| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Air Pollution
Mr. John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) when he expects to publish revised guidance on air pollution standards for animal rendering plants; [107935]
- (2) what estimate he has made of the cost of his Department's revised guidance on air pollution standards for animal rendering plants to each of those companies currently rendering under contracts from the Intervention Board under the over-30 months scheme; and how much of this cost will be borne by the Intervention Board. [107934]
Mr. Hill: The revised guidance note was published on 13 January 2000 and copies have been placed in the Library of the House as well as being sent to relevant local authorities and to the UK Renderers Association.
The note contains guidance for the animal rendering sector as a whole. The costs to individual plants will depend, among other things, on the extent to which plant are currently complying with the original 1991 guidance and the techniques used for the purpose of achieving such compliance.
Seamen
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of seamen employed in the UK shipping industry are foreign nationals not resident in the UK. [108023]
Mr. Hill: A Chamber of Shipping manpower survey of its member companies found that in May 1999 17.4 per cent. of officers and 22 per cent. of ratings working on Chamber of Shipping member companies' vessels were foreign nationals.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will investigate the use by UK shipping companies of offshore contracts for British seamen employed on domestic services. [108021]
Mr. Hill: The Government committed in their shipping policy paper "British Shipping: Charting a new course" to publish guidelines for the industry on the applicability and use of offshore contracts for seafarers, and to determine whether any amendment to employment rights legislation was necessary.
The Government have set out the current position in a paper to the social partners and are taking it forward in the training and employment catalyst group established to progress the action points from "Charting a new course".
Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many qualified staff are employed by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch; and what budget they (a) had in 1998-99 and (b) will have in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. [108078]
Mr. Mullin:
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch employs 11 professional pilots and 19 graduate engineers. The budget for 1998-99 was £4,121,000. The budget for 1999-2000 is £4,461,000 and for 2000-01 the bid figure is £4,434,000.
2 Feb 2000 : Column: 615W
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many (a) private and (b) public airfields have closed in the UK in the last five years. [108030]
Mr. Mullin:
The Department is unable to obtain accurate information regarding all public and private aerodromes which have stopped operating in the last five years.
The only accurate data we have concern the number of licensed aerodromes which have closed in these years. Statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that in the last five years, eight aerodromes have had their licence revoked.
We are aware that in the last five years some aerodromes have received a CAA operating licence and although the figure can vary each year, the number of licensed aerodromes remains fairly constant, on average between 142 and 146.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to remove control of overall safety regulation from Railtrack; and on what date he expects the new regime to be in place. [107861]
Mr. Hill:
We are presently considering the main functions of Railtrack's Safety and Standards Directorate and where they are best located. The Health and Safety Executive is the sole regulator for railway safety and is involved in this work.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many staff are employed by each of the regional development agencies. [107941]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by each of the regional development agencies at 30 September 1999, the most recent figures available, are as follows. The figures include temporary staff and secondees.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| One NorthEast | 232 |
| North West Development Agency | 199 |
| Yorkshire Forward | 211 |
| East Midlands Development Agency | 132 |
| Advantage West Midlands | 147 |
| East of England Development Agency | 71 |
| South East England Development Agency | 95 |
| South West England Development Agency | 171 |
Regional Development Boards
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many of the regional development board local appointees have resigned since their appointments. [107945]
2 Feb 2000 : Column: 616W
Ms Beverley Hughes:
Of the 102 board members appointed when the Regional Development Agencies were established on 1 April 1999, three board members since have resigned, one each from the South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber regions.
Mr. Ian Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he will announce the decision on South West Trains' application for confirmation of their new byelaws. [107936]
Mr. Hill:
The Secretary of State is currently considering the byelaws submitted to him by South West Trains, the other railway companies and London Underground, alongside the formal representations received on these byelaws following advertisement. A decision will be made on whether to confirm, amend or reject the byelaws submitted by all the train companies later this year.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his policy regarding applications for local authorities for the writing off of housing revenue account debts and the source of finance for any approvals of such applications. [107922]
Mr. Mullin:
Where the capital receipt which a local authority receives for the transfer of its entire housing stock is less than the debt attributed to the stock, the Government are prepared to make a one-off payment to assist the authority to repay the outstanding Public Works Loan Board debt principal. In such cases the local authority will be required to repay its attributable housing debt shortly after the transfer is completed. These new arrangements were announced to the House on 16 December 1999, Official Report, column 250W, by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning following consultation with local authorities and others last year.
Under these arrangements local authorities are required to meet from the capital receipt or their existing resources any premiums arising from the early repayment of debt. An authority with overhanging debt applying for a place on the housing transfer programme must, in addition to meeting the other published criteria, demonstrate that it can pay the premiums arising from the early repayment of debt before they can be allocated a place on the housing transfer programme.
A copy of a guidance note setting out the detailed arrangements was placed in the Libraries of the House and the Vote Office.
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that prospective purchasers of new homes are made aware of their energy efficiency through the standardised assessment procedure rating. [107645]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
It is already a requirement of the building regulations that a person building a new home should calculate the energy rating of the dwelling using the Standard Assessment Procedure, and notify the
2 Feb 2000 : Column: 617W
rating to the relevant building control body. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning announced last year that the building regulations will be amended to require the builder, in addition, to put up a notice of the energy rating in the new home. My Department is currently working on the details of the amendment to the regulations.
Separately, my hon. Friend announced in October last year proposals to require any person marketing a home to provide a pack of standard information and documents for prospective buyers. We envisage that this pack will include an energy rating, calculated in accordance with the Standard Assessment Procedure.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the public inquiry into Heathrow's proposed fifth terminal will report its findings [108170]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The public inquiry closed on 17 March 1999 and the Inspector has said that he expects to take up to two years to produce his report. The Secretary of State will need to give the report full consideration before reaching a decision.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |