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Departmental Buildings

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list (a) the offices owned or rented by his Department and its agencies in Scotland for civilian use and (b) the number of staff (i) employed and (ii) that can be accommodated (1) in total and (2) at each site. [114234]

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Dr. Moonie: Information about building usage and the number of staff that could be accommodated at MOD sites is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. For an indication of the number of staff employed at different locations in Scotland I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on 7 March 2000, Official Report, columns 650-51W.

Land Mines (Belarus)

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the conference on stockpiling of land mines in Belarus. [113366]

Mr. Spellar: A Workshop on Humanitarian Demining and Stockpile Elimination took place in Minsk on 6-7 March 2000. It was hosted by the Belarus Support Centre for Associations and Foundations, together with the United Nations Representative Office in Minsk and the Belarussian Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss the scope of the land mine problem in Belarus and develop possible solutions. Two UK military officers and representatives of 12 other countries also attended.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

Packaging Waste

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that targets set under the Producer Responsibility Obligation (Packaging Waste) Regulations will be achieved; and if he will make a statement. [113422]

Mr. Meacher: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 set out measures which are designed to achieve the UK's mandatory EC Directive recovery and recycling targets which the EC Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste requires the UK to meet in 2001. A number of amendments have been made to the Regulations which are designed to contribute further to our achievement of the targets, in particular higher interim recovery and recycling targets for 1999 and 2000 which came into force on 1 January 2000.

I will continue to monitor progress carefully as the basis for an early decision on whether the targets for 2001 are set at the right level to achieve the Directive targets. In particular, it will be important to take account of information due shortly on the numbers of smaller businesses registering for the first time this year as a result of changes in the turnover threshold.

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Homelessness

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what were the total number of households (a) nationally and (b) for each London local authority in respect of which local authorities accepted a housing duty where the cause of

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homelessness was the termination of a private sector tenancy for (i) 1997, (ii) 1998 and (iii) 1999. [114096]

Mr. Mullin: The available information, relating to households accepted as homeless and in priority need under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts, is set out in the table:

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	Total priority need acceptances			Number of households where the main reason for the loss of the last settled home was the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy
	1997	1998	1999	1997	1998	1999
England
Barking and Dagenham	140	226	215	9	14	19
Barnet	856	986	(11)402	166	231	(11)72
Bexley	173	405	246	69	133	56
Brent	1,300	(12)771	969	227	(12)182	162
Bromley	578	703	809	110	139	129
Camden	1,345	1,571	1,429	84	58	57
City of London	38	63	60	1	2	0
Croydon	(12)745	791	1,157	(12)77	113	193
Ealing	979	1,036	989	211	218	75
Enfield	(12)551	781	752	(12)85	105	155
Greenwich	1,191	1,406	1,302	133	189	199
Hackney	(12)532	(12)396	(13)184	(12)48	(12)32	(13)17
Hammersmith and Fulham	584	590	758	39	55	65
Haringey	(12)882	963	1,388	(12)3	3	6
Harrow	618	713	713	130	125	109
Havering	272	(13)82	(12)328	34	(13)8	(12)41
Hillingdon	915	941	772	138	143	142
Hounslow	930	1,013	(12)567	118	221	(12)99
Islington	960	(12)812	1,312	68	(12)76	123
Kensington and Chelsea	598	(12)429	552	73	(12)51	80
Kingston upon Thames	374	(12)310	278	49	(12)60	22
Lambeth	(12)584	946	1,212	(12)4	8	16
Lewisham	(11)382	1,038	1,241	(11)39	172	108
Merton	216	185	251	22	12	15
Newham	(14)--	(12)921	1,687	(14)--	(12)145	189
Redbridge	287	314	438	69	69	110
Richmond upon Thames	544	621	503	77	97	62
Southwark	(12)660	1,071	(12)1,209	(12)51	73	(12)95
Sutton	293	290	410	59	57	40
Tower Hamlets	(12)728	1,010	1,147	(12)25	48	34
Waltham Forest	795	1,054	(13)261	91	242	(13)80
Wandsworth	454	(13)129	(11)391	3	(13)0	(13)14
Westminster	1,144	(12)952	1,199	239	(12)266	196
Total	102,410	104,490	104,770	13,500	15,390	14,170

(11) Data for two quarters only

(12) Data for three quarters only

(13) Data for one quarter only

(14) No Returns

Note:

England figures include estimates for non-responding authorities

Source:

DETR Quarterly P1E: Households dealt with under the homelessness provisions of 1985 and 1996 Housing Acts

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Council Tax (Second Homes)

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate has been made of the revenue lost to local authorities through the reduced council tax on second homes. [114187]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Second homes and other dwellings which are no-one's main residence for whatever reason receive a 50 per cent. discount in council tax. Around 500,000 households in England qualify for the discount at a cost of some £164 million.

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In general, if a local authority has a reduced tax base because it has a high proportion of dwellings subject to a discount or exemption, it will receive more grant to compensate.

Press Releases

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the (a) national, (b) regional and (c) local newspapers and media bodies to which his Department sent news releases during the period 2 May 1997 to 29 February 2000. [113992]

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Ms Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 March 2000]: All DETR news releases are distributed to the media through the Central Office of Information (COI). The COI target all the main national and regional newspapers, news agencies and broadcasting organisations through their electronic news distribution service. The COI also distributes news releases via fax to media organisations. News release distribution relies on the subject and content of the specific press release. All DETR news releases are available on the Internet and are also distributed via e-mail.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for the period 2 May 1997 to 29 February 2000 what was (a) the number of occasions on which couriers were used to distribute news releases from his Department and (b) the total cost of using couriers to distribute news releases. [113966]

Ms Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 March 2000]: The DETR does not use couriers to distribute news releases. News releases are distributed to the media through the Central Office of Information, by fax, by e-mail and through the Press Gallery at the House of Commons.

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