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Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 14 March 1994] : The Watt committee on energy has undertaken as a project commissioned by my Department, a review of United Kingdom methane emissions, in particular in support of the development of the United Kingdom's climate change programme. The working group, under the chairmanship of Professor Alan Williams of Leeds university department of fuel and energy, brought together relevant experts from industry, academia and Government.
A number of the findings of the group have already been published as part of "Climate Change, The UK Programme."
Publication of the working group's full report is expected in May. One of the members of the working group has raised concerns over some matters in the report. The chairman has advised my Department that these are under consideration by the group as a whole.
Beer (Short Measures)
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many complaints he has received about short measures in the sale of beer for each year since 1979.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 8 March 1994] : The numbers of letters about short measure beer or about not receiving a full liquid pint of beer for each year from 1989 are as follows :
Year |Number ---------------------- 1989 |4 1990 |11 1991 |31 1992 |13 1993 |716 <1>1994 |20 <1>1 January to 8 March.
These figures include letters from trading standards departments reporting surveys of pubs selling draught beer. They do not include replies to consultations. The figures for 1993 include 601 letters from people who had inserted their name and address in a preprinted form.
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Information for the years 1979 to 1988 could be produced only at disproportionate cost.Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the organisations that have complained to him about short measures in the sale of beer for each of the last five years.
Mr. McLoughlin [holding answer 8 March 1994] : My Department has received letters from the following organisations about short measure beer or about less than a full liquid pint of beer being served. 1989
Barnsley metropolitan borough council
1990
Bedfordshire county council
Tayside regional council
LACOTS
South Tyneside metropolitan borough council
Walsall metropolitan borough council
1991
Surrey county council
Association of Greater Manchester Authorities
Tomporcon Ltd. (on behalf of the Allied Brewery Traders Association)
St. Helens metropolitan borough council
North Yorkshire county council
1992
London borough of Southwark
Strathclyde regional council
1993
Association of Greater Manchester Authorities
CAMRA (Portsmouth and South East Hampshire branch)
Tomporcon Ltd. (on behalf of the Allied Brewery Traders Association)
CAMRA
Consumers Association
Hereford and Worcester county council
John Glover (Wholesale) Ltd.
Birmingham city council
Cleveland county council
North Yorkshire county council
Shropshire county council
Leeds city council
Oldham metropolitan borough council
Durham county council
Barnsley metropolitan borough council
CAMRA (Grimsdyke branch)
CAMRA (West Middlesex branch)
1994 (1 January to 8 March)
Trafford metropolitan borough council
Birmingham city council
Consumers Association
CAMRA
In addition to the organisations listed above, a number of others have written to my Department in response to consultations.
Business Statistics
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what general conclusions have been reached by the study into business attitudes to the contractorisation of business statistics ; and if he will place a copy of the results of the inquiry in the Library.
Mr. Nelson : I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary on 14 January at column 308 .
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ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Public Interest Immunity Certificates
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Attorney-General if it is his policy to instruct counsel to advise judges that it is a matter of judicial discretion as to whether documents protected by public interest immunity certificates should be disclosed ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The test to be applied by judges is a matter of general law. Judges are required to order disclosure in any case where, in the judgment of the court, the case for disclosure in the interests of justice outweighs the public interest considerations in favour of non- disclosure. Prosecuting counsel are expected to assist the judge as to all relevant law.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Attorney-General what proposals he has to restrict the discretion of judges to inspect documents in respect of which public interest immunity certificates have been issued and decide upon their disclosure on the basis of the interests of justice ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The extent of judges' discretion to inspect documents is a matter of law. I have no power to impose any restrictions, nor would I wish to do so.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Attorney-General how many public interest immunity certificates he has signed in each year since 1990.
The Attorney-General : I have signed none. My predecessor signed two certificates :
(i) In 1991 relating to the civil case of Dorrian v . Chief Constable of the RUC.
(ii) In 1992 relating to the criminal case of Latimer, Hegan, Bell and Allen which was before the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.
ENVIRONMENT
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions have been taken out under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England in each year since 1982 for (a) carrying out a potentially damaging operation to a site of special scientific interest and (b) contravening a nature conservation order under section 29 ; how may of these were successful ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : The information is not available in the form requested. However, since 1984 prosecutions for damage to sites of special scientific interest under section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 have been taken on 10 occasions. Prosecution is taken only in the last resort. Where a site has been damaged, the usual practice is to seek the co -operation of the landowner in restoring it.
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many outstanding management agreements for English Nature for sites of special scientific interest protection there have been in 1993-94 ; what is the estimate of their cost ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : At 28 February 1994 there were 1,964 management agreements in force under section 15 of the
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Countryside Act 1968. The estimated cost of these agreements in 1993-94 is £7.9 million. Further details will be published in due course in the third annual report of English Nature.Local Government Reorganisation
Mr. Waterson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if this month's edition of "Countywide", published by East Sussex county council conforms with the guidelines issued by the Audit Commission in connection with local government reorganisation.
Mr. Baldry : I cannot comment on individual publications. We have, however, had in operation since 1988 a code of recommended practice on local authority publicity. The code make it clear that authorities should not use public funds to mount publicity campaigns to persuade the public to hold a particular view on a question of policy.
Local Government Review, Cleveland
Mr. Frank Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library all submissions relating to the local government review of Cleveland that he has received since the final report of the commission was published on 8 November.
Mr. Baldry : When we lay an implementation order for Cleveland we will place in the Library a summary of all representations received by the Secretary of State about the Commission's final
recommendations. Individual representations will be made available if requested unless the writers intended their views to be treated in confidence.
Mr. Frank Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will place in the Library all submissions relating to the local government review of Cleveland that have been received by the commission since the publication of its final report on 8 November.
Mr. Baldry : All such representations have been forwarded to my Department, as the commission has no further role once its review is complete.
Council Tax Banding Appeals
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many appeals against council tax banding in the London borough of Lewisham were lodged in each month since April 1993 ; how many were processed and concluded in each month ; and what is the current backlog.
Mr. Baldry : The numbers of proposals to alter the valuation list which were received from the London borough of Lewisham area are as follows :
Month |Received|Settled
----------------------------------------
April 1993 |712 |0
May |545 |0
June |356 |1
July |281 |20
August |276 |25
September |210 |215
October |167 |60
November |546 |50
December |19 |37
January 1994 |36 |94
February |22 |192
|--- |---
Total |3,170 |694
There are therefore 2,476 cases outstanding.
Birch Coppice
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he sought legal advice on the validity of his decision to refuse planning permission to opencast at Birch Coppice announced on 2 August 1993 before the announcement.
Mr. Baldry : Once a decision has been taken by the Secretary of State, it is not his practice to comment on the merits of the decision or the process by which the decision was reached.
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much (a) Warwickshire county council and (b) North Warwickshire borough council spent on the Birch Coppice public inquiry on 30 July to 23 August 1991.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not held centrally.
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment on the basis of which mineral planning guidance he proposes to make the decision on opencasting at Birch Coppice in Warwickshire.
Mr. Baldry : The decision on the Birch Coppice case will be based on the version of mineral planning guidance notes which is in force at the time the decision is made.
Wandsworth Rent Assessment Panel
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the names of the members of the Wandsworth rent assessment panel and when they were appointed.
Sir George Young : Wandsworth falls within the area of the London rent assessment panel. I have placed in the Library a list showing the names of the 84 members of this panel, together with the year of first appointment.
Landfill Sites
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to introduce a tax on waste disposal for those who use landfill sites.
Mr. Atkins : In order to inform our decision about whether to introduce a landfill levy, my Department commissioned a report on "Externalities from Landfill and Incineration" from the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, Warren Spring Laboratory and the Economics for the Environment Consultancy. We are currently considering comments on that report and will announce our conclusions in due course.
UN Environment Programme
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much financial support was given to the United Nations environment programme in each year since 1989-90.
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Mr. Atkins : The United Kingdom contributed £3 million to the United Nations Environment Programme's environment fund in 1989-90 ; in 1990-91, £3 million ; in 1991-92, £4 million ; in 1992-93, £4.5 million ; and in 1993-94, £4.5 million. In 1993-94 this represented the third largest national contribution.
Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he has taken of recent resolutions of the Dail, relating to environmental risks posed by THORP ; and what meetings or communications he has had with his Irish counterpart on THORP and Sellafield.
Mr. Atkins : I refer the hon. Member to my answers given to him on Thursday 20 January, Official Report, column 827 ; Wednesday 2 February, Official Report, column 794 ; Friday 11 February 1994, Official Report, column 508 ; and to my answer given to the hon. Members for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) and for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on Monday 29 November, Official Report, columns 385-86.
I have noted the motion of the Dail of 2 March 1994.
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) of 15 December, Official Report, column 1098, if all contracts to reprocess foreign spent fuel in THORP at Sellafield contain stipulations requiring the return of all radioactive wastes to countries of origin.
Mr. Atkins : My right hon. Friend was referring to BNFL's proposals for waste substitution in respect of those contracts with overseas customers which include options for the return of waste to the country of origin.
As was made clear in the "Statement of Government Policy on Reprocessing and Operation of the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant at Sellafield", published in August last year, BNFL has such options in respect of all overseas spent fuel contracted for since 1976. The
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Government intend that these options, which are backed by formal exchanges of letters with the Governments of THORP customer countries, will be exercised. The Government have not yet reached a decision on BNFL's proposals for waste substitution.Standard Spending Assessments
Mr. Robert Ainsworth : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the representations he has received from professional lobby organisations on behalf of local authorities concerning their standard spending assessment allocation.
Mr. Baldry : We receive numerous representations on standard spending assessments from the local authority associations, trades unions, chambers of commerce and other professional bodies. My right hon. Friend considered carefully all of the representations made to him on standard spending assessments before taking final decisions on the revenue support grant settlement for 1994-95.
Rents, Wandsworth
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the number of objections by local residents living in the London borough of Wandsworth to rents fixed by the Wandsworth rent assessment officers in each of the last five years ; and how many of the objections were successful on appeal.
Sir George Young : Either a landlord or a tenant may appeal against a rent officer's determination, and the available statistics do not distinguish between these situations. The number of cases referred to the London rent assessment panel from Wandsworth over the last four years is shown in the table. Statistics for earlier years are not available. It should be borne in mind that the rent assessment committee fixes a rent at the time of its hearing, which can be some months later than the rent officer's original determination. Some of the differences between the two determinations may therefore reflect the passage of time.
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