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27 Jan 2003 : Column 557W—continued

Landfill

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) number and (b) total size is of landfill sites due to close in each year up until 2015, broken down by region. [85892]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 11 December 2002]: This information is not available in the form requested. Landfill are operated by private companies and the commercial decisions in relation to closure are a matter for them. Some landfills will be closed as a result of regulatory action by the Environment Agency, but predicting how many and when is not possible.

Information that is available relates to England and Wales and comes from the conditioning plan exercise conducted by the Environment Agency. The number of landfill sites that will remain operational post July 2002 and post 2004, broken down by classification (hazardous, non-hazardous and inert) and by region is as follows:

Region	Non-hazardous	Inert	Hazardous (post 2002)	Hazardous (post 2004)
Anglian	43	60	47	9
Midlands	50	74	42	4
North East	89	58	39	11
North West	49	37	27	8
South West	39	46	16	1
Southern	30	35	13	1
Thames	31	49	19	0
Wales	23	30	15	3
Total	311	329	218	37

Ministerial Travel

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of the total expenditure by her Department on ministerial travel (a) in the UK and (b) abroad, in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (estimated); and if she will make a statement. [92458]

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 344W.

Recycling

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much recyclable waste was collected in Somerset in 2002. [93122]

Mr. Meacher: This information is not held centrally. I would advise the hon. Member to contact the Head of Waste Services and Rural Affairs at Somerset County Council on 01823 356014 for this information.

Recycling (Household Waste)

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statutory

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performance standards local authorities are required to meet for the percentage of household waste sent for recycling or composting in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2005–06; and what the performance against target for waste recycling was in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03. [92056]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 20 January 2003]: Statutory performance standards for individual authorities in the relevant years are set out in a table which has been placed in the Library. It also shows performance targets for household waste recycling for 2001–02 and is published on Defra's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/management/guidance/mwms/10.htm.

Recycling (Tyres)

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations her Department has made to the Department of Trade and Industry regarding the UK's submissions to the EU discussions and decision-making process on the packaging waste recycling targets under the new Packaging Waste Directive. [91497]

Mr. Meacher: The Department has been in close contact with the Department of Trade and Industry throughout the discussions of the draft Directive to ensure that environmental considerations are fully taken into account in arriving at an agreed Government line. Officials from DEFRA attend meetings in Brussels along with representatives from the DTI.

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what plans she has for promoting the use of old tyres as a surfacing material; [91846]

(2) what targets she has set for the recycling and retreading of tyres. [91848]

Mr. Meacher: The Government are supporting a number of end-use studies for used tyres, including the incorporation of tyre granulate in road surfaces.

The EC Landfill Directive, in banning the disposal of almost all tyres to landfill, effectively sets a 100 per cent. recovery requirement. Within that overall recovery requirement, there are no individual targets for the recycling and retreading of tyres, and the Government have no present plans for introducing such targets. Figures for 2001 show that value was recovered from over 60 per cent. of the estimated 480,000 tonnes of tyres disposed of in the UK that year. Significant additional recovery capacity has since been brought forward and is anticipated to be taken up as the landfill directive requirements bear down.

The Government in partnership with the tyre industry through the Used Tyre Working Group (UTWG) are investigating alternative disposal, recycling and recovery options for those tyres displaced from landfill with the aim of ensuring that sufficient capacity is available to handle those tyres.

Refrigerator Disposal

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what

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arrangements are in place to monitor compliance with her Department's guidelines on the disposal of refrigerators; and if she will make a statement. [91644]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 20 January 2003]: To monitor the disposal of refrigerators, we have asked local authorities to report on the number of fridges they have dealt with as part of the national waste monitoring questionnaire.

To monitor recycling processes, the Environment Agency have been working closely with plant operators to ensure that they meet the performance standards set out in their permit conditions.

Treatment plant have been operating in the UK since the summer, local authorities are in the process of letting contracts with operators, and the backlog of stored fridges is decreasing and expected to disappear within a year.

Sickness Absence

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many working days have been lost in her Department and its predecessors due to illness in each year since 1997–98. [92717]

Alun Michael: Records are not yet available for the number of days lost due to sickness absence in 2002, but these will be announced in due course. Sickness absence figures for previous years are published in the Cabinet Office annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service", copies of which are placed in House Libraries.

Figures for the most recently available years for the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the former DETR and are shown as an average per staff year. These are:

MAFF

Year	Days
1997	7.8
1998	8.7
1999	9.3
2000	9
2001	7.2

DETR

Year	Days
1997	9.7
1998	8.7
1999	8.7
2000	9.0
2001	10.5

The Department is committed to the effective management of sickness absence, and to meeting its Service Delivery Agreement of reducing sickness absence to 6.9 days for 2003.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many

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Sites of Special Scientific Interest there were in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire for each year since 1997. [93075]

Mr. Morley: The figures for the number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Shrewsbury and Atcham in each year since 1997 are:

	Number
1997	(8)25
1998	26
1999	26
2000	28
2001	28
2002	28
2003	28

⁽⁸⁾ One more than previously reported in 2001 due to improved mapping and boundary definition.

In Shropshire as a whole:

	Number
1997	(9)103
1998	(10)107
1999	(10)108
2000	(10)110
2001	(10)110
2002	(10)110
2003	(10)110

⁽⁹⁾ Of which two are partly in Shropshire

⁽¹⁰⁾ Of which three are partly in Shropshire.

Thames Barrier

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she intends to carry out in the next 12 months to determine whether the Thames Barrier is sufficiently able to protect London in the event of a tidal surge. [92650]

Mr. Morley: The Thames Barrier and associated defences provide a high standard of protection to London and the Thames Estuary against a combination of tidal/fluvial flood risks, the principal risk being from tidal surge events.

A generous allowance for sea level rise was built into the design for the Thames Barrier and associated defences and thus we have today a standard of 0.05 per cent. risk of flooding from tidal surge in any one year. As sea level rises, this standard of protection will reduce as planned to the design standard of 0.1 per cent. risk of flooding from tidal surge by the year 2030. This will provide a level of protection equivalent to 2 metres above the maximum level of the 1953 flood event and is the highest standard of protection in the UK.

The Environment Agency, with Defra support, is engaged in a number of studies and investigations which are reviewing the current and future needs of London's tidal defences, including the overarching planning and research project "Planning for Flood Risk management in the Thames Estuary". This is developing a flood risk management strategy for London and the Thames Estuary for the next 100 years, and includes climate change research, geomorphological and flood modelling, engineering studies and the development of management intervention and decision-testing models. This is the first

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year of a six year project which will provide a plan for the establishment of the next generation of tidal defences for London and the Thames Estuary post 2030.

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