Extract from the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons, 8 July 1997: "Ordered, That - Standing Order No.152 (Select Committees related to government departments) be amended- (2) by leaving out line 10 and inserting the words ... `the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee shall have the power to appoint two sub-committees'".

The Sub Committee was nominated on 15 July 1997.

It had 11 Members and held 43 meetings.

Members	Meetings attended
Bennett, Mr Andrew (Chairman)	42
Brake, Mr Tom	28
Butler, Christine	38
Cummings, Mr John	27
Donohoe, Mr Brian	21
Dunwoody, Mrs Gwyneth	26
Ellman, Mrs Louise	41
Flight, Mr Howard (discharged 20.07.98)	14
Gray, Mr James	19
Olner, Mr Bill	30
Randall, Mr John (appointed 22.07.98)	5
Whitehead, Dr Alan	38

Overall attendance:   .69.5 %

Number of Members added:  1

Number of Members discharged:  1

Turnover of membership during the Session:   9 %

Staff

Committee Clerk: Dr David Harrison

Other Committee staff: Miss E S Payne, Assistant Clerk (until 31 October 1998); Mr H A Yardley, Assistant Clerk (from 1 November 1998); Ms K R Smith, Specialist Assistant, Grade 8 (from 12 January); Dr D Taylor, Specialist Assistant, Grade 8 (from 12 January 1998); Miss F L Allingham, Higher Executive Officer, Grade 10 (until 30 November 1997); Miss J R Recardo, Chief Office Clerk, Grade 12 (from 1 December 1997); and Mrs S Morrison, Secretary, Grade 13 (from 30 March 1998).

Specialist Advisers during the Session

Professor Nigel Bell, Professor Rodney Cartwright, Professor Michael Clarke, Dr Robert D Davis, Dr Janet Dwyer, Mr Geoffrey Filkin, Ms Rita Hale, Professor Philip Lowe, Dr David Mills, Dr Judith Petts, Mr Howard Tollit and Mr Tony Travers.

Witnesses

Oral evidence was given during the Session by the following categories of witnesses:

Number of appearances by:-

Cabinet Ministers:  0

Other Ministers:   7

Number of appearances by officials from, or representatives of:-

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions:   16

other departments:   1

comprising:- Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food   1

executive agencies:   0

non-departmental public bodies:   28

comprising:- Audit Commission  2

Countryside Commission   2

Countryside Commission for Wales   2

English Nature   6

Environment Agency   12

Office of Water Services   1

Public Health Laboratory Service   3

Appearances by other witnesses:  141

Overseas Visits: None

Visits to European Institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg: None

UK Visits

Date	Destination	Members	Staff	Purpose	Cost
18.11.97	Redgate Mill, Eastbourne	5	1	Sewage Treatment and Disposal Inquiry	£315.65
02.12.97	Beckton, East London	5	2	Sewage Treatment and Disposal Inquiry	£50.00
16.02.98	Fulham Palace Meadows Allotments	5	2	The Future for Allotments Inquiry	£80.00
03.03.98	Hampshire	4	4†	Sustainable Waste Management Inquiry	£308.89
11-12.03.98	North West (Liverpool & Manchester)	5	7*	Sustainable Waste Management Inquiry	£2,273.26
16.06.98	Oxford	3	6_	English Nature	£772.02
20-21.07.98	Yorkshire	3	6_	The Protection of Field Boundaries	£2.764.40

† Includes 1 shorthand writer. * Includes 3 specialist advisers and 1 shorthand writer.

_ Includes 2 specialist advisers and 1 shorthand writer.

Minutes of Evidence  

Title	HC No. (1997-98)	Date of publication	No. of pages	Sale price	Government   reply
Minutes of Evidence: Sewage Treatment and Disposal	266-II	24.02.98	138	£15.90	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: Sewage Treatment and Disposal	266-III	24.02.98	252	£20.50	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Future for Allotments	560-i	20.04.98	30	£7.00	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Future for Allotments	560-ii	20.04.98	31	£8.00	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Future for Allotments	560-iii	23.04.98	16	£4.75	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Local Government Finance Policy	224-i	30.04.98	16	£4.75	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Water Management	183-i	08.05.98	22	£5.50	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: The Future for Allotments	560-II	24.06.98	46	£9.70	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Sustainable Waste Management	484-II	30.06.98	147	£17.00	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: Sustainable Waste Management	484-III	30.06.98	315	£23.50	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: Implementation of the Best Value Framework	705-II	03.07.98	32	£8.00	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Implementation of the Best Value Framework	705-i	02.07.98	41	£8.80	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: Implementation of the Best Value Framework	705-ii	03.07.98	85	£8.80	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Protection of Field Boundaries	969-i	07.10.98	40	£8.80	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Protection of Field Boundaries	969-ii	07.10.98	34	£8.00	Not applicable
Minutes of Evidence: The Protection of Field Boundaries	969-iii	07.10.98	50	£9.70	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: Local Government Finance	1126	03.11.98	128	£15.90	Not applicable
Memoranda of Evidence: The Protection of Field Boundaries	969-II	12.11.98	55	£9.70	Not applicable

Divisions

Date	Subject
10.02.98	One, on consideration of Chairman's draft Report on Sewage Treatment and Disposal.

Evidence

Oral evidence was taken at 34 of the Sub-Committee's 43 meetings. On none of these occasions evidence was taken partly or wholly in private. The Committee received 515 memoranda, of which 21 came from Government departments, 0 from executive agencies and 31 from associated public bodies. The Sub-Committee published 452 memoranda.

Inquiry	No. of oral evidence sessions	No. of memoranda received	No. of memoranda received from Government departments/ executive agencies/ associated public bodies	No. of memoranda published	No. of memoranda made available in the Record Office for public use and placed in the Library
Water Management	1	1	0/0/1	1	0
Local Government Finance Policy	1	0	0/0/0	0	0
Sewage Treatment and Disposal	8	100	4/0/11	98	2
The Future for Allotments	3	92	0/0/2	60	32
Sustainable Waste Management	8	132	4/0/5	103	29
Implementation of the Best Value Framework	3	33	2/0/0	33	0
The Protection of Field Boundaries	3	53	5/0/6	53	0
The Departmental Annual Report 1998 and Expenditure Plans  1998-99	2	4	3/0/1	4	0
English Nature	2	43	2/0/2	43	0
Local Government Finance	3	57	1/0/3	57	0
Total	34	515	21/0/31	452	63