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Waste Management Licences
Mr. Blunt:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the surrender policy for waste management licences issues by the Environment Agency has been launched; and if it is his policy that licence holders who are waiting to surrender their licences having ceased trading should be required to continue paying for operating licences while the agency considers its surrender policy. [102980]
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Mr. Mullin:
The Environment Agency wrote to licence holders to provide advance notice of the launch of its surrender policy on 1 October 1999. The Agency's letter explained that, after staff training to ensure consistent implementation, the policy would be used from 1 January 2000 to determine surrender applications. Licence holders have a legal obligation to pay subsistence charges while a licence remains in force.
Mr. Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the Government's target is for increasing the percentage of the total market for soil improvers and growing media supplied by non-peat material. [103021]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
A target was set in MPG13 "Guidelines for Peat Provision in England" of 40 per cent. of the total market requirements for soil improvers and growing media to be supplied by non-peat materials by 2005.
Mr. Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his Department's policy is on the purchase and use of peat for its own operations and activities; and what performance target his Department has set to reduce current peat use. [103024]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' policy on all slow renewables such as peat is to substitute them with organic waste such as compost, manure, leaf mould, bark chipping and coir. This policy is included in the DETR Greening Operations Policy Statement.
Mr. Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of the total market for soil improvers and growing media was supplied by non-peat material in 1998. [103022]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
Non-peat materials accounted for 32 per cent. of the total market in 1998.
Mr. Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will place in the Library a copy of the recent report of his Department's peat working group. [103025]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
Three copies were placed in the Library on 1 December 1999.
Mr. Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the Government are on track in meeting their target for increasing the amount of non-peat material sold as soil improvers and growing media. [103023]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
There has been a slow but steady increase in the proportion of non-peat material used as soil improvers and growing media. In 1993, 28 per cent. of the total market was met by non-peat materials. This increased to 29 per cent. in 1997 and 32 per cent. in 1998. The report of the Working Group on Peat Extraction and Related Matters published last month identified short-term measures which could be taken to increase the rate of uptake of non-peat materials. If the producers and retailers of growing media respond in the
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matters of labelling, dilution and developing performance standards for peat and alternatives, I am confident we have a good chance of meeting this target.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when Mr. Peter Parkman, Chelmsford Borough Council Enforcement Officer, will receive a reply to his letter of 24 September to Peter Alsop of the Transport Commissioner's Office, Cambridge, concerning regulations governing small buses. [102867]
Mr. Hill:
A substantive reply was sent to Mr. Parkman on 30 September. A further letter dealing with the one outstanding point has now been sent.
Mr. Dawson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the rights of appeal for local people who consider that their ideas of best value are being ignored by their local authority. [103027]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
The Local Government Act 1999 places best value authorities under a statutory duty to consult with local people as to how the duty of best value can be met after 1 April 2000. This is reinforced by a requirement to consult with business and other interests in considering alternative ways of providing services.
There is no explicit right of appeal, as the Government take the view that where there are conflicting views it is for best-value authorities to judge how the duty is to be met in the light of all the relevant circumstances. They will be expected to provide a clear rationale for the decisions which they reach, and to justify these to local people every year in their Best Value Performance Plans and to independent auditors and inspectors acting on behalf of local people. All local authorities are ultimately accountable to local people through the ballot box.
Mr. Dawson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidance he has issued to local authorities about determining best value in relation to letting contracts for services. [102996]
Ms Beverley Hughes:
Guidance to best-value authorities was published by my Department on 14 December (DETR Circular 10/99). This makes clear that authorities should establish a clear policy on the evaluation and assessment of alternative ways of delivering high-quality services at acceptable costs.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which district councils in Wiltshire have met his target for recycling (a) domestic and (b) industrial waste. [102871]
Mr. Mullin:
(a) There is no recycling target which each individual local authority is expected to meet. There is a national goal to recycle or compost 25 per cent. of household waste as soon as possible, hopefully by 2005. By 2010 we hope to see 30 per cent. of household waste
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being recycled or composted, and in the longer term we hope to see a third of all household waste being dealt with in this way.
Under our Best Value Initiative, performance indicators are being developed for local authority waste services. From these, authorities will be expected to derive targets for their own performance on waste, having regard to any national goals we set in the forthcoming National Waste Strategy. I emphasise, though, that local targets should take account of local assessments of the Best Practicable Environmental Option, and will not therefore necessarily be at the same level as our national goals. I fully expect some authorities to put forward targets that exceed those that we propose, and others to put forward lower targets.
(b) We have no targets for the recycling of industrial waste by local authorities. Although the Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives local authorities the discretion to collect industrial waste, they are under no obligation to do so and few do.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what criteria must be met to achieve Secure Station status; and which stations in Wiltshire have been awarded such status. [102874]
Mr. Hill:
The Secure Stations Scheme is designed to improve and standardise good security practices at all overground and underground stations. To become an accredited Secure Station, each station operator needs to work with their local British Transport Police Crime Prevention Operator to ensure that their station meets the national standards on design and management to cut down crime. Operators also have to conduct an independent passenger survey to see whether passengers feel safe at the station and provide evidence that crime rates are low.
No stations in Wiltshire have yet achieved Secure Stations status.
Angela Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidance he intends to give local housing authorities on preparing business plans for their housing stock as part of the Government's new financial framework for local authority housing. [103347]
Mr. Raynsford:
As part of our plans to introduce resource accounting to local authority housing finance, I have today published for consultation draft guidance for local housing authorities on preparing business plans.
The new financial framework will help authorities to take a more businesslike approach to the management of their housing stock, and business plans are a key part of the framework. The draft guidance and the associated models show how authorities can identify and assess alternative strategies for managing, maintaining and investing in their housing assets. I hope that authorities will take the opportunity to comment on the draft guidance and will look constructively at how it can be used to make the best use for current and future tenants of their housing assets.
Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the Library of the House.
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Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he proposes to announce the outcome of the consultation on proposals to tackle overhanging debt arising from a housing transfer. [103348]
Mr. Raynsford:
I am announcing today the outcome of the consultation on how we propose to tackle overhanging debt which arises when the capital receipt from a housing transfer is less than the attributable housing debt.
A consultation paper issued by the Department in August set out four alternative approaches to helping authorities deal with the overhanging debt: continuing to pay subsidy, through either the Housing Revenue Account or Revenue Support Grant subsidy schemes; providing a one-off payment to assist with the repayment of the debt; and transferring the debt to the acquiring landlord. The consultation paper made clear that the Government's preference was for the one-off payment option.
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