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ENVIRONMENT

Emission Targets

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action the United Kingdom is taking to ensure that significant emission reduction targets are put forward at the Geneva intersessional conference on climate change in December. [8052]

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Mr. Clappison: The United Kingdom proposed, at the first conference of the parties to the climate change convention in Berlin in 1995, that developed countries should agree to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases to between 5 per cent. and 10 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010.

We expect this proposal to influence negotiations, including at the convention meeting taking place in Geneva this month, which will lead to an agreement on new commitments at the third conference of the parties in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997.

Building Research Establishment Conservation Support Unit

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those recommendations produced by the consultants for BRECSU which were subsequently not published, indicating the factors underlying their non-publication. [8254]

Mr. Clappison: BRECSU is one of the Department of the Environment's managing contractors for its energy efficiency best practice programme. In this role, it has placed some 600 contracts with a range of organisations. The reports submitted by the contractors are used, together with other consensus knowledge and expertise, to produce a wide range of best practice publications in the buildings and related energy management fields.

Radioactive Waste (Sellafield)

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in the attempts by the Environment Agency, as a successor to Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, to secure the release of the safety reports relating to the proposed subterranean repository for radioactive waste near Sellafield; and if he will make a statement on the current working relationship between Nirex and the Environment Agency. [8610]

Mr. Clappison: Following my written answer to the hon. Member on 11 November, Official Report column 3 UK Nirex Ltd. has provided the Library with a list of its research reports. Until Nirex applies to the Environment Agency for authorisation under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 to dispose of radioactive waste, there is no formal regulatory relationship between the company and the Environment Agency. However, discussions are currently taking place between the two organisations about their future working arrangements.

Rent Rebates

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the additional rent rebate expenditure incurred by local authorities as a result of the application of his guideline rent increases for each year from 1990-91 to 1995-96.[8872]

Mr. Clappison: The guideline rent increases produced gross public expenditure savings which offset the additional cost of rent rebates. The estimated rent rebate expenditure if all authorities had increased their rents in line with the guideline rent increases for each year from 1990-91 to 1995-96 and the estimated gross savings from the extra rent income are:

£ million

	Additional rent rebate expenditure each year	Additional rent income each year
1990-91	255	420
1991-92	224	364
1992-93	295	462
1993-94	268	401
1994-95	266	405
1995-96	272	405

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Estate Action

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the level of continuation funding in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000 for each estate action scheme (i) in London and (ii) nationally. [8849]

Sir Paul Beresford: Within the single regeneration budget planned provision nationally for the remaining estate action commitments is currently as follows:

	£ million
1997-98	170
1998-99	98
1999-2000	61

SRB allocations to each region for 1997-98 for continuing programmes, including estate action, will be determined shortly, following last month's Budget statement. The Government offices in each region then

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manage their total SRB allocation and have flexibility to vire between programmes where necessary, in order to ensure that all existing estate action commitments continue to be honoured. Regional SRB allocations for subsequent years will be determined by the outcome of future public expenditure surveys.

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of state for the Environment what allowance he made for inflation in determining estate action allocations in (a) 1993 and (b) 1994; and if he will make statement. [8850]

Sir Paul Beresford: Local authorities were advised to make due allowance for inflation before submitting their bids for estate action support to the Department. The amounts available to fund new and continuing estate action schemes in 1993-94 and 1994-95 were determined by the public expenditure survey settlements.

Capital Challenge

Mr. Austin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide (a) a breakdown for each region of the source of the resources to finance capital challenge and (b) a breakdown of the bids received from each region. [8851]

Sir Paul Beresford: (a) Each Government Department has contributed to capital challenge in proportion to their share of the Government's total provision for local authority capital expenditure. Since total provision is not sub-divided on a regional basis, it is not possible to break down each region's share in the manner requested.

(b) For each service and region, the attached table shows the total value of all bids and the credit approvals sought.

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Capital challenge--all bids--total bid cost and credit approvals bid for--by service and by region (£,000)

Service	North East	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Mids	Eastern	South East	London	South West	West Mids	North West	Merseyside	Totals
Total bid cost--by service--all bids
Education	7,595	35,639	27,013	36,964	27,297	76,819	17,566	57,493	46,127	19,909	352,422
Housing	23,604	60,145	31,326	40,156	70,327	170,478	29,331	159,947	123,053	4,940	713,307
Personal Social Services	6,502	4,370	6,595	11,397	7,899	14,865	5,328	6,915	11,034	3,216	78,121
Transport	39,579	182,490	25,674	92,584	157,730	77,605	45,551	114,162	191,470	79,422	1,006,267
Magistrates' Courts	245	7,727	11,614	6,126	210	23,596	22,000	2,516	306	0	74,340
Fire and Civil Defence	3,360	7,270	1,310	40	5,120	13,670	12,296	4,983	7,700	5,528	61,277
Probation Service	0	0	75	6	90	2,086	4,976	1,327	0	2,261	10,821
Coastal Prot'n, Flood Defence	0	0	0	550	13,338	0	2,125	1,040	0	0	17,053
Sport and Recreation	34,180	29,484	34,225	9,287	220,802	15,416	25,868	16,405	65,183	3,002	453,852
Other Services	67,466	29,843	43,154	76,319	216,609	228,222	226,324	193,422	238,052	24,032	1,343,443
Totals	182,530	356,968	180,986	273,429	719,422	622,757	391,365	558,210	682,925	142,310	4,110,902
Credit approvals bid for--by service--all bids
Education	7,005	29,111	21,886	18,952	16,306	46,313	10,181	32,472	28,385	14,074	224,685
Housing	8,820	32,098	8,381	21,678	10,897	79,433	11,222	53,164	39,628	500	265,821
Personal Social Services	3,215	3,055	3,835	16,371	3,132	8,636	3,997	5,970	8,024	2,080	58,315
Transport	26,756	52,519	29,021	29,179	90,751	39,329	34,403	66,402	48,448	36,442	453,250
Magistrates' Courts	245	7,727	11,614	6,031	210	23,591	7,200	2,516	306	0	59,440
Fire and Civil Defence	3,346	7,270	660	20	4,720	13,545	12,246	4,698	7,700	5,527	59,732
Probation Service	0	0	75	6	0	1,776	3,101	1,327	0	2,261	8,546
Coastal Prot'n, Flood Defence	0	0	0	275	0	0	1,000	200	0	0	1,475
Sport and Recreation	2,769	4,830	6,993	1,193	21,870	4,501	1,512	8,144	7,218	302	59,332
Other Services	11,839	20,740	20,151	18,151	62,284	65,071	38,056	39,473	50,520	5,117	331,402
Totals	63,995	157,351	102,616	111,856	210,170	282,195	122,918	214,366	190,229	66,303	1,521,999

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Resource Allocation (London)

Mr. Austin-Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the cost compensation factor used in determining resource allocation for London in (a) the generalised needs index, (b) the single regeneration budget and (c) capital challenge; and what plans he has to amend the allocation. [8852]

Sir Paul Beresford: (a) The generalised needs index, which is used in the distribution of housing annual capital guidelines for local authorities in England, uses regional cost compensation factors to reflect the different costs of capital works in different parts of the country. There were separate factors for the new provision and renovation parts of the index.

Relative cost compensation factors are calculated for each region and the factors are scaled so that the factors for the lowest regions equal 100. The cost compensation factors for London used in the GNI for 1996-97 were 155 (new provision) and 137 (renovation); the figures for other regions range between 100 to 130 and 100 to 114 respectively. The methodology underlying the cost compensation factors, which are updated annually, was reviewed in detail in 1995.

(b) Cost compensation factors are not used in determining the indicative regional allocations for the single regeneration budget challenge fund. Individual bids for resources are based on forecast actual costs, and so should take account of any regional variations in prices.

(c) The apportionment amongst regions of the sums available under the capital challenge pilot scheme is based on each region's share of the national total of local authorities' annual capital guidelines, supplementary credit approvals and capital grants for all services. It takes no account of a cost compensation factor except in so far as it is included in the housing ACG as discussed above.

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