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Asylum Seeker Support
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the outcome of the discussions on 8 January between the Minister for Local government and the Association of London Government about asylum seeker support. [145335]
Ms Armstrong: I met the Association of London Government on 8 January to discuss their response to the proposed local government finance settlement for 2001-02, on which I announced my proposals to the House on 27 November. I shall take into account the points they made, together with those made by the Local Government Association, individual local authorities and others before putting the Government's final proposals before the House for approval. In the course of that meeting the ALG raised their concerns about the costs of housing homeless asylum seekers.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the estimated contribution of private and commercial vehicles to total UK carbon dioxide emissions for each of the past three years in (a) percentage terms and (b) by volume. [145433]
Mr. Meacher: The table shows road transport carbon dioxide emissions for the last three years for which we have data, the period 1996 to 1998 inclusive, both in (a) percentage terms and (b) by volume in million tonnes of carbon (MtC).
| Year | (a) Percentage | (b) MtC |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 20 | 31.3 |
| 1997 | 21 | 31.7 |
| 1998 | 21 | 31.5 |
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Site Investigation (Acorn Ridge)
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the extent to which the site investigation of the proposed Green Burial site at Acorn Ridge, Enborne carried out by West Berkshire District Council, meets the requirements of the Planning Inspection Decision Letter (25/8/98) (Ref. T/APP/WO340/A/98/ 293497/PS). [145224]
Ms Beverley Hughes: In granting planning permission, the Planning Inspector imposed a condition requiring a site investigation to be carried out by the developers and for the details to be submitted to, and approved by Newbury District Council before development could begin. It was entirely a matter for the Council to consider whether the submitted details were acceptable and the Secretary of State had no powers to intervene, or assess, the Council's decision.
Motorway Services (Brockworth)
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the application to build a motorway services area near Brockworth, Gloucestershire. [144917]
Ms Beverley Hughes: The initial application on this site is the subject of appeal against non-determination by Tewkesbury Borough Council and the date for the appeal to be heard by an Inspector has not been finalised; any statement made now may prejudice the outcome. More recently a revised application was submitted for a motorway service area and this is still being considered by the borough council.
Rent Rebates
Mr. Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the level of
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subsidy has been in percentage terms which is paid to local authorities towards the cost of rent rebates for each year since 1990-91. [145623]
Mr. Mullin: The information requested is given in the table:
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| 1990-91 | 90 |
| 1991-92 | 86 |
| 1992-93 | 83 |
| 1993-94 | 80 |
| 1994-95 | 78 |
| 1995-96 | 75 |
| 1996-97 | 72 |
| 1997-98 | 69 |
| 1998-99 | 66 |
| 1999-2000(8) | 62 |
| 2000-01(9) | 60 |
(8) Provisional
(9) Estimated
We have altered the way in which the housing revenue account subsidy system operates for 2001-02 by introducing the major repairs allowance. As a result we expect that the equivalent figure for 2001-02 will be over 80 per cent.
Farm Plastic Waste
Mr. Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to introduce a national waste collection scheme for farm plastic; and if he will make a statement. [145453]
Mr. Mullin: The issue of farm plastics has been raised most recently in the context of extending waste management controls to agricultural waste and is being considered currently.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Budgeted Running Costs
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the budgeted running costs and staff numbers in 2000-01 broken down by Government Office region for (a) Sport England, (b) the Arts Council, (c) the British Tourist Authority, (d) the English Tourism Council and (e) English Heritage. [144279]
Mr. Chris Smith: The information for Sport England and English Heritage is in the table. Running costs include payroll, premises and administrative costs. The Arts Council, the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council do not have regional offices. The Arts Council and the English Tourism Council however, allocate block grants to Regional Tourist Boards and Regional Arts Boards respectively.
15 Jan 2001 : Column: 24W
Tourism (Expenditure)
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the budgeted expenditure in 2000-01 broken down by Government Office region for (a) the British Tourist Authority, (b) the English Tourism Council and (c) English Heritage. [144277]
Mr. Chris Smith: The British Tourist Authority deploys its budget in marketing Britain as a whole and no specific funds are allocated for each region. The information for the English Tourism Council and English Heritage is in the table. The English Tourism Council's expenditure is in the form of grants to the separate Regional Tourist Boards.
| English Tourism Council | English Heritage | |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 476,879 | 11,906,834 |
| East Midlands | (10)-- | 4,628,935 |
| London | 417,505 | 9,675,566 |
| North East | 340,687 | 4,769,174 |
| North West | (11)729,413 | 4,898,151 |
| South East | 331,517 | 11,700,356 |
| Southern | (11)426,079 | n/a |
| South West | 407,758 | 10,413,531 |
| West Midlands | (10)-- | 5,794,224 |
| Yorkshire | 367,100 | 6,630,971 |
| Heart of England | (13)502,939 | n/a |
(10) See Heart of England
(11) This figure includes that of the Cumbria Tourist Board
(12) The Southern Tourist Board covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (all within the South East Government Office Region); and East Dorset (within the South West Government Office Region)
(13) The Heart of England Tourist Board covers both the East and West Midlands Government Office Regions, as well as Gloucestershire (South West); Hertfordshire (East of England) and part of Oxfordshire (South East)
Hospice Funding
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on Lottery funding for hospices. [144747]
Kate Hoey: In November 2000, the Department published a consultation paper which proposed a number of new initiatives to be funded by the New Opportunities Fund. Subject to responses to this consultation, we intend that £300 million will be made available to health initiatives, including money to provide palliative care for adults and children with life-threatening and chronic illness. This will include additional funding for hospices caring for people suffering from a range of serious conditions.
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Seeing Salvation Exhibition
Sir Richard Body: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations he has made to the directors of the National Gallery about its exhibition for the millennium, Seeing Salvation. [145223]
Mr. Alan Howarth: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I visited the critically acclaimed Seeing Salvation exhibition. Since then, in discussions with the National Gallery, we have been pleased to acknowledge the exhibition's impressive quality and its success in attracting 350,000 visitors, many of whom were first time visitors to the gallery.
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