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Music Lessons
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many primary pupils indicated a wish to learn a musical instrument in the last 12 months; and how many did so. [11030]
Mr. Timms: The Department does not collect this information centrally, although we are keen to encourage primary school pupils to learn a musical instrument. We have pledged that, over time, all primary school pupils who want to will be able to do so. The Department is considering a range of options to fulfil this pledge. It is an important part of our drive to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their background, have access to a wide range of extra-curricular activities.
We are also committed to supporting LEA instrumental music tuition. The Music Standards Fund was introduced to halt the decline in LEA music services. Between 1999 and 2004 £270 million has been made available to protect and expand local music services.
Higher Education
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent research she has commissioned on the relationship between participation in higher education and economic performance. [11031]
Margaret Hodge: The Department launched the Centre for the Economics of Education (CEE) in February 2000 to undertake research into the economics of education. This centre has published several studies that have examined the economic benefits from education, including higher education. This research shows that the economic benefits from participating in higher education are substantial. The Labour Force Survey shows that graduates now earn 35 per cent. more than the average salary. This differential reflects graduates' higher productivity. Research shows that the earnings gains enjoyed by graduates have been maintained during the expansion in HE during the last 25 years. This indicates the continued strong growth in the demand for graduates.
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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Combined Heat and Power
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her review of the combined heat and power strategy will be published. [10423]
Mr. Meacher: We will be issuing a draft Government strategy for consultation by the end of this year.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to exempt combined heat and power from the climate change levy. [10424]
Mr. Meacher: All good quality CHP fuel use and heat supply is exempt from the climate change levy, as is power supplied on site or direct to known users. Any changes to these arrangements would be a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many individual generators there were; what was the installed capacity of combined heat and power; and how much total power was generated from combined heat and power in each month between January 2000 and October 2001. [9936]
Mr. Meacher: Comprehensive data on CHP capacity are produced in the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), which is published each July. Data collated from the year 2000, show there were 1,556 CHP schemes in operation, CHP capacity totalled 4,632 MWe, with a total of 23,295 GWh total power output. No data are available for the individual months between January 2000 and October 2001.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what further measures the Government will introduce to encourage the installation of combined heat and power to ensure that its target is reached by 2010; [9933]
- (2) what is the installed capacity for combined heat and power; and how much her Department estimates this installed capacity will be in (a) 2005 and (b) 2010; [9934]
(3) what proportion of combined heat and power capacity has been lost since the introduction of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements in March. [9935]
Mr. Meacher: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Joan Ruddock) on 17 October 2001, Official Report, column 1082W.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government's combined heat and power strategy will be published. [9932]
Mr. Meacher: We will be issuing a draft Government strategy for consultation by the end of this year.
Recycling
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which councils have introduced user-friendly domestic and commercial waste
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recycling programmes; and what plans the Government have to encourage more councils to establish such programmes. [9072]
Mr. Meacher: Local authorities operate a variety of collection schemes, through civic amenity sites, bring sites and kerbside collection.
Local authorities are required to collect commercial waste if requested to do so, but may charge. They will therefore do so only where it is convenient for the business concerned. We have no specific information on the arrangements for recycling this material.
Under best value local authorities must provide information on the percentage of the population that is currently served by kerbside collection of recyclables or is within 1 km radius of a recycling centre. The latest data are at the following website: www.local-regions.dtlr.gov.uk/ bestvalue/indicators.
The latest information on kerbside schemes alone show that these are continuing to develop and now provide nearly 30 per cent. of recycled material and cover around 43 per cent. of households in England and Wales. These schemes currently produce on average 81 kg per household per annum for those households covered, however there is a wide range with some schemes achieving very low yields and a few achieving more than 200 kg. The success of schemes depend on both participation and capture rates. Rates of participation are typically in the range 30–85 per cent.
We have set challenging statutory performance standards for every local authority which overall triple household waste recycling and composting. As a minimum local authorities must deliver 10 per cent. recycling and/or composting of household waste by 2003–04 and 18 per cent. by 2005–06. It is for local authorities to decide how they should meet their performance standard.
We support the promotion of voluntary initiatives such as accredited environmental management systems EMAS and ISO 14001 and publicly committing to improvement targets (eg the re-launched "Making a Corporate Commitment" campaign) to help local authorities improve their environmental performance and waste management services.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress towards meeting the requirements of the EU directive on the recycling of household waste. [8291]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 18 October 2001]: There is no EU directive on the recycling of household waste. The EU landfill directive (99/31/EC) sets challenging targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. We consulted earlier this year on a system of tradable landfill permits for waste disposal authorities. We will announce the final form of the scheme in due course and will introduce a Bill when parliamentary time permits.
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Meeting the Landfill Directive targets will require a greater percentage of household waste to be recycled, and the Government's Waste Strategy 2000 set targets to increase recycling in England and Wales. These targets are:
- To recycle or compost at least 25 per cent. of household waste by 2005.
- To recycle or compost at least 30 per cent. of household waste by 2010.
- To recycle or compost at least 33 per cent. of household waste by 2015.
Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason the recycling of domestic composting is not counted when assessing local authority performance against recycling targets. [9613]
Mr. Meacher: We do measure local authority recycling and composting as a percentage of the waste stream. But there are great difficulties with accurately measuring home composting and the volume of waste that local authorities would otherwise have handled.
There are none the less clear incentives for local authorities to support home composting, including savings in the costs of waste collection and transport.
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on methods used for recycling industrial waste. [9949]
Mr. Meacher: Of the 400 million tonnes or so of waste produced in England and Wales each year around 78 million tonnes is waste produced by industry and commerce. Nearly half of industrial and commercial waste is already recycled and recycling is highest for separately collected waste streams such as metals and scrap equipment and paper and card. The Government are keen to encourage still higher recycling rates and have set a target to reduce the amount of industrial and commercial waste sent to landfill to 85 per cent. of the 1998 level by 2005.
The extension of producer responsibilities will contribute to the achievement of this target—both through statutory schemes implementing EU legislation such as the Packaging Directive and forthcoming directives on end of life vehicles and waste electronic and electrical equipment and through voluntary schemes such as that with newspaper publishers and one currently being negotiated on junk mail. The Government also fund Envirowise to give advice to businesses on how to minimise their waste and has set up the Waste and Resources Action Programme to develop markets for recycled materials.
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