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Factory-farmed Produce
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to ensure that factory-farmed produce is identifiable by package labelling; and if he will make a statement. [12930]
Mr. Rooker: The Government have no plans at present to make such information a mandatory part of the food label, but we are consulting interested parties on the Farm Animal Welfare Council's recommendation for compulsory labelling of egg production systems.
Genetically Engineered Food
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research his Department has undertaken into the allergenic potential of genetically engineered food; and if he will make a statement. [12896]
Mr. Rooker: The EC Novel Foods Regulation (258/97) introduced an EU wide pre-market approval system for genetically modified foods. In the UK the independent Advisory Committee for Novel Foods and Processes assesses the safety of such foods paying particular attention to their allergenic potential. This Department funds research work worth some £1 million per year, to underpin the ACNFP's safety assessment procedures. It is standard practice to encourage the publication of results from such research.
ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
Bull Bars
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will advocate an EU-wide ban on bull bars during the British presidency of the Council of Transport Ministers in January 1998. [12321]
Ms Glenda Jackson: The UK has already made its opposition to aggressive bull bars very clear to our European partners, and has strongly supported the Commission's proposal for tackling them through an amendment to the external projections directive. However, the opposition to this initiative from certain member states has demonstrated that if we are to tackle the bull bar problem quickly we will have to take action at a national, rather than a European, level.
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what measures he intends to take to control the use of bull bars. [12322]
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Ms Jackson:
We have concluded that we must look seriously at tackling aggressive bull bars at a national level. We are currently consulting widely on options for action with the aim of identifying a way forward that is both practicable and effective.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if, in assessing housing properties for compulsory competitive tendering purposes, the 4,000 de minimis threshold will apply to properties managed via management agreements, by (a) estate management boards, and (b) tenant management organisations. [12008]
Mr. Raynsford:
The Minister for Local Government and Housing announced on 25 July that the proposed de minimis threshold for housing management compulsory competitive tendering should be stock based at 4,000 properties. There are no proposals to make any changes to the current definition of a local authority's housing stock. The definition as it stands includes most stock which a local authority provides under part II of the Housing Act 1985. Only hostels and flats which have been bought under the right-to-buy scheme are excluded. Therefore any properties which are managed by either estate management boards or tenant management organisations will count towards the de minimis calculation.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he plans to end the capping of local authority spending. [12009]
Mr. Raynsford:
We remain committed to the abolition of crude and universal capping as soon as possible. We are now working on a wide range of proposals to improve local accountability which will allow us to fulfil this commitment.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has (a) to exclude supplementary credit approvals under the Local Government Finance (Supplementary Credit Approval) Bill from capping rates and (b) to allow SCAs to be used in respect of private housing stock. [12010]
Mr. Raynsford:
Ministers have yet to take decisions on capping arrangements for 1998-99. We anticipate making an announcement later in the year.
Guidance to local authorities on expenditure under the capital receipts initiative was issued on 2 October. This sets out how the additional resources released under the initiative can be applied. In the first instance, it will be for individual local authorities to identify local needs and priorities and to draw up strategies to tackle them. Where private sector renewal is such a priority, capital receipts initiative resources will be available to support remedial works.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans his Department has to allow the private finance initiative to
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be used for housing purposes; and what account is taken of private finance initiative projects in relation to the capping of local government expenditure. [12011]
Mr. Raynsford:
Local authorities are already developing pilot schemes for the provision of non housing revenue account housing under PFI. My hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Housing recently agreed to the launch of a pathfinder project for the use of the PFI in housing revenue account housing during the third reading of the Local Government Contracts Bill. Official Report, 8 July, column 831. In the context of the 1997-98 capping round, the previous Administration adjusted the capping regime to allow amounts of revenue support stemming from private finance credits to be spent. We will announce capping guidelines for 1998-99 later in the autumn. In the longer term, we have repeated our commitment to end crude and universal capping as soon as possible.
Sir Richard Body:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the definition of (a) media-oriented and (b) source-oriented monitoring as named as an element of the 1997 work programme for the European Environment Agency; what the projects involved are; how much has been allocated to each; and if he will make a statement. [12508]
Angela Eagle:
In the context of the European Environment Agency's work programme, media-oriented monitoring concerns the assessment of the state and trends of the environment by looking at the quality of the various areas of the environment--air, water, nature and soil. Source-oriented monitoring provides an assessment of the pressures on the environment by way of measuring the levels of pollution by source.
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| Project number | Project title | Budget 000 ecu |
|---|---|---|
| SG1 | Common tools for emissions and waste integrated inventories | 50 |
| SA2 | Air emissions inventories '90 and '94 | 400 |
| SW1 | Emissions to water--general approach and assessment | DGXI funded |
| SWS2 | Waste--pilot projects for further assessments of inventories and analysis of main flows | 350 |
| Total | 800 |
A43
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the average daily flow of traffic on the A43 through Silverstone over each of the last 10 years; what proportion of this flow is represented by heavy goods vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [12262]
Ms Glenda Jackson: Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Highways Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Lawrie Haynes. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
| Year | AADF | Per cent. commercial AADF |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 17,400 | 18 |
| 1988 | 19,200 | -- |
| 1989 | 19,700 | -- |
| 1990 | 21,100 | 16 |
| 1991 | 18,400 | 15 |
| 1992 | 23,400 | -- |
| 1993 | 22,700 | 16 |
| 1994 | 22,200 | -- |
| 1995 | 22,300 | -- |
| 1996 | 24,100 | 15 |
27 Oct 1997 : Column: 712
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