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MOX Fuel Shipments

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what information he has received from (a) the Japanese Government and (b) the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan concerning negotiations with Russia to assess the possibility of transporting nuclear waste from Sellafield to Japan via the Arctic. [147742]

Mr. Meacher: None, from either source.

Start Bay, Slapton

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the environmental damage to Start Bay, Slapton following (a) the recent storm and (b) storms in 1978-79. [147290]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 26 January 2001]: My Department has not undertaken any such assessments.

6 Feb 2001 : Column: 451W

Construction of flood defences for Torcross followed the 1978-79 storms.

I understand that South Hams district council and Devon county council are concerned about managing this sensitive area properly and on 18 January held a joint meeting with relevant agencies including the Environment Agency and English Nature to discuss a draft shoreline management plan for the area between Strete and Start Point, which encompasses Start Bay.

Strategic Planning

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the levels of spending on strategic planning per head of population were in (a) Staffordshire and (b) each other county of England (i) in the current year and (ii) in each of the last three years, distinguishing in each case the element represented by standard spending assessment. [148290]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Local authority expenditure on strategic planning is not separately identified in any of the returns made by local government to central Government. The SSA system does not make a separate provision for strategic planning; rather it is one of the many services funded through the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services SSA block. Consequently we are unable to provide the information requested.

Secondments

Mr. Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the secondments from commercial companies to his Department since 1997. [148405]

Ms Beverley Hughes: Secondments are part of the Interchange Initiative which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between outside organisations and the Civil Service. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange is a key component of the reform agenda. The Modernising Government White Paper committed us to increasing interchange, in particular by bringing in more people on secondment and sending more of our people out.

The commercial companies that have seconded staff to the Department since 1997 are as follows:



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Pensions

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the payment of pensions to members of NBPF and BEST and the National Bus Company transferees. [148303]

Mr. Hill: I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the Adjournment debate held on 25 January 2001, Official Report, columns 1183-85, on this subject, in which I urged all the parties involved to reach early agreement on the outstanding matters which are impeding completion of the distribution to beneficiaries of the National Bus Company pensions settlement.

Pollution Regulations

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to review the implementation of the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 as they apply to small firms preparing environmental impact assessments. [148286]

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Mr. Hill: There are no plans to review this aspect of the PPC regulations, which largely transpose the provisions in the IPPC Directive. We are, however, looking at ways in which information provided through the Environmental Impact Assessment and Pollution Prevention and Control procedures can complement each other, within the constraints set by EC legislation, to minimise the impact on small businesses.

Diabetes (Drivers)

Mr. Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many drivers suffering from diabetes have informed the DVLA of their condition. [148617]

Mr. Hill: The treatment of diabetes can be by insulin, tablet or diet or a combination of these.

Diabetics treated by diet do not need to notify the Agency of this condition.

Diabetics treated by tablets do need to notify the Agency, but no further medical investigation is needed. A reply is sent to the driver explaining that the licence can be retained and the Agency only need to be further notified if certain conditions apply in relation to diabetic control (tablet/diet). Some 15,000 such notifications are received on an annual basis.

Diabetics treated by insulin must notify the Agency of this. Drivers are sent a detailed questionnaire to complete. Provided the diabetes is well controlled, a three year licence is issued. Some 100,000 diabetics on insulin have notified this condition to the Agency.

Registered Social Landlords

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what resources have been allocated over the next three years to enable the transfer of council housing stock to registered social landlords. [148637]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: The Housing Policy statement on 13 December 2000 confirmed that the Government's spending plans for 2001-02 to 2003-04 include provision to support the transfer of up to 200,000 local authority homes to registered social landlords each year from 2001-02, where tenants support the proposals.

Crop Protection Chemicals

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the joint industry submission, Minimising the Environmental Impacts of Crop Protection Chemicals, Revised proposals February 2001. [148868]

Mr. Meacher: The November 2000 pre-Budget report announced that, in the run up to Budget 2001, the Government wished to see the Crop Protection Association make further improvements to the package of voluntary measures that the industry has been developing over the last year. This latest submission from the CPA, and a number of other stakeholders involved in the supply and use of crop protection products, was received by the Government on 29 January. It is currently being evaluated and a further statement will be made in the Budget report.

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Housing (Leeds)

Mr. Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many housing capital approvals were given to Leeds in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000. [148870]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth: Housing capital allocations made to Leeds city council through the Housing Investment Programme and Capital Receipts Initiative for the years specified were as follows:

£ million
1997-9816.459
1998-9922.123
1999-200023.903

In addition, the council received the following grant for the continuing Estate Action schemes at Belle Isle, Ebor Gardens and Halton Moor:

£ million
1997-983.856
1998-994.069
1999-20003.412

The council is also progressing its PFI pilot project--one of only eight nationally--at Swarcliffe, which received endorsement by the PFI inter-departmental Project Review Group in November 1999.

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