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Local Council Cabinets

Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the operation of the procedures and the timescale for the introduction of the Cabinet system of Government in local councils. [121485]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The Local Government Bill [Lords], now before the House, provides for councils to adopt a new constitution with a separate executive. If the Bill is enacted, we expect that, under normal circumstances, all councils will have adopted a new constitution by May or June 2002 at the latest. We have now published for consultation revised drafts of the proposed guidance and regulations on new constitutions for councils; copies are available from the Vote Office and have been placed in the Library.

Driving Test Centres (South London)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the driving test centres in South London. [121974]

Mr. Hill: There are 14 driving test centres in the Greater London constituencies south of the Thames at:

South Norwood; Wallington (Mint House); Wallington (Old Town House); Morden; Southfields; Sutton; Belvedere; Bexley Heath; Hither Green; Sidcup; West Wickham and Surbiton.

There are two test centres in Croydon, one conducting tests for learner lorry and bus drivers, the other for learner car drivers.

The test centres at Southfields and Surbiton are to be relocated to a new site at Tolworth-Surbiton from 8 June and Southfields from early September.

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Through Traffic (Cheltenham)

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discussions he has had with Gloucestershire County Council regarding proposals to remove through traffic on the A40 through Cheltenham. [122007]

Mr. Hill: The Secretary of State has held no such discussions. This is a matter for the County Council to consider within the context of its Local Transport Plan.

Mayoral Election

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he [his Ministers or his officials] (a) approved and (b) were informed of the wording of the instructions to voters on the supplementary vote system used in the election for Mayor of London that were (i) printed on ballot papers, (ii) displayed in polling stations and (iii) to be given orally to voters; what discussions he [his Ministers or his officials] have had with, and what representations he has received from (1) the Greater London Returning Officer, (2) Ministers and officials in the Home Department and (3) other persons regarding the wording of the instructions used at the election for Mayor of London; and if he will make a statement. [121814]

Mr. Hill: In March, a Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) was appointed to oversee the running of the first GLA election. In addition 14 constituency Returning Officers (CROs) were appointed to take the poll in their areas.

The wording of the instructions to voters printed on the mayoral ballot paper and displayed in polling station were prescribed in the Greater London Authority Elections (No. 2) Rules (SI 2000/427), which were approved by Parliament. No representations have been made to Ministers about the wording of the instructions; I understand that a small number of representations have been made to the GLRO.

The GLRO will be discussing experience of the election arrangements (which included a number of innovations) with the CROs, and will let me have his conclusions in due course.

Hazardous Loads

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what recent representations he has received regarding the transportation of hazardous loads by road in tunnels. [121724]

Mr. Hill: None.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will restrict the transportation of dangerous and hazardous goods to rail; and if he will make a statement. [121723]

Mr. Hill: Consignors of dangerous goods may choose the mode of transport most appropriate for their needs, provided that they comply with the relevant safety requirements. As demonstrated in the 1992 Health and Safety Commission Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances report on the major hazard aspects of the transport of dangerous substances, a copy of which is in

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the Library of the House, there is no evidence that one mode of transport is generally more dangerous than another.

Police Authorities (Council Tax)

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the police authorities of England in order of their Band D council tax precept for the financial year 2000-01. [122009]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Band D council tax precepts issued by English police authorities for 2000-01, listed in order of the amounts set, are given in the table:

£

Police authority	Council tax (Band D)
GLA--police	91
Lincolnshire Police	86
Dorset Police	84
Cumbria Police	84
Staffordshire Police	83
Merseyside Police	81
Northamptonshire Police	80
Surrey Police	79
Gloucestershire Police	78
Warwickshire Police	78
Wiltshire Police	76
West Mercia Police	74
Norfolk Police	72
Derbyshire Police	71
Hertfordshire Police	68
Essex Police	68
Leicestershire Police	68
Avon and Somerset Police	68
Bedfordshire Police	67
Cleveland Police	66
Nottinghamshire Police	65
Greater Manchester Police	63
Lancashire Police	63
Cambridgeshire Police	62
Suffolk Police	61
Cheshire Police	61
Thames Valley Police	60
Humberside Police	60
South Yorkshire Police	59
Devon and Cornwall Police	59
West Yorkshire Police	59
North Yorkshire Police	57
Kent Police	56
Sussex Police	56
Hampshire Police	55
West Midlands Police	55
Durham Police	53
Northumbria Police	52

Housing (West Oxfordshire)

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of growth in housing in West Oxfordshire over the next 20 years. [121816]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The level of house building in Oxfordshire is set through Regional Planning Guidance for the South-East (RPG9). The next round of this guidance is currently being prepared by my Department, taking into account the first draft prepared by the local authorities in the region, and also responses made to this draft. We have now published the latest set of proposed changes and are currently inviting comments.

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Draft RPG9 allocates an annual average of 43,000 new dwellings per year in the South-East. Local authorities in the region have been asked to consider how this figure can best be divided between the counties, working from an illustrative distribution included with the draft. This suggests that 2,680 new dwellings could be built per year in Oxfordshire.

Following final publication of RPG9 later this year it will be the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council and the district councils in the area to decide on the allocation of the Oxfordshire housing figure between the districts, including West Oxfordshire. This figure will be then adopted in the next Oxfordshire County Structure Plan.

Until this time the building rates set out in the current Oxfordshire Structure Plan will apply. This allocates 6,750 new dwellings to West Oxfordshire District between 1996 and 2011.

Ivory Trade

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement regarding Government policy towards the ivory trade and elephant poaching, following the recent agreement of countries attending the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting. [122141]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 15 May 2000]: The Government support the co-operative arrangements for elephant conservation between the African range states which have developed at a series of special dialogue meetings over the last five years, sponsored by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UN CITES Secretariat. The latest dialogue meeting took place in Nairobi immediately before the CITES Conference and was, like the previous meetings, partly funded by my Department. Senior UK officials attended the meeting. The Nairobi dialogue agreed arrangements for each African region to participate in two systems which underpin future elephant management and trade: the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) and the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). The dialogue paved the way for the compromise reached at the CITES Conference itself.

The main features of the compromise are that the elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, estimated at a total of 192,000 animals, are now listed on Appendix II of the Convention. This means that managed trade in elephant products of these four populations is agreed to be scientifically sustainable according to the criteria laid down under CITES. However there are still concerns among a number of African states--which we share--about resuming further commercial trade in raw ivory at present, particularly as we cannot yet assess the full impact of last year's experimental ivory auctions on elephant poaching levels, both in Africa and Asia. We therefore welcome the decision reached as part of the compromise which sets zero quotas for the export of ivory from southern Africa.

MIKE and ETIS are expected to provide comprehensive information to enable the next CITES Conference in 2002 to decide whether controlled ivory trade can safely be resumed, and whether the conservation benefits of such trade outweigh any remaining risks. The

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European Union, with the support of the UK, is considering a grant of 4 million Euro to MIKE. The UK has already provided £60,000 towards the cost of ETIS.

The Government appreciate the role played by responsible non-Government organisations, particularly the World Wide Fund for Nature and Fauna and Flora International, in obtaining such a successful outcome in Nairobi.

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