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Mr. Atkins : The Government fund a number of air quality monitoring stations in the United Kingdom. The per capita coverage of these monitoring sites is presented in the tables.
Pollutant |Number of sites |Per capita
|coverage X 10-<7>*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Continuous automatic sites
Ozone |29 |5.30
Nitrogen dioxide |24 |4.40
Sulphur dioxide |21 |3.80
Carbon monoxide |19 |3.50
Fine particles (PM) |12 |2.20
Hydrocarbons |7 |1.30
2. Non-automatic sites
Nitrogen dioxide |1,164 |212.00
Smoke/sulphur dioxide (urban) |252 |45.80
Sulphur dioxide (rural) |38 |6.90
Lead |21 |3.80
Heavy metals |6 |1.10
Toxic organic micropollutants |5 |0.91
* Assumes population of the United Kingdom of 55 million.
Monitoring undertaken in collaboration with local authorities.
Information on numbers of air quality monitoring sites in other European countries is not held centrally.
Atmospheric Pollution, Greenwich
Mr. Raynsford : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the levels of atmospheric pollution in the Greenwich area and, in particular, the levels of nitrous oxide and black smoke emissions, in each year since 1985.
Mr. Atkins : Annual average concentrations of black smoke, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in Greenwich and surrounding sites are given in tables 1 and 2. As part of the expansion of the urban monitoring network a site was established in Eltham, Greenwich in 1993 which continually monitors 26 hydrocarbons. The provisional data for benzene and 1, 3 butadiene for the first four months of operation are presented in table 3. Annual emissions of smoke, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide between 1985 and 1991 are given in the Department of the Environment's 15th edition of the "Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Table 1
Greenwich<1> Woolwich
Year |Black smoke|SO2 |Black Smoke|SO2
|(ug/m<3>) |(ppb<3>) |(ug/m<3>) |(ppb<3>)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985 |8.7 |66.3 |6.0 |48.2
1986 |8.0 |47.1 |6.0 |47.1
1987 |12.6 |50.1 |11.3 |51.0
1988 |12.8 |58.7 |10.5 |63.8
1989 |19.4 |55.2 |9.7 |40.2
1990 |16.8 |50.5 |10.2 |47.3
1991 |14.5 |45.8 |9.0 |47.1
1992 |11.2 |36.2 |6.6 |36.0
<1> Greenwich site:
West Greenwich branch library, Greenwich High road.
<2> Woolwich site:
Shrewsbury house, Bushmore Crescent, Plumstead, SE18.
<3> Parts per billion at 20øC and 1013 millibars pressure.
Table 2
Year and site |Annual average
|No2 (ppb)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1991
Shrewsbury house, Bushmore crescent, Plumstead
SE18 |34.0
1992
- |-
1993
(Kerbside), Greenwich town hall, Woolwich road,
SE10 |20.6
Environmental curriculum centre, Bexley road, SE9 |15.5
De Lucy school, Cookhill road, Abbey Wood, SE2 |16.3
Shrewsbury house, Bushmoor crescent, Plumstead,
SE18 |13.7
Table 3
Month/year |Benzene (ppb)|1,3 Butadiene
|(ppb)
---------------------------------------------------------
August 1993 |0.80 |0.16
September 1993 |0.89 |0.21
October 1993 |0.75 |0.17
November 1993 |1.16 |0.21
Private Water Companies
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make regulations applicable to private water companies on the same lines as those in section 2(3) of the Environmental Information Regulations 1992.
Mr. Atkins : The Environmental Information Regulations 1992 apply among others to those bodies with public responsibilities for the environment as defined in regulation 2(3). It is for the water companies to interpret what responsibilities they may have under the existing regulations and for the courts to adjudicate if their interpretation is challenged.
Teachers' Pay
Mr. Clifton-Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what levels of teachers' pay was allowed for in the local government central support grant settlement for the financial year 1994-95.
Mr. Baldry : The settlement assumes that any increase in pay costs is offset by efficiency savings.
Benzene
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to monitor and control airborne levels of benzene in the light of the report by the expert panel on air quality standards committee ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : The Department of the Environment is establishing a network of 12 sites to continually monitor benzene and 25 other hydrocarbons in urban areas in the United Kingdom. Sites have been established in London Bloomsbury, London Eltham, Middlesbrough, Belfast, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cardiff. Sites in Leeds and Bristol are expected to be in operation by the spring and a further three sites are expected to be in operation by the end of the year. The expert panel on air quality standards recently published its first report in which it recommended an air quality standard for benzene in the United Kingdom of 5ppb as a running annual average and a target standard. The panel also recommended that this standard be reduced to the lower level of 1ppb running annual average in the longer term. The Government are considering the panel's recommendations on benzene very carefully and will shortly publish a consultation paper which will discuss how air quality standards should operate and ways in which they can be achieved. The Government will consider how the recommended standard could be used in this context and over what time scale the lower target standard could be met.
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Water Use
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will launch a Government action plan to encourage using water more wisely ;
(2) what action he has taken following the receipt of responses to the publication of "Using Water Wisely, A Consultation Paper", July 1992, DoE/Welsh Office.
Mr. Atkins : We intend to publish shortly a document setting out the range of actions that we are taking in the light of the responses to the consultation paper.
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what targets and mechanisms he will introduce to ensure the sustainable use of water in accordance with the principles of sustainable development as set out in articles 3 and 4 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
Mr. Atkins : For England and Wales, the system of water management, introduced by the Water Resources Act 1963 and most recently updated by the Water Act 1989, provides an excellent framework for ensuring the sustainable management of water. Systems for the same purposes exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The policies to be followed, and the challenges to be addressed, in running these systems are described in "Sustainable Development--The UK Strategy" (Cm 2426).
Staff Transfers
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 24 January, Official Report, column 26, what are the criteria and rules applying to the house purchase loans for departmental staff on compulsory transfer including the circumstances under which loans can be written off ; what were the total amounts loaned or granted under the scheme in 1992-93 and so far in 1993-94 ; and how many staff were assisted in 1992-93 and so far in 1993-94.
Mr. Baldry : Advances of salary are available to assist with the costs of house purchase when staff are involved in permanent and compulsory transfers. Loans are advanced when staff move to a higher-priced housing area or when, because of individual circumstances, they would not otherwise be able to afford to move home. Staff must take the maximum mortgage they can afford and contribute the net proceeds of sale of the old property. Loans are normally limited to half annual salary. Staff posted to London whose loan under the normal rules would be limited to less than £9,500 can, however, obtain an extra £1,000.
Loans must be repaid within 12 years of the date of transfer, but repayment can be deferred for up to four years from the date of the transfer. The advance is repayable if the borrower ceases to be a civil servant or if completion of purchase is not made.
Excluding PSA Services, there were 14 loans in 1992-93 amounting to £115,529 and 10 so far in 1993-94 amounting to £94,600.
Write-off is unlikely and would normally be approved only after all avenues of recovery had been pursued. There have been no write-offs in 1992-93 or 1993-94.
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Building Regulations
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what plans he has to include part M of the Building Regulations in the Government's deregulation programme ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) when he expects to extend part M of the Building Regulations to include existing buildings and housing.
Mr. Baldry : Building Regulations made under the Building Act 1984 at present make provision for access by disabled people to new non-domestic buildings. I have asked the Building Regulations Advisory Committee to advise me on whether these provisions should be extended to cover certain alterations and changes of use in such buildings. I have also asked it to examine the desirability and practicability of extending the provisions in part M to new dwellings. I hope to be in a position to make a statement on this before Easter. Any plans to introduce new or extended regulations are carefully scrutinised to ensure that the costs do not outweigh the benefits.
Approved Contractors
Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many firms are included in his Department's register of approved contractors.
Mr. Baldry : The Department of the Environment manages two registers of approved contractors. These are the contractor management information system and the consultants register. There are 7,893 contractors on the contractor management information system and 3,239 consultants on the consultants register.
Hayes Records Centre
Mr. Waterson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will take steps to speed up the decontamination work at the Hayes records centre ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : The decontamination work at the Public Record Office site, Hayes, started in late November 1993. As the separate storage areas in the two buildings are decontaminated they are being handed over progressively so that the records in them can be accessed, with priority being given to the records which are most urgently needed. Six of the eight areas in building A, which contains the MOD records, have already been completed and the building should be fully decontaminated by 4 March. Four of the eight areas in building Y had been completed and the aim is to complete the final area by 10 March. The work on building Y is a seven-days -a-week operation.
Hotels (Change of Use)
Mr. David Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to issue guidance in respect of the change of use of hotels to (a) hostels for social security claimants and (b) housing association homes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : On (a) , this will depend on the outcome of our review. (b) There are no plans to issue guidance on the conversion of hotels to housing association homes.
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Subsidence
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of homes in (a) London, (b) the south-east of England, (c) the south-west of England, (d) the midlands, (e) the north- east of England, (f) the north-west of England, (g) Scotland, (h) Wales and (i) Northern Ireland were affected by subsidence from 1985 to 1993.
Mr. Baldry : There are no centrally collected statistics on the number of homes affected by subsidence.
BRE Digest 352 "Underpinning" (Revised 1993) gives the annual value and number of insurance claims for subsidence and heave damage to dwellings based on payments made by the major insurance companies. This shows the number of claims to rise from about 10,000 per year in 1985 and 1986 to about 65,000 in 1991 and the value to rise from about £110 million per year in 1985 and 1986 to almost £550 million in 1991. The most recent figure available is that the value of claims exceeds £260 million for 1992.
A nationwide survey for the Building Research Establishment found that about 50 per cent. of all underpinning is carried out in London and the home counties. BRE Digest 352 illustrates the geographical distribution of underpinning projects as proportions of the national total in 12 arbitrary areas. The relevant figures are :
|Percentage of
|national total
------------------------------------------------------------
London and South East England |33
Central Southern England |18
South West England |2
Midlands |20
East Anglia |12
North East England |3
North West England |4
Wales and Welsh Borders |3
Scotland |4
Northern Ireland |1
Groundwork Trusts
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will approve funding for a Groundwork trust to make payments to an existing environmental charity providing the same services as Groundwork trusts to pay for (a) core costs and (b) project costs.
Mr. Atkins : No. Groundwork's grant in aid is given specifically to fund Groundwork activity. There is a wide range of grants available from this Department to fund the environmental activities of other existing voluntary organisations.
Flats Over Shops Initiative
Mr. Hendry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who will receive supplementary credit approvals under the flats over shops initiative for 1994-95 and at what levels ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir George Young : I have placed in the Library a list of the 131 local authorities in England to receive flats over shops allocations totalling £10 million in 1994-95.
I am delighted with the progress that has been made with this scheme. As in the last two years, the programme
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was again considerably oversubscribed. This shows that there is great interest in turning empty space above shops into residential accommodation.The aims of the initiative are twofold ; to reduce housing stress by creating new homes and to demonstrate that such a change of use is possible and can have positive advantages for both property owners and the area generally.
Creating flats over shops not only contributes to the growth of housing for rent, but brings life back to our inner cities and improves shop front security.
I expect to see many more homes created this year as a result of this initiative.
I hope that those local authorities which were not successful in gaining Government resources will still consider promoting flats over shops schemes in their area, using other available funds.
Redundant Building Grant Scheme
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the criteria for eligibility for receipt of the Rural Development Commission's redundant building grant scheme ; what were the criteria in April 1992 ; what parts of the country it covers now ; and what parts it covered in April 1992.
Mr. Atkins [holding answer 21 February 1994] : Virtually any building in a designated rural development area is eligible, provided that it will be used for business purposes when the works are completed. Grants are not, however, available for conversions to, or refurbishment of, residential property, nor for buildings which will be used for agricultural or horticultural purposes. Tourism and leisure projects are eligible, including quality, serviced, overnight accommodation but not small bed-and- breakfast and self-catering developments.
Prior to April 1992, the Rural Development Commission's redundant building grant scheme was available only in the designated rural development areas. The scheme's coverage was extended in April 1992. Areas now eligible are :
All rural development areas.
All national Parks and the Norfolk Broads.
Countryside employment programme areas.
The rural coastal strip in the Worthington and Whitehaven areas of Cumbria.
Rural parts of the Barrow peninsula, Cumbria.
Portland, Dorset.
St. Austell and surrounding area.
Rural coalfield closure areas in :
North East Derbyshire/West Nottinghamshire/South Yorkshire North West Leicestershire/South Derbyshire
South East Northumberland
East and West Durham
Yorkshire
North Warwickshire
East Kent.
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people are currently in receipt of the Rural Development Commission's redundant building grant scheme ; and how many were in receipt in April 1992.
Mr. Atkins [holding answer 21 February 1994] : At the end of January 1994, the Rural Development Commission had paid £19.89 million in grants to 3,144 redundant building grant projects since the scheme's inception in 1982. At the beginning of April 1992 the comparable figures were £15.7 million to 2,723 projects.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Integrated Prison Scheme
Mr. Hoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his evaluation of the integrated prison scheme in which vulnerable and ordinary prisoners share all activities together.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 23 February 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the evaluation of arrangements in those prison establishments where vulnerable and ordinary prisoners share regime activities. An evaluation study is to be undertaken as part of the Prison Service's planned research programme for 1994-95.
Traffic Laws (Police Enforcement)
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 16 February, Official Report, column 801, who is conducting the review of police enforcement of the traffic laws ; when it will be completed ; if he will make the results public ; what is the time scale for public consultation as part of the review ; if he will place a list of those being consulted in the Library ; and if he will make it his policy to advise any organisation or individual being consulted that their response may be made public unless they request otherwise.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Government officials will be reviewing traffic policing duties in consultation with the police service and police authority representatives. My right hon. and learned Friend expects to receive a report on that exercise in the autumn. He will consider the impact of any changes proposed on operational efficiency and the quality of service that the police offer the community. He will also wish to consider how best to consult the public if any changes are proposed that would affect the police interface with the public.
M11 Link Road
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total cost to date of police operations in connection with protests in Wanstead against the construction of the M11 link road.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard) on 22 February, Official Report, column 154.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to the police tactics decided on for the final removal of protestors occupying houses in Wanstead in opposition to the M11 link road ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to the level of seniority within the Metropolitan police service at which the decisions were taken as to the number of officers to be deployed, and the
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tactics to be used, in the final removal of protestors from houses in Wanstead occupied as a protest against the construction of the M11 link road.Mr. Charles Wardle : I understand from the Commissioner that his officers were present at the request of the high sheriff of Greater London who was seeking to enforce an order of the High Court obtained by the Department of Transport for possession of the site. The role of the police was to prevent any breach of the peace.
The Commissioner informs me that his officers sought, for reasons of safety and to enable the order to be enforced, to establish cordons around the area and to direct traffic away from it. Police officers then cleared the road in front of the houses to enable the high sheriff's officers to take possession of them. Once this had been achieved, most of the police officers withdrew, although a few remained to prevent the site from being reoccupied. Decisions on deployment and tactics were taken by an officer of the rank of commander.
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the police operation against the M11 link with protestors at Wanstead on 16 February cost ; and what are the total costs to date of policing activities in relation to the M11 link road.
Mr Charles Wardle : I understand from the Commissioner that the additional costs of the police operation on 16 February are estimated to be more than £200,000. The total manpower costs since September of security and policing for the M11 link road through Wanstead are £470,075. Information on the cost of support services and other resources involved is not available.
Ethnic Minority Grants
Ms Corston : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what will be the effect of withdrawing section 11 funding on schools in Avon ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : All posts approved for funding under section 11 remain eligible for grant. It is a matter for grant recipients to decide, within their overall financial provisions, how they propose to proceed in the light of the reductions in the level of section 11 expenditure which we regret it has been necessary to make.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the schools within the Tooting constituency that are receiving funding under section 11.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Teacher posts approved for funding under section 11 are currently allocated to the following schools identified as being in the Tooting constituency :
Balham Nursery
Broadwater--junior mixed infants
Burntwood
Chestnut Grove
Eardley--junior mixed infants
Earlsfield--junior mixed infants
Ernest Bevin
Fircroft--junior mixed infants
Franciscan--junior mixed infants
Furzedown--junior mixed infants
Graveney
Hillbrook--junior mixed infants
Penwortham--junior mixed infants
Ravenstone--junior mixed infants
Sellingcourt--junior mixed infants
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Smallwood--junior mixed infantsSt. Anselm's--junior mixed infants
St. Boniface--junior mixed infants
Swaffield--junior mixed infants
Trinity St. Mary's CE--junior mixed infants
Wandle--junior mixed infants
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