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Beef Imports
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the date of implementation of (a) the EU ban on imports of United States beef and (b) the United States ban on imports of British beef. [31764]
Mrs. Browning: I have been asked to reply.
There is no EU ban on imports of United States beef. The United States of America appears on the list of countries approved for the export of bovine animal and meat, amongst other products, to the EU. However, Council directive 88/146/EEC prohibits the importation from third countries of animals and meat from animals which have been administered hormones as growth promoters. The use of such hormones is permitted in the United States and the US authorities are challenging the EU import restriction through World Trade Organisation procedures.
The UK has not received any formal notification from the United States Department of Agriculture of a ban on imports of British beef. However, the United States has not accepted imports of British bone-in beef since 1989. In view of the clear unwillingness of the US authorities to accept such imports, subsequent negotiations have concentrated on securing access to the American market for boneless beef. These were successfully concluded in July 1994 when health certification for the import of British boneless beef was agreed with the USA.
Developing Nations
Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries that are currently classified by his Department as developing nations and are receiving Government aid. [33273]
Mr. Hanley: The 27 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are generally regarded as the world's developed or industrialised countries. Countries in the rest of the world are broadly divided into two categories--the developing countries and "transition" countries. The latter category comprises Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovak Republic, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania. The Government give aid to around 160 developing and transition countries.
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Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries that have been classified as developing nations since 1966 indicating the total amount each country has received in aid. [33272]
Mr. Hanley: The ODA publication, "British Aid Statistics"--published annually since 1965--provides comprehensive information on UK aid flows. Information on aid flows to and from other countries is contained in the World Bank's "World Development" report--it includes aid receipts by all countries--and in the OECD's publication "Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Aid Recipients". Historical data in these publications date back to the late 1960s only. All three publications are held in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria determine the eligibility of a country to qualify as a developing nation for ODA aid; and which body determines which countries are eligible. [33274]
Mr. Hanley: The OECD's Development Assistance Committee maintains a list of countries to which donors give aid. Part 1 of the DAC list is made up of developing countries. Help to these countries counts as official development assistance. Part 2 of the list is made up of transition countries, plus six graduated countries--Bahamas, Brunei, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.
Governments are free to give aid to whichever countries they wish, but only aid to part 1 countries on the DAC lists counts as "official development assistance".
ENVIRONMENT
Volatile Organic Compounds
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will meet the Environmental Industries Commission for the purpose of reviewing the VOC pollution deadlines; and if he will make a statement; [32598]
- (2) if he will now meet the Environmental Industries Commission for the purpose of reviewing the VOC pollution deadlines; and if he will make a statement. [32595]
Mr. Clappison: My right hon. Friend is meeting my hon. Friends the Members for Bromsgrove (Mr. Thomason) and for Wyre (Mr. Mans), together with representatives of the Environmental Industries Commission, on 9 July, when any such matters can be discussed.
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will commission a further report on the costs of reducing VOC emissions with the remit to consider definitive cost estimates for individual sectors. [32593]
Mr. Clappison: My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade published a detailed study of costs of reducing VOC emissions from industry on 3 May. A copy is in the Library of the House. My Department will shortly be publishing a study of the costs of implementing the proposed EC solvents directive in relation to three
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industry sectors. My Department has no current plans for any further studies, but we will keep the position under review.
Energy Advice Centres
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the aims of the three-year energy advice centres pilot study. [32945]
Mr. Robert B. Jones: The study aimed to test the cost-effectiveness of the provision of free, impartial advice on energy efficiency.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what plans he has to fund the energy advice centres after March 1997; [32949]
- (2) what future funding plans he has made for the energy advice centres. [32948]
Mr. Jones: The Government passed control of the local energy advice centre pilot study to the Energy Saving Trust at the beginning of April. It is preparing proposals for the future and will pass them on to my Department for consideration shortly.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the 10 top performing local energy advice centres in order of achievement of their targets; and what percentage of their targets they (a) achieved and (b) exceeded. [32947]
Mr. Jones: The following 10 LEACs were the top performers in order of achievement of their targets:
Tyneside
Cardiff
Bristol
Swansea
Greenwich
Plymouth
Tayside
Lothian and Edinburgh
Aberdeen
Belfast
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the energy advice centre pilot scheme; and if he will make a statement. [32950]
Mr. Jones: The Government passed control of the local energy advice centre pilot study to the Energy Saving Trust at the beginning of April 1996. The trust is assessing the pilot study, which will be completed at the end of September.
Mr. Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of the energy advice centres have (a) achieved and (b) exceeded their targets.[32946]
Mr. Jones: Some 24 of the 33 local energy advice centres achieved and exceeded their targets.
Water Supply (Yorkshire)
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to ensure that dairy
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farmers in the counties of Yorkshire will have a constant supply of mains water, with particular reference to those whose mains supply is also connected to other domestic households in the vicinity. [32907]
Mr. Clappison: Save for small areas at the borders of the counties, Yorkshire Water Services Ltd. and The York Waterworks plc are the appointed water undertakers serving the counties of Yorkshire. These and all water undertakers have the statutory duty to maintain supplies to all existing consumers and I expect them to take all the measures necessary to do so.
Housing Starts
Mr. Cann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of housing starts in England in the first quarter of 1996; and what percentage change this was over the equivalent period in 1995. [32956]
Mr. Clappison: It is estimated that in England during the first quarter of 1996 there were 31,800 new dwellings started. This represents a fall of 12 per cent. compared to the first quarter of 1995 when 36,100 starts were reported.
Cemfuel
Mr. Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the level of heavy metals in cemfuel when tested at Ribblesdale, Clithero, in October 1994. [32823]
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Mr. Clappison: The concentrations of heavy metals in two samples taken during these trials are on the public register and were as follows.
| Metal | Sample M1348, mg/kg | Sample 1349, mg/kg |
|---|---|---|
| Cadmium | 4.3 | 4.57 |
| Thallium | <0.05 | <0.05 |
| Mercury | <0.05 | <0.05 |
| Antimony | 20 | 16.7 |
| Arsenic | 1.02 | <0.05 |
| Chromium | 55 | 39 |
| Cobalt | 2.11 | 2.66 |
| Copper | 48 | 46 |
| Lead | 186 | 157 |
| Manganese | 28 | 18.2 |
| Nickel | 7.3 | 2.19 |
| Tin | <0.05 | <0.05 |
| Vanadium | 4.22 | 2.6 |
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what were the environmental values given to each of the individual emissions from burning cemfuel at Castle Cement, Clitheroe; and which increased as compared to burning coal. [32835]
Mr. Clappison: The attached tables show the emissions when burning coal or coal plus cemfuel, the environmental assessment level values and the calculated environmental quotient.
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| Substance | Stack conc mg/m(5) STP | Stack conc mg/m(5) actual | Mass flow mg/s | MGLC /m(5) (x1000) | EQS or EAL /m(5) | EQ (air) (x100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOx | 1216 | 665 | 119,737 | 836 | 83.3 | 1.0038 |
| SO2 | 1274 | 697 | 125,448 | 876 | 80 | 1.0950 |
| particulate | 47 | 25.7 | 4,628 | 32 | 80 | 0.0404 |
| HF | 0.19 | 0.1 | 18.7 | 0.1306 | 6.5 | 0.002 |
| HC1 | 76 | 41.6 | 7484 | 52.26 | 7 | 0.7466 |
| CO | 247 | 135.1 | 24322 | 169.8 | 550 | 0.0309 |
| NH3 | 3.83 | 2.1 | 377 | 2.634 | 170 | 0.0015 |
| Pb | 0.221 | 0.12 | 21.8 | 0.152 | 2 | 0.0076 |
| Cr(III) | 0.085 | 0.047 | 8.37 | 0.0584 | 5 | 0.0012 |
| Cr(VI) | 0.000255 | 0.0001 | 0.02 | 0.0001 | 0.01 | 0.00010 |
| Mn | 0.018 | 0.01 | 1.76 | 0.0123 | 50 | 0.0000 |
| Ni | 0.038 | 0.02 | 3.74 | 0.0261 | 10 | 0.0003 |
| EQ(air)x100 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.9293 |
| EQ(air) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.0293 |
18 Jun 1996 : Column: 397
| Substance | Stack conc mg/m(5) STP | Stack conc mg/m(5) actual | Mass flow mg/s | MGLC /m(5) (x1000) | EQS or EAL /m(5) | EQ (air) (x100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOx | 1212 | 662 | 119,147 | 832 | 83.3 | 0.9988 |
| SO2 | 1311 | 717 | 129,092 | 901 | 80 | 1.1269 |
| particulate | 72 | 39.4 | 7,090 | 50 | 80 | 0.0619 |
| HF | 0.15 | 0.082 | 14.8 | 0.1 | 6.5 | 0.0016 |
| HC1 | 26 | 14.2 | 2,560 | 18 | 7 | 0.2554 |
| CO | 459 | 251.1 | 45,197 | 316 | 550 | 0.0574 |
| NH3 | 6.7 | 3.7 | 660 | 4.6 | 170 | 0.0027 |
| Pb | 0.340 | 0.19 | 33.48 | 0.23 | 2 | 0.0117 |
| Cr(III) | 0.539 | 0.3 | 53.10 | 0.37 | 5 | 0.0074 |
| Cr(IV) | 0.0016 | 0.001 | 0.18 | 0.001 | 0.1 | 0.0010 |
| Co | 0.01 | 0.006 | 1.08 | 0.008 | 0.2 | 0.0040 |
| Cu | 0.008 | 0.004 | 0.72 | 0.005 | 2 | 0.0003 |
| Mn | 0.062 | 0.034 | 6.12 | 0.043 | 50 | 0.0001 |
| Ni | 0.348 | 0.19 | 34.20 | 0.24 | 10 | 0.0024 |
| EQ(air)*100 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.5316 |
| EQ(air) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.0253 |
18 Jun 1996 : Column: 399
18 Jun 1996 : Column: 399
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