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Road Tolls

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions by how much he estimates a road toll of (a) £1, (b) £5 and (c) £10 per private car would reduce road traffic; and what is the basis of his estimate. [99924]

Mr. Prescott [holding answer 26 November 1999]: The Government are providing powers for local authorities to put forward road user charging schemes if they think these are appropriate to deal with traffic management locally. The Secretary of State will not approve any congestion charging scheme unless: public transport has been improved first to offer motorists choice, before charging sets starts; local people have been consulted; it is clear that all proceeds will be put into improving local transport; and the appropriate technology will be in place to make it work.

The impact of road user charges on road traffic will vary accordingly to a number of factors including location, prevailing road and traffic conditions and the complimentary traffic and wider transport measures introduced alongside charges.

Water Directives

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what time

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scale he has set for achieving the guide values in the Bathing Water, Shellfish Waters, Surface Water Abstraction and Freshwater Fish Directives; [100340]

(2) if the guide value contained in the Bathing Water Directive, the Shellfish Waters Directive, the Surface Water Abstraction Directive and the Freshwater Fish Directive are mandatory standards; and what directions he has given to the Environment Agency on enforcing them; [100401]

(3) what plans he has to enforce the guide values contained in the Bathing Water, Shellfish Waters, Surface Water Abstraction and Freshwater Fish Directives; and if he will make a statement. [100342]

Mr. Mullin: The EC Directives on Bathing Waters, Shellfish Waters, Surface Water Abstraction and Freshwater Fish set guide values which are not mandatory values and which member states must endeavour to observe, in the case of the first two instruments, or respect, in the case of the remaining two. The obligations of each Directive, including on guide values, have been incorporated in the transposing legislation which places duties on the Environment Agency. The Government expect to see progress towards the guide values which have been set.

Shellfish

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what standards of faecal coliforms in shellfish flesh or intervalvular liquid he has directed the Environment Agency to observe; and whether these standards are expressed in terms of shellfish flesh or shellfish liquid. [100339]

Mr. Mullin: The Environment Agency is under a duty to endeavour to observe a guideline value of 300/100ml in shellfish flesh and intervalvular liquid as set out in the Surface Waters (Shellfish) Directions 1997.

Road Safety

Mr. Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what measures he proposes to introduce to improve road safety and reduce road fatalities. [100656]

Mr. Hill: We will shortly be publishing a new road safety strategy which will include casualty reduction targets for the year 2010. The strategy will set out a range of measures for reducing road casualties and improving road safety.

Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to issue guidance on future funding criteria for Regional Development Agencies; and if he will make a statement. [100519]

Ms Beverley Hughes: There are no plans to issue any such guidance. The funding arrangement is for the Public Expenditure Settlement, which covers a three-year period, to determine the overall provision for each RDA, taking

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account of their corporate plan. In making yearly allocations under the Settlement, the Government take account of any criteria relating to a particular programme and the RDAs current corporate plan, including matters such as the agency's effectiveness in carrying out its responsibilities.

Rents

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what evidence he has received to date, in respect of the forthcoming review of housing benefit, of the impact of fluctuations in standard reference rents on the ability of tenants to take up and retain tenancies. [100770]

Mr. Mullin: We have received representations from a number of organisations. My Department has, jointly with the Department of Social Security, commissioned and published research on housing benefit and the private rented sector, and is undertaking research on a range of related issues, including the work of rent officers.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Tony Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the Government's policy on determining regional boundaries for the local delivery of services funded by central Government departments; and if he will make a statement. [100627]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The Government's policy is set out in the White Paper "Modernising government". There is a presumption that Departments and other public bodies should adopt the boundaries used by the Government Offices in the Regions unless there are strong overriding considerations for not doing so. Progress will be reviewed in 2002.

Rail Safety

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam will receive a letter from the Chair of the Health and Safety Commission concerning signals passed at danger. [100447]

Mr. Hill [holding answer 30 November 1999]: I understand that a letter was sent to the hon. Member on 29 November.

London Social Services

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each London borough how many (a) people were registered homeless, (b) people were on local authority waiting lists, (c) local authority housing visits were completed, and (d) registered social visits were completed (i) in the financial year 1998-99 and (ii) in the present financial year. [100803]

Mr. Mullin: The latest available information is given in the table. Information on visits carried out by local authorities is not collected centrally.

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	Homeless households accepted and in priority need		Number of households on the housing register at
	1998-99	1999 (4)-2000	1 April 1999
Barking and Dagenham	257	39	1,785
Barnet	1,048	147	5,004
Bexley	319	54	2,762
Brent	920	(5)n/a	11,703
Bromley	728	(5)n/a	3,202
Camden	1,555	(5)n/a	6,302
City of London	53	14	720
Croydon	882	186	6,389
Ealing	1,016	(5)n/a	7,261
Enfield	754	217	4,263
Greenwich	1,456	334	5,454
Hackney	705	(5)n/a	13,480
Hammersmith and Fulham	709	175	4,451
Haringey	975	337	7,409
Harrow	725	160	2,374
Havering	386	105	1,511
Hillingdon	1,083	190	7,655
Hounslow	1,056	(5)n/a	5,188
Islington	1,176	(5)n/a	12,428
Kensington and Chelsea	611	149	7,671
Kingston upon Thames	400	(5)n/a	2,846
Lambeth	1,039	302	13,050
Lewisham	1,085	(5)n/a	11,520
Merton	205	53	3,345
Newham	910	(5)n/a	11,000
Redbridge	302	(5)n/a	2,956
Richmond upon Thames	633	140	4,667
Southwark	1,204	372	4,645
Sutton	299	46	1,963
Tower Hamlets	1,070	304	6,215
Waltham Forest	1,048	(5)n/a	7,172
Wandsworth	613	201	2,916
Westminster	1,266	267	7,028

(4) April to June

(5) n/a denotes that the authority has not yet reported

Source:

Housing Investment Programme Returns 1999, Quarterly P1E (Homeless Activity) returns 1999 Q1

Local authorities have different practices for compiling and managing housing register/waiting lists which mean that simple comparisons between authorities can be misleading.

House Selling

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to require energy audits and advice to be included in the information provided by house vendors (a) in the pilot schemes of his house selling proposals and (b) subsequently. [100801]

Mr. Mullin: A key proposal in our package of reforms to the home buying and selling process is a requirement for the seller or the seller's agent to put together a pack of standard documents and information for prospective buyers, before the property is put on the market. The pack should include a house condition report which contains an assessment of how energy efficient the property is. The pack, including a house condition report and energy efficiency assessment, will be tested in the Bristol Pilot scheme starting later this month.

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