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Local Government
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the local authorities which have decided they wish to have a directly elected mayor. [106320]
Ms Beverley Hughes: The Local Government Bill, which if enacted would allow local authorities to have a directly elected mayor, is currently before the Other Place. Information about councils' current intentions should the Bill be enacted is not collected centrally.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those councils which have decided they do not wish to introduce an executive structure as set out in the Local Government Bill. [106319]
Ms Beverley Hughes: The Local Government Bill, which if enacted would require local authorities to draw up proposals for an executive structure, is currently before the Other Place. Information about councils' current intentions is not collected centrally.
Departmental Consultation
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the public consultation exercises on policy matters carried out by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; who was consulted and by what means; how responses were analysed; how and in what form the results were transmitted to those responsible for the consultation; how the results of the consultation were published; and what analysis has been carried out of the extent and nature of policy changes resulting from the consultation. [106301]
Ms Beverley Hughes: This information is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the level of public awareness on Merseyside of the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. [106421]
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Mr. Mullin:
It is the role of the Government office for the North West to promote environment issues in the Merseyside region. The Government office are currently actively working with others to raise awareness in the North West about biodiversity issues. The Government office is a member of the North West Biodiversity Forum whose aims are to support, encourage and positively influence the conservation of biological diversity in the North West. Other members of the Forum include Lancashire County Council, the Environment Agency, English Nature, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Joint Countryside Advisory Service, County Wildlife Trusts and North West Water.
The Government office is currently promoting the production of a biodiversity booklet via the Forum to raise awareness among decision makers about biodiversity in the region to highlight, particularly, those species and habitats deemed to be under threat from development.
It is not a policy of the Government to carry out research into public awareness of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 anywhere in the United Kingdom, although they aim to make as much information available as possible through the Department's website.
Mr. Neil Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what proportion of aircraft using UK airports use depleted uranium as ballast; and what assessment he has made of the potential risk to health in the event of a crash. [106307]
Mr. Mullin:
Data are not collected in the form requested. However, it is known that early Boeing 747s, of which about 550 were constructed up until 1981, used depleted uranium counterbalance weights in their control surfaces.
A risk to health could arise only in the unlikely event that a crash, followed by a sufficiently severe and long lasting fire, were to cause aerosolisation and dispersal of the material. It has been established from the condition of the recovered counterweights and the evidence of fire damage following the recent Korean B747 aircraft crash that there has been no airborne dispersal of uranium from the crash site. Sixteen of the 20 counterweights used in the aircraft have so far been recovered.
Mr. Darvill:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will publish the outcome of his Department's review of the operation of the Commercial Leases Code of Practice. [106860]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning hopes to make an announcement in the spring.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it his policy to place in the Library a copy of notes taken at meetings between Ministers of his Department and officials from non-departmental public bodies responsible to his Department after each such meeting. [106693]
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Ms Beverley Hughes:
Ministers meet NDPB chairmen and others to discuss a range of strategic issues, including confidential matters. Implementing this proposal would constrain the full and frank discussion that makes such meetings useful. It will therefore not be policy to place in the Library a copy of notes taken at such meetings.
Mr. Waterson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the meetings he or his ministerial colleagues have had in the last 12 months with the local government network, listing who was present at such meetings and the topics discussed. [106818]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
Over the last 12 months, Ministers have met many involved with local government. A wide range of topics have been discussed, including the Government's modernisation agenda and other issues which cross departmental boundaries. Such meetings will continue.
Mr. Barnes:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions by how much the financial settlement for district councils would change if the calculations based on enhanced population figures were removed from the provisional standing spending assessments for 2000-01; and if he will rank these figures in descending order. [106411]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The provisional standard spending assessments for 2000-01 were updated on 16 December 1999. These have been compared with figures obtained by removing (i) section (a) from the formula in paragraph 4.41 of "The Local Government Finance Report (England) 2000-01" and (ii) sections (a) (i) and (b) (i) in paragraph 4.47. The differences have been ranked in descending order and the information has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Barnes:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish the Health and Safety Audit of operations at the SARP (UK) Ltd. plant at Killamarsh, Derbyshire, and the reports of the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency into incidents of the escape of acid vapour at the plant on 14 and 30 May 1998; and if he will make a statement. [106458]
Mr. Meacher:
The investigations into the two incidents involving chemical releases at SARP UK were carried out by the Health and Safety Executive as a joint exercise with the Environment Agency. SARP UK was prosecuted in relation to those incidents and the penalties and costs awarded against the company were £120,000 and £150,000 respectively--a measure of how seriously the Court viewed these offences. In addition a detailed inspection of activities on the site was subsequently carried out resulting in a large number of recommendations for improvement of health and safety. The report of the investigation and of the findings of the inspection are being made public in a report published by the HSE so that the lessons can be understood by other companies. The report will be available from 3 February at the HSE Information Centres in London,
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Bootle and Sheffield. It will also be available at the Environment Agency Library in Bristol. I am placing copies in the Library of both Houses.
Joan Ruddock:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Swindon (Ms Drown), of 17 January 2000, Official Report, column 245W, on genetically modified organisms, if he will estimate the proportion of genetically modified organisms which will come within the scope of the Advanced Informed Agreement. [106963]
Mr. Meacher:
The scope of the Advanced Informed Agreement (AIA) procedure within the Biosafety Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the issues currently under negotiation in Montreal. Therefore it is not possible to estimate the proportion of living modified organisms (LMOs) that will come within its scope. The position of the United Kingdom and its European Union partners is that an effective and workable AIA procedure is necessary for the Protocol to contribute to biosafety, and that LMOs for food, feed or processing (commodities) should be included within the scope of the Protocol. At the negotiations, informal contact groups have been set up to look specifically at issues of transboundary movements of commodity LMOs and the scope of the Protocol.
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