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Decorations

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence under what circumstances service decorations can be withdrawn from former members of the armed forces. [127875]

Dr. Moonie: As laid down in the Statutes and Royal Warrants which govern official British awards and at the discretion of the Defence Council, arrangements exist for the forfeiture of awards by any officer or member of the military forces, or former officer or member of the military forces. These include Orders, decorations and medals. Normally, forfeiture may be liable after conviction of offences by court-martial or by the Civil Power. The awards forfeited vary according to the gravity of the offence. The Statutes and Royal Warrants are reproduced in the Queen's Regulations for the Armed Services, copies of which are in the Library of the House.

Barracks

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if the Whittington Barracks near Lichfield will be designated a core location for the armed forces in the Midlands and the North; and if he will make a statement; [127222]

(2) when he expects to announce the names of the barracks to site the Army Training Regiment following completion of the review. [127470]

Dr. Moonie: The Army Training and Recruiting Agency (ATRA) is currently conducting a review into its strategic development over the next few years. This work will be taken forward in close co-operation with other studies being undertaken into the provision of training and the management of our training estate. Work is still at a very early stage and no decisions have been taken as to which sites will remain core ones within ATRA.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

Incinerators

Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the maximum toxic emission levels permitted for incinerators, broken down by individual toxic substances. [123488]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 23 June 2000]: Under Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, emissions to air, water and land from larger plant regulated by the Environment Agency and emissions to air from medium and small plant regulated by local authorities are controlled through permits which impose emission limits on the basis of the site-specific BATNEEC principle (Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Cost) and relevant European legislation specifying emission limits. There are currently two municipal waste incineration Directives (89/369/EEC and 89/429/EEC) and a hazardous waste incineration Directive (94/67/EC) which specify emission limits, and a further Directive (Common Position (EC) No 7/2000) which will replace these earlier Directives and cover virtually all incineration plant is currently in the final stages of negotiations.

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This latest proposed Directive would result in a ten-fold tightening of the municipal waste incinerator dioxins standard so that incinerators covered by it would be required to emit no more than 1 billionth of a gram of dioxins in a cubic metre of emissions to air.

Refrigerants

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment his Department has made of the risks to public safety from the use of volatile and flammable hydrocarbons as refrigerants. [126979]

Mr. Meacher: Health and Safety Executive carries out general research on the risks from flammable substances as part of the development of guidance and safety standards. However, no specific assessment has been made of the risks to public safety from the use of volatile and flammable hydrocarbons as refrigerants.

Land Remediation

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much of the contaminated land, required to satisfy his proposals for house building up to 2016, he estimates will be remediated using (a) process technologies and (b) excavation to landfill. [127581]

Mr. Mullin: One of the main objectives of national planning policy for housing (PPG3) is that authorities make far better use of previously developed land and buildings for meeting the country's housing needs. The Government have set a target that by 2008 60 per cent. of additional housing should be provided this way. It is not possible to forecast precisely how much of the previously-developed land used by 2016 will be contaminated land, nor how that land will be remediated.

However, the Environment Agency has carried out a survey of remediation activity in England and Wales from January 1996 until December 1999. Information was collected from local authorities, industry and the National House-Building Council (NHBC). The survey was not statistically representative of all the remediation which took place during that time, but it does give an indication of current practice.

Of the 367 sites identified from local authority and industry sources, 75 per cent. involved excavation and disposal off site and 21 per cent. involved process based methods.

Of the 1,189 sites recorded by the NHBC, civil engineering techniques (including excavation and off site disposal, site re-grading and containment) were used on 95 per cent. of sites. Process based methods were used on 5 per cent. of sites.

Pollution Prevention and Control

Mr. Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the role of environmental impact assessments in the application of Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations; and if he will make a statement. [127579]

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Mr. Hill: Installations covered by the draft Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations may also require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the planning system. The Regulations require the regulator to take account of any information supplied in the context of an EIA in determining the permit application. We are considering the case for reviewing the links between the planning and pollution control systems. A Regulatory and Environmental Impact Assessment for the Regulations has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.

Taxis (Wheelchair Access)

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of licensed hackney carriages in England and Wales were wheelchair accessible in (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999. [127583]

Mr. Hill: The licensing of hackney carriages--taxis--is a matter for individual local licensing authorities. Many of them have policies which require all or part of their fleet to be accessible to disabled people, for example all London taxis (some 19,000) were required to be accessible from 1 January 2000. Information on the number of vehicles that are accessible is not, however, held centrally.

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to ensure that licensed private hire cars are wheelchair accessible. [127582]

Mr. Hill: We have no powers to require that licensed private hire vehicles be wheelchair accessible. The powers provided in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to introduce accessibility regulations only apply to licensed taxis, buses and coaches and rail vehicles.

Our statutory advisers--the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee--will, however, be considering the issue of access to private hire vehicles as part of their work programme.

Regional Planning Guidance (South-East)

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if additional sums were allocated to county councils for the purpose of distributing copies of the draft regional planning guidance for the South-east. [127799]

Ms Beverley Hughes: No extra finance was allocated to local authorities to distribute the document and leaflets to the libraries in their area. It is normal practice for such consultation documents to be sent to the county councils for distributing through their own distribution system to the local libraries. Further copies were sent by the Government Office to any individual or organisation that requested them.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many copies of the draft regional planning guidance for the South-east were sent to Buckinghamshire County Council. [127800]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Initially 50 documents and 150 leaflets were sent. Following a subsequent request from Buckinghamshire County Council during the consultation period on Proposed Changes to Draft Regional Planning Guidance (PRG9), further copies were sent.

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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 14 June 2000, Official Report, column 640-41W, on Regional Planning Guidance (South-east), if a copy of the draft regional planning guidance for the South-east was provided for every branch library in Buckinghamshire; and for what reason copies of the draft regional planning guidance for the South-east were not distributed direct from his Department to branch libraries in the South-east. [127832]

Ms Beverley Hughes: It is normal practice for the County Councils to distribute consultation documents through their distribution system to libraries within their area. Further copies were sent by the Government Office to any organisation or individual that requested them.

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