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Office of Water Services

Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment by how much Ofwat has exceeded its budget in (a) the current year, (b) last year and (c) the previous year. [3110]

Mr. Clappison: Ofwat did not exceed its budget in 1994-95. Regarding expenditure in 1995-96 and 1996-97, I refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 5 and 11 of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's answer of Monday 4 November 1996, Official Report, columns 346-48, to my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mr. Day).

Hillingdon Unitary Development Plan

Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what meetings officials of his Department have had with officers of Hillingdon borough council to discuss the objections he has lodged with the council to its proposed changes to Hillingdon's draft unitary development plan; and what meetings are planned for the future; [3708]

(2) to which of its proposed changes to the Hillingdon draft unitary development plant his Department lodged objections with Hillingdon borough council; [3709]

(3) on what grounds his Department lodged objections with Hillingdon borough council to its proposed changes to the Hillingdon draft unitary development plan; [3710]

(4) if he will publish in the Official Report the text of his letter to Hillingdon borough council in objection to its planned changes to Hillingdon's unitary development plan. [3711]

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Sir Paul Beresford: Objections were made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment to 26 proposed modifications. The objections were made to modifications that appeared to bring the plan into conflict with national or regional policies without good reason and where that was proposed would result in the plan lacking clarity such that it could cause great difficulties to users later.

Twelve modifications concerned green-belt and metropolitan open land; six modifications would produce policies or proposals that were unclear or imprecise; and three modifications conflicted with our preferred approach to planning and affordable housing. A further five modifications to which objections were made related to proposals for residential development on two recreation grounds.

Objections to the published modifications in respect of the deposited Hillingdon unitary development plan are addressed to the council of the London borough of Hillingdon. I would be pleased to provide a copy of the objections made by my right hon. Friend, but the approach in the first place should be to the council.

We encourage local authorities to meet objectors to discuss objections. These informal meetings are helpful, not least to consider how the plan might be changed to meet the objections. Officials in the Government office for London and those from Hillingdon have met recently to pursue the objections made by my right hon. Friend. Further discussion is likely once Hillingdon's response to the objections it has received is known.

Compulsory Competitive Tendering

Mr. Congdon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has, following the consultation, to vary any of the proposals to tighten up the compulsory competitive tendering framework for local authority professional services and housing management which he announced in May. [4112]

Sir Paul Beresford: The Secretary of State is today writing to the local authority associations to consult them on draft regulations which we intend to put before the House early in the new year. The Welsh and Scottish Offices are also writing in similar terms. These draft regulations will amend the existing CCT framework for local authorities, other than police authorities in England and Wales. The Government will be considering whether to make comparable changes to the CCT regime for police authorities and will be consulting the relevant associations.

These draft regulations incorporate the proposals which we put forward earlier this year, except that they will include five main variations in respect of English authorities--there are minor differences in the variations for Scotland and Wales:

(a) The means by which authorities calculate the amount of work which must go out to competition to exclude the need for credits and allowances which prevent work from being exposed to competition more than once;


(b) Goods and services which are "bought-in" will be recognised in the new formula. Where work has been awarded after a competition, this will directly work towards satisfying the amount which must be exposed to competition;

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(c) As a result of these two changes, which effectively concentrates competition on local authority labour costs, the competition percentages for finance and information technology services will be 50 per cent. and 40 per cent. respectively, except for county councils in England where the Finance competition requirement will be 40 per cent.


(d) On housing management, the "de minimis" level is reduced in due course to 2,500 properties as proposed, but not further reduced to 500 properties as originally proposed;


(e) Authorities are given 18 months from the new regulations coming into force to meet the new requirements on finance and housing management.

These variations address the major concerns that local authorities put to us in the consultation exercise, namely, that the calculation framework remained unclear in the light of our intention to abolish certain credits and allowances, that the proposed 65 per cent. competition percentage on finance cut too deeply into core services and did not recognise differences in the functions of different local authorities, that a 500 property de minimis figure for housing management might mean competitions which cost more than they saved, and that, because local authorities were unprepared for competition beyond the existing CCT requirements, they needed more time than proposed to meet the higher requirements.

The revised package of changes, which is summarised in the table, will restore the amount of white collar work subject to competition to a level first envisaged when the statutory framework was introduced lat year, with an increase in the volume of work where subsequent experience has shown the market is well placed to respond. It will mean we have a much more robust CCT framework which will force authorities to put the interests of local taxpayers first. Local authorities that have voluntarily sought opportunities to involve the private sector will find that the calculation framework recognises this. Authorities that are reluctant to expose work to competition will find it much more difficult to use flexibilities within the rules to avoid competition. External auditors will also have a clear basis for checking local authority calculations.

	Type	Activity	Details
1	Credit	All	Amend credit on work for LMS and DSM schools
2	Credit	Personnel	Amend credit on Grant for Education Support and Training
3	Calculation/ Allowance	All	Abolish 'double-counting' of work in totals and allowance
4	Credits	All	Abolish credits on work done in support of DSOs and DLOs
5	Calculation/ Allowance	All	Abolish 'pre-shrunk allowance'; create credit for indirectly contracted-out expenditure applied before competition percentage in CCT calculations
6	Allowance	All	Replace 'Bought-in Goods & Services allowance with BIGs credit applied before competition percentage and credit for work awarded under CCT applied after the competition percentage
7	Competition Percentage	Finance	Increase percentage from 35 per cent. to 50 per cent. (40 per cent. in English County Councils)
8	Competition Percentage	Personnel	Increase percentage from 30 per cent. to 40 per cent.
9	Competition Percentage	IT	Reduce percentage from 70 per cent. to 40 per cent.
10	De Minimis	Construct & Property	Reduce from £450,000 to £300,000
11	De Minimis	Personnel	Reduce from £400,000 to £300,000
12	De Minimis	Housing Management	Set level at 4,000 properties in England reducing to 2,500 properties. In Wales and Scotland the 2,500 properties figure comes into effect when the regulations take effect.
13	Exemption	Security work	Increase cut-off from 51 per cent. to 81 per cent.
14	Allowance	Vehicle management	Abolish allowance

12 Nov 1996 : Column: 107

Lead Pollution (Barham Base)

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to clean up land contaminated by lead-polluted water at the Barham base near Thetford. [3415]

Mr. Soames: I have been asked to reply, as this matter falls within my area of responsibility.

I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Effluent Reports

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what effluent reports have been prepared by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist in regard to (a) British military bases (b) bases made available to the United States in the United Kingdom and (c) British overseas territories in each year since 1979; and if he will place copies in the Library. [3281]

Mr. Soames: I have been asked to reply as this matter falls within my area of responsibility.

I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

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