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Badgers (A30)
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action is being taken to protect a badger sett at footpath 7, Langland lane, Fairmile, Devon from A30 construction work. [13219]
Mr. Clappison: There is no intention to disturb or remove any badger sett. However, it has been necessary to carry out work on a tree in the vicinity of a sett, in connection with the A30 construction work. Disturbance to the badger sett has been minimised by removing only parts of the tree.
Kent County Council
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information is available to his Department as to the amount of debt that Kent county council had outstanding in each of the financial years 1992-93 to 1996-97, inclusive. [13175]
Mr. Curry: The available information for Kent county council is as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 355.4 |
| 1993-94 | 394.1 |
| 1994-95 | 429.5 |
| 1995-96 | 451.6 |
The figures include both long-term and short-term borrowing. Longer-term borrowing by authorities can be undertaken only to finance capital expenditure and is regulated by Government through the issue of credit approvals. The data for 1992-93 and 1993-94 are obtained from special surveys conducted by the Department of the Environment seeking information on the amount of outstanding longer-term debt and investment, and the later figures are estimates based on public works loan board data and transactions reported to the Department in the regular monthly and quarterly borrowing and lending inquiries.
Air Quality (Bexley)
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received about air quality in the London borough of Bexley. [13157]
Mr. Clappison: The Department has received a response from Bexley council to the consultation on the draft national strategy for air quality, which the Government are preparing in accordance with the Environment Act 1995.
Radon
Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to issue more invitations for free radon measurements to householders living in areas where there are high radon levels. [13439]
Mr. Clappison: Following two successful campaigns conducted last year, we intend to offer a further quarter of a million invitations to have a free radon measurement this year. Invitations will be sent to all homes in England where there is a greater than 5 per cent. chance of being
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above the Government's radon action level, and which have not already received an invitation. Maps have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses showing these areas.
The invitations will complete a two-year programme to ensure that all households in the most radon-affected parts of the country have received an invitation to have a free measurement. The results obtained will allow clearer identification of localised areas where radon is a particular problem. Future measurement programmes will concentrate on these within the areas with a greater than 5 per cent. chance of being above the action level.
Water and Sewerage Services
Mr. John Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the action he proposes to take to increase competition for water and sewerage services. [13440]
Mr. Gummer: In answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Nicholson) on 1 April 1996, Official Report, column 12, I set out a number of proposals for extending competition in water and sewerage services in England and Wales. These would: introduce common carriage arrangements to allow companies to use an existing supplier's pipe network to provide individual customers with a choice of water supply; introduce similar provisions for sewerage services; extend the scope of inset arrangements, under which a new water or waste water undertaker can be appointed in respect of an area within an existing undertaker's area of appointment, to allow appointments to be for limited periods and in respect of co-located premises; remove restrictions on cross-border supply to enable water undertakers to supply water for non-domestic purposes to customers in another undertaker's area; and remove the water undertaker's monopoly on making connections to the water main.
I also announced the issue of a consultation paper in which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I sought views on these proposals.
Responses to the consultation paper were received from the water industry, commercial and industrial users, representative bodies, professional institutions and individual customers. They showed a broad measure of support for all our proposals and made a number of useful points about the way in which they could be put into operation. In the light of the positive response, it is our intention to proceed with these proposals with a view to bringing forward legislation in the next Parliament.
In developing this legislation we shall seek to provide a basis for competition both in waste water and clean water services, and to ensure that water quality continues to be safeguarded and that the charging regime continues to be fair and non discriminatory. We also intend to go further than our original proposals by following up suggestions made during consultation for extending the scope of common carriage and inset appointments to smaller users. We will look again to see whether a lower limit, perhaps in the 100 to 200 ML range, would be practicable and appropriate.
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Meanwhile, we would urge users to take full advantage of those provisions for competition which already exist, in particular those which allow large users to seek water supplies from other sources and which allow flexibility in the provision of sewerage services.
Mr. Garel-Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has selected a preferred purchaser for the Building Research Establishment; and if he will make a statement. [13455]
Mr. Robert B. Jones:
Following our consideration of the two final offers for the Building Research Establishment, we have decided to select the BRE management bid team as the preferred purchaser. We were grateful for the work done by the Built Environment Research Foundation in preparing its bid, but have decided not to proceed with it further. We are now firmly on course to transfer BRE to the private sector by the end of February as planned.
The Government's objectives for the sale are: to secure the provision of high-quality, independent and impartial research and development and advice, at good value for money, that meets the requirements of Government and industry and is responsive to the commercial needs of industry; to transfer the establishment to the private sector by the end of February 1997; and to optimise the net proceeds to the taxpayer.
The BRE management team bid was the one which best demonstrated that it met all the sale objectives. Overall the management team bid offers the best value for money for the taxpayer.
One of the Government's objectives from the outset has been to privatise BRE in a way that would secure wide support from the industry and the research world. I believe that the Foundation for the Built Environment model has this wide support. I am pleased to say that the Construction Industry Council has indicated that it will support it, as have an impressive number of organisations from all sections of the industry, and the major university interests.
We have looked very carefully at the preferred purchaser's proposals for safeguarding impartiality and independence in the private sector. In our view, the management bid team has demonstrated that the structure of ownership it proposes for BRE within the Foundation for the Built Environment will protect the impartiality and independence for which BRE is renowned. We believe that the organisation will continue to be able to provide high-quality, independent and impartial research and advice under its new ownership.
Mr. Meacher:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the United Nations Environment Programme technical report "UNEP 36" on industry environmental compliance, in respect of its application to the United Kingdom. [12395]
Mr. Gummer
[holding answer 23 January 1997]: The report in question provides guidance primarily for countries that are in the process of setting up a system for environmental compliance and enforcement. The United
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Kingdom has a well-developed enforcement regime that, for major industrial processes, is now administered by the Environment Agency in England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland.
Mrs. Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will list the police forces that have received training as part of a scheme sponsored by Her Majesty's Government since 1988, detailing where and when the training took place and how much the training for each force cost; [11887]
(3) if he will list the police forces which, as part of a scheme sponsored by Her Majesty's Government, (a) received counter-terrorist or counter-insurgency training and (b) have been trained by the British Special Forces since 1988, in each case indicating where and when the training took place and how much the training of each force cost. [11888]
Mr. David Davis:
Police and security forces receiving training sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office diplomatic wing, and Overseas Development Administration assistance for police training, were listed in the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms Short) on 31 October 1996, Official Report, columns 218-19, and in the answers given by the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Mr. Jones) on 14 May 1966, Official Report, columns 386-87, and on 28 February 1996, Official Report, columns 546-47. Details of overseas police training sponsored by the Ministry of Defence were provided in the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces to the hon. Lady on 12 December 1996, Official Report, columns 343-44. Serving police officers from foreign forces have occasionally undertaken periods of academic study sponsored by Her Majesty's Government, but it would involve disproportionate cost to try to establish a record of this additional police study in the United Kingdom.
The training of police and security forces sponsored by Her Majesty's Government took place during the period 1988 to 1996 at the Bramshill police college, other training establishments in the United Kingdom and in the countries concerned.
The Overseas Development Administration employs some retired police officers, some of whom have established themselves as private companies, to provide consultancy advice and training. They have also employed the Royal Institute of Public Administration. Prior to 1996, there was no other Foreign and Commonwealth Office-sponsored training of police and security forces by
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private companies. In 1996, the FCO diplomatic wing sponsored a pilot project involving private sector training of police forces from Malaysia and Cyprus.
(2) if he will list the foreign police forces trained by private companies under the scheme sponsored by Her Majesty's Government since 1988, indicating where and when the training took place, the name of the companies involved and the nature of the training provided; [11886]
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