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Registers of Scotland Executive Agency
Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the prior options review of the Registers of Scotland Executive Agency. [80169]
Mr. Dewar: A prior options review of the Registers of Scotland Executive Agency was carried out recently for my Department. The review concluded that there will continue to be a need for a function to maintain a register of title to land with the power to make independent decisions in cases of dispute, and recommended continuation of both Agency and Trading Fund status.
Extensive recommendations on issues such as governance and target setting were made to enhance the strategic management of the Agency and to improve its commercial approach.
I have accepted the recommendations on Agency status and on improvements to the coverage and stringency of the Agency's targets, which will be revised as soon as possible.
I have not, however, accepted the review's recommendation that decisions on the Agency's accommodation strategy should be brought forward. As recently as last November, I agreed that the Agency should maintain its presence in its existing, or similar, locations in Edinburgh and Glasgow until 2007. This option will have the least impact on the Agency's productive capacity at a time when it will be undertaking the major task of completing the extension of the Land Register to the whole of Scotland.
The recommendations on Trading Fund status, governance arrangements and the future strategic management of the Agency will be considered by Ministers of the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament. Interim arrangements have been made to continue Trading Fund status until 31 March 2000.
From 1 July 1999 this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
Mr. Eric Clarke:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will issue finalised planning policy guidance on opencast coal. [80170]
Mr. Macdonald:
The Government's planning policy for opencast coal is being published today in National Planning Policy Guideline 16: Opencast Coal and Related Minerals. This NPPG, which replaces NPPG 4: Land for Mineral Working as the relevant guidance for opencast coal and related minerals, indicates the considerations which planning authorities should take into account in framing development plan policies and in determining planning applications for the extraction of opencase coal and related minerals. NPPG 4 continues to provide policy guidance for all other minerals.
The new guidance takes account of the Ten Point Plan prepared by the Government before the Election, the outcome of the Energy Fuels Review and the responses made to consultation on the draft revised guidance which I announced to the House on 22 October 1998. The guidance ensures that a robust framework is in place to protect communities and the environment from any
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potential harm caused by proposed opencase coal developments. It will ensure that all proposals are subjected to tough scrutiny and if consent is granted the highest environmental standards will apply.
As a result of the new guidance, planning authorities will need to review existing development plan policies for controlling opencase coal and related mineral extraction. To ensure early action, the Secretary of State is issuing a direction requiring all the relevant planning authorities to prepare and submit an alteration to their structure plan policies to bring them into line with the guidance. The Direction relating to the notification of certain applications to the Secretary of State, issued on 22 October 1998, remains in force, although it will be reviewed once the new guidance is reflected in planning authorities' structure plans.
The Government do not envisage a prohibition on the working of opencast coal. However, NPPG 15 properly puts concern for communities and the environment at the heart of decision making by seeking to apply a sustainable approach in determining where extraction may take place. Full weight should be given to the effect and potential disturbance on local communities as well as other environmental considerations including nature conservation and the impact on the landscape. Where a proposal would cause demonstrable harm, the guidance is clear that permission should not be granted except where the benefits of the development proposal to the community would out-weigh the potential harm. The Government look to planning authorities to steer proposals to environmentally acceptable sites and, where necessary, to refuse consent where they judge such developments would not be in the overall best interests of the affected local communities and environment.
A copy of the guidance is being placed in the House Library. Copies are also being widely circulated to those with an interest including planning authorities, the industry and environmental interests.
From 1 July 1999 this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
Miss Begg:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the outcome of the review of the operation of the Packaging Waste Recovery Note system to demonstrate compliance with the Packaging Regulations. [80171]
Mr. Macdonald:
I have considered the conclusions of the Advisory Committee on Packaging together with representations made in the course of the review of the Regulations. Obligated parties are keen to see greater transparency in reprocessors' treatment of Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) revenue so that they know that the resources they are putting in are being used as intended. I therefore propose the following changes to the PRN system in Scotland:
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Reprocessors should therefore make reasonable forward provision for such obligated parties who wish to have PRNs, and I would expect the obligated parties also to do what they can to ensure that the reprocessors are informed as soon as possible about their PRN requirements.
I will be asking SEPA to amend their Guidance Note to reflect these changes.
From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the proportion of expenditure on the set-up costs of the tax varying powers of the Scottish Parliament which will have been incurred before the end of the 1999-2000 fiscal year for the (a) Inland Revenue and (b) Department of Social Security; and if he will make a statement. [79551]
Mr. Dewar:
Work is currently in progress to ensure that all the necessary arrangements are in place to allow the tax varying powers to be used with effect from 6 April 2000 if the incoming Scottish Executive wishes to do so. If that work continues, therefore, all of the set-up costs for Inland Revenue and the Department of Social Security will have been incurred by then. It will, however, be a matter for the incoming Scottish Executive to decide whether or not this preparatory work should continue.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 16 February 1999, Official Report, columns 644-45, on the Scottish Parliament's tax-varying powers, if he will update his answer to reflect the changes to income tax bands and rates announced in the Budget statement. [78523]
Mr. Dewar
[holding answer 25 March 1999]: Following the measures announced in Budget 99 it is currently estimated for 2000-01 that the yield from a decision to increase the basic rate of income tax by one penny for Scottish taxpayers would be as follows:
(i) that as a condition of accreditation, reprocessors should provide an annual return to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) showing PRN revenue for the previous year; the proportion of PRN revenue that has been passed to others to develop the collection infrastructure; and what proportion was directed at either developing reprocessing capacity or at developing end-use markets for recycled materials. Details
should also be provided as to what additional capacity is planned and what steps have been taken to develop markets for recyclate.
(ii) that PRNs should be issued to obligated parties only or to those representing them. In addition, individual businesses who are obligated members of the packaging chain and bring waste for reprocessing, should be given first refusal on the PRN when such waste is accepted for reprocessing.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Gross | 230 |
| Net(35) | 225 |
(35) Net of Working Families Tax Credit and income related benefits: Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit
Social Inclusion
Mrs. Fyfe:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the amount of resources to be made available to increase the level of social inclusion under (a) working families tax credits, (b) the national minimum wage, (c) general practitioners for deprived communities,
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(d) Listening To/Working for Communities and (e) New Deal for Communities Pathfinder projects for each of the next three years. [78714]
Mr. Macdonald:
The estimated net value of the Working Families Tax Credit to families in Scotland is £170 million in 2000-01 and £180 million in 2001-02.
It is estimated that 157,000 workers in Scotland will benefit from the introduction of the National Minimum Wage. An estimate of the value of this initiative to workers in Scotland is in preparation, and a letter will be sent to my hon. Friend.
A total of £7.5 million in each of the next 3 years is being invested in payments to general practitioners working in deprived communities.
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