1 April 1993 |31 March 1995
Countryside Commission |Lord Denham |Member |5,050 |1 August 1993 |1 August 1993 |30 June 1996
English Nature |Earl of Cranbrook|Chairman |35,150 |5 November 1990 |5 November 1990 |31 March 1994
|Earl Peel |Member |6,310 |5 November 1990 |1 April 1993 |31 March 1996
Housing Action Trust |Lord Bellwin |Chairman |25,315 |20 July 1993 |20 July 1993 |19 July 1995
North Hull
Joint Nature Conservation |Lord Selborne |Chairman |23,435 |4 September 1991 |4 September 1991 |31 March 94
Committee
National Rivers Authority |Lord Crickhowell |Chairman |52,945 |10 July 1989 | 10 July 1989 | 30 June 1994
|Lord Gregson |Member |8,090 |1 July 1991 |1 November 1992 |31 October 1995
Rural Development Commission |Lord Shuttleworth|Chairman |31,360 |1 May 1990 |1 May 1990 |30 April 1994
Urban Development Corporation |Baroness Lockwood|Member |5,030 |30 June 1988 |30 June 1991 |29 June 1994
Leeds
Urban Development Corporation |Lord Cocks |Deputy Chairman |23,175 |1 November 1988 |2 March 1992 |1 March 1995
London Docklands
Urban Development Corporation |Lord Dormand |Deputy Chairman |8,590 |22 June 1987 |22 June 1993 |21 June 1995
Teesside |Baroness Eccles |Member |5,030 |22 June 1987 |22 June 1993 |21 June 1995
Urban Regeneration Agency |Lord Walker |Chairman |<1>- |10 November 1993 |10 November 1993 |9 November 1996
<1> Salary declined.
176. Mr. Meale : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the names of all former hon. Members who since 1979 have been appointed to quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations, excluding appointments as justices of the peace, giving in each case the title of the post, any salary payable and the duration of the appointment.
Mr. Baldry : Such information is not available centrally.
Nuclear Issues
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many meetings he or Ministers or officials of his Department had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs or Ministers or officials of his Department in regard to nuclear proliferation or nuclear security issues since 16 November 1992 ; (2) how many meetings he held with the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food between 21 May and 28 June on the reports submitted by the pollution and agriculture inspectorate on THORP--the thermal oxide reprocessing plant.
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Mr. Atkins : Ministerial colleagues and officials have had a number of meetings with Ministers and officials from other Government Departments on issues relating to the revised draft authorisations for the disposal of radioactive waste from the Sellafield site.
Community Charge
Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the number of people with outstanding community charge liability ; and what is the average sum involved.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is not available.
THORP
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many copies of his decision on the application by British Nuclear Fuels for authorisations to discharge radioactive wastes from the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield as issued on 15 December were published ; at what cost ; and to which organisation and individuals they were circulated.
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Mr. Atkins : Copies of the decision document were placed in the House Libraries and the Vote Office and sent to all those who were consulted, at no charge.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he took of the concerns raised by the group of United States Congress members, Japanese Diet members and hon. and right hon. Members, over the proliferation risk of THORP, before deciding on support for THORP at Sellafield.
Mr. Atkins : My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food took into account all responses to the consultation before reaching their decisions.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the total cost of consultation with other departments of Her Majesty's Government seeking interdepartmental advice on THORP as part of the review of the submissions to the THORP consultation process referred to at paragraph 19 of his decision document on THORP of 15 December.
Mr. Atkins : These costs have not been separately identified.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the application of article 14 of the 1978 tripartite UK-Euratom-IAEA Safeguards Agreement to the safeguards for the thermal oxide reprocessing plant set out in paragraphs 142-43 of the decision document on THORP.
Mr. Eggar : I have been asked to reply.
Article 14 of the 1978 tripartite UK-Euratom-IAEA safeguards agreement describes provisions for the exclusion of nuclear material from safeguards by the United Kingdom on the grounds of national security and applies to safeguarded material at all United Kingdom facilities subject to the agreement. The thermal oxide reprocessing plant--THORP--at Sellafield will be used for the reprocessing of civil nuclear material only.
Wildlife and Countryside (Management Agreements)
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many management agreements have been entered into under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England where payments have been in each band of £10,000 up to £60,000 or £60,000 and over ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : Fifteen management agreements involving payments of between £10,000 and £60,000 and one involving payments of over £60, 000 were made in England by English Nature in the financial year 1992-93. Figures for the years 1986-87 to 1991-92 have been given to the House by English Nature and its predecessor the Nature Conservancy Council in annual reports to Parliament which are available in the Library of the House.
169. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much has been spent on management agreements in England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for sites of special scientific interest in each year since the Act came into force ; if for each year he will give the number of agreements, the hectarages involved, and what the threats of damage were ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Atkins : Details of annual expenditure on management agreements in England and the hectarage involved are given by English Nature and its predecessor the Nature Conservancy Council in annual reports to Parliament which are available in the Library of the House. Details of the threats in each individual case could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
Nuclear Reprocessing (Discharges)
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has received from the National Radioactive Protection Board regarding the comparative exposure levels to carbon 14 arising from the operation of nuclear reprocessing in the United Kingdom against the levels of discharges abroad.
Mr. Atkins : Copies of the National Radiological Protection Board's letter of 25 November about Sellafield collective dose assessments are in the House Library.
Hedgerows and Ponds
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the remit, the name of the organisation conducting the work, the publication date and the cost of the survey he has commissioned into hedgerows and ponds in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : The current hedgerow survey aims to assess the type and amount of changes to hedgerows and ponds which occurred between 1984, 1990 and 1993 in England and Wales. The work is being undertaken by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and will be completed by 31 March 1994. The results will be published as soon as possible thereafter. The Department's maximum total liability for the work is £87,988.
Caravan Sites Act 1968
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the progress of his review of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
Mr. Baldry : I announced our legislative proposals on 31 March 1993 at column 291. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, introduced on 17 December, includes provisions to implement those proposals.
Mr. Luff : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will designate Wychavon district council under the Caravan Sites Act 1968 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : Wychavon district council and Hereford and Worcester county council have submitted to my Department a joint application for the designation of Wychavon under section 12 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968. The application is now being considered, and I will write to my hon. Friend when I have made a decision.
Hydrochlorofluorocarbons
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to write the letter to the hon. Member for Tooting mentioned in his answer of5 November, Official Report, column 487, on HCFCs.
Mr. Atkins : My hon. Friend the then Minister for the Environment and Countryside wrote to the hon. Member for Tooting on 29 November 1993.
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Asylum and Immigration (Housing)
159. Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the code of guidance for local authorities on the implementation of the housing provisions of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993.
Sir George Young : Following wide consultation on a draft version, I hope to issue to local authorities in the next few weeks guidance on the housing provisions of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993. The guidance will take the form of a supplement to the current, 3rd, 1991, edition of the homelessness code of guidance for local authorities.
Rents
163. Ms Coffey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish figures broken down by rent registration area showing the number of private sector cases referred to rent officers, and the number of cases where rents were reduced as a result, for 1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93 and the latest available date for the current year.
Sir George Young : Information from January 1990, on housing benefit referrals to rent officers classified by registration area, can be found in table 1.3 of the publication "Rent Officer Statistics". The latest figures available are for the June quarter of 1993. No comparable data is available for the period April to December 1989.
Copies of this quarterly publication are in the Library.
SSSIs
162. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many sites of special scientific interest in England have been de-notified in each year since 1982 ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) how many sites of scientific interest in England have been damaged or destroyed in each year since 1982 ; whether each of these sites (a) was lost completely, (b) was partially lost, (c) suffered long-term damage or (d) suffered short-term damage ; whether the damage or destruction in each case was due to (i) agriculture, (ii) forestry, (iii) poor management, (iv) pollution, (v) third-party activities, (vi) developments controlled through the planning system, (vii) road building or (viii) other activities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : The information requested is contained in the annual reports of English Nature and of the former Nature Conservancy Council, copies of which are in the Library.
Grandstands
170. Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to ensure the checking by qualified engineers of temporary grandstand structures ; and whether existing technical guidance on the design of such structures is being taken fully into account.
Mr. Baldry : The Government recognise the importance of checking temporary grandstand structures by qualified engineers. The Building Regulations Advisory Committee has considered this recently, and as a result my officials are discussing with the Institution of Structural Engineers and other bodies in what ways the existing technical guidance needs to be strengthened.
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National Parks
172. Mr. Martlew : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the occasions when his powers of compulsory purchase of land under section 17 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 have been used in England in each year since 1981 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : The Secretary of State has confirmed one compulsory purchase order over land within Somerset. However, following further discussions with the landowner the compulsory purchase order was not implemented.
Crossrail (Compensation)
Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the issues examined earlier in respect of the statutory compensation code referred to by the Minister for Transport in London in the Second Reading debate on the Crossrail Bill on 8 June 1993, Official Report, column 219 ; and if he will make a statement concerning the details of the extent and character of the facts and evidence that were taken into account in deciding that the provisions strike a fair balance between the interests of landowners and the community as a whole.
Mr. Baldry : The main compensation concerns raised in relation to the Crossrail project have been, firstly, that owners of high value commercial property which may need to be compulsorily acquired should have the protection of the statutory blight code and, secondly, that London Regional Transport should be statutorily required to acquire property which stands to be seriously affected by construction work. The provisions of the compensation code reflect a judgment as to what constitutes a sensible balance between, on the one hand, the interests of those whose land is required for or affected by public development and, on the other, the prudent use of public funds. We have carefully examined the representations made to my Department by the Crossrail compensation campaign. But the present Government, like their predecessors, are not persuaded of the case for bringing high value commercial property within the scope of the statutory blight code or for placing bodies responsible for public development under an obligation to acquire property for which they have no use. Commercial interests in London will ultimately derive substantial benefits from major infrastructure projects such as Crossrail
London : Making the Best Better"
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many replies have been received to the document "London : Making the Best Better" ; and how many were from addresses (a) in inner London, (b) outer London and (c) outside London.
Mr. Gummer [holding answer 10 December 1993] : Nearly 9,000 completed questionnaires have been received so far. Information about the location of respondents is still being analysed.
Press Releases
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many press releases his Department has issued in each year since 1979.
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Mr. Gummer [holding answer 16 December 1993] : The number of press notices which have been issued by my Department are as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1979 |601
1980 |552
1981 |510
1982 |520
1983 |606
1984 |592
1985 |642
1986 |703
1987 |552
1988 |737
1989 |736
1990 |739
1991 |819
1992 |865
1993 |<1>866
<1>To date.
Local Government Legislation
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many powers were conferred upon the holder of his post by (a) the Local Government Act 1988, (b) the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1990, (c) the Local Government Finance and Valuation Act 1991, (d) the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and (e) the Land and Urban Development Act 1992.
Mr. Curry [holding answer 16 December 1993] : The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Regional Regeneration Budget
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will tabulate each of the existing Government programmes for Greater London which he is expecting to incorporate in the planned unified regional regeneration budget, together with the sums he intends to allocate to each programme together with the total.
Mr. Gummer [holding answer 17 December 1993] : From 1 April 1994, the single regeneration budget will bring together 20 existing Government programmes to provide flexible support for local initiatives to promote regeneration and economic development in England. The Government programmes transferring to the budget are : From the Department of the Environment :
Estate Action
Housing Action Trusts
City Challenge/Urban Programme
Urban Regeneration Agency
Urban Development Corporations
Inner City Task Forces
City Action Teams
From the Employment Department
Programme Development Fund
Education Business Partnerships
Teacher Placement Service
Compacts/Inner City Compacts
Business Start-Up Scheme
Local Initiative Fund
TEC Challenge
From the Home Office
Safer Cities
Section II Grants (part)
Ethnic Minority Grant
Ethnic Minority Business Grant
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From the Department of Trade and IndustryRegional Enterprise Grants
(plus English Estates, to be subsumed into English Partnerships) From the Department for Education
Grants for Education Support and Training (part)
Resources totalling over £1.4 billion are being made available under the single regeneration budget in 1994-95 : a regional breakdown is not currently available. However a regional breakdown of resources for 1993-94 under my Department's targeted programmes was provided in my reply to the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) on 10 December at columns 384 -86.
Departmental Offices
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the regional and area offices of his Department, of the Property Services Agency--and its successors--the pollution inspectorate, the National Rivers Authority, the Countryside Commission, the Housing Corporation, the Audit Commission, the Rural Development Commission, the Nature Conservancy Council, and of other inspectorates, agencies and other public bodies for which he is responsible.
Mr. Gummer [holding answer 17 December 1993] : The regional and area offices of the Department of the Environment and of the agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which I have responsibility are as listed.
1. Regional Offices of the Department of the Environment Northern (Newcastle Upon Tyne), Yorkshire and Humberside (Leeds), North West (Manchester), West Midlands (Birmingham), East Midlands (Nottingham), Eastern (Bedford), South West (Bristol), South East (London), Merseyside Task Force (Liverpool), London.
2. Property Services Agency
Following the sale in 1993 of PSA's Building Management businesses, PSA Services now has headquarters in Central London, Croydon and Hastings, together with smaller outstationed offices in Croydon, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh.
3. HMIP
Anglian (Bedford, Lincoln) Midlands (Sutton Coldfield) North East (Leeds, Sheffield, Thornaby) North West (Lancaster, Runcorn) Southern (Fleet, East Grinstead) South West (Bristol) Wales (Cardiff). 4. Agencies, Non- Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and other organisations sponsored by the Secretary of State for the Environment, as at December 1993.
Executive Agencies
Building Research Establishment : Garston, Borehamwood, Cardington, East Kilbride.
The Planning Inspectorate : Bristol, Cardiff.
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre : London.
The Buying Agency : Liverpool.
Security Facilities Executive : London , Burtonwood, Cardiff. Ordnance Survey : Southampton, and 120 field offices throughout Great Britain.
Executive NDPBs
Audit Commission : London, Bristol, Chorley, Exeter, Gateshead, Leeds, Redhill, Solihull, Stevenage, Winchester, Cardiff (and other local offices in England and Wales)
British Board of Agre ment : Garston
Commission for the New Towns : London, Basildon, Milton Keynes, Telford, Warrington
Countryside Commission : Cheltenham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
English Nature : Peterborough, Ashford, Newbury, Newcastle upon Tyne, Shrewsbury, Taunton, Windermere
English Partnerships : London
Housing Action Trusts : Birmingham (Castle Vale), Hull, Liverpool, London (Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest)
Housing Corporation : London, Croydon, Exeter, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Wolverhampton
Joint Nature Conservation Committee : Peterborough
Letchworth Garden City Corporation : Letchworth
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