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Waste Disposal Plants

Mr Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what control she has over the operation of waste disposal plants. [93121]

Mr. Meacher: The Department controls the regulation of waste disposal and recovery sites through a licensing system that is set out in legislation. The Environment Agency must have regard to the legislative framework and to any statutory guidance provided by my Department when discharging its functions as the Government's regulator and when fulfilling the requirements of the European Directives on waste.

The operation of waste disposal plants is largely in the hands of the private sector. The Environment Agency prescribes the nature of the operations through waste management licences and pollution prevention and control permits and it supervises compliance with the relevant terms and conditions.

Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the maximum permitted levels of smell from a waste plant are. [93124]

Mr. Meacher: The Environment Agency regulates odour emissions from waste facilities with the objective of achieving "no reasonable cause for annoyance". The level of odour from a waste facility that will result in annoyance will depend on factors such as the type, strength and duration of odour. Guidance for Environment Agency officers in determining unacceptable levels of odour from waste facilities is provided in "Internal Guidance for the Regulation of odour at waste management facilities" and "IPPC Horizontal guidance note H4—external consultation". Both of these documents are available on the Environment Agency's website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

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Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what work has been done on assessing the effect of waste treatment plants on livestock. [93125]

Mr. Meacher: No work has been done specifically relating to the effects of waste treatment plants on livestock.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Council Housing Finance

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he plans to take into account the National Audit Office report, "Improving Social Housing Through Transfer", in his forthcoming statement on council housing finance; and whether he contributed to the NAO report during its preparation. [93694]

Mr. McNulty: The National Audit Office worked closely with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in researching their report on "Improving Social Housing Through Transfer". This has been helpful in the broader review of the vehicles for the delivery of the decent home target.

Firefighters' Dispute

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many armed forces breathing apparatus rescue teams and rescue equipment support teams were on fire cover during the strike by members of the Fire Brigades Union on 21 January 2003. [94219]

Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (John Barrett) on 30 January 2003, Official Report.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures he will take to lift the ceiling on local authority funding in order to allow more resources to be directed towards the police. [94868]

Mr. Raynsford: Local authorities are split into three groups for the purposes of the floor and ceiling calculations. These are:

authorities with responsibility for education and social services;


shire district councils; and


police and metropolitan fire authorities, including the Greater London Authority.

The total amount of grant for each of these groups is unaltered by the application of floors and ceilings. Therefore, lifting the ceiling would not direct more resources to this group. In order to pay for the increased level of the ceiling, either the level of the floor would need to be lowered, or the authorities between the floor and the ceiling would need to contribute more money to help pay for the floor via the scaling factor. The Office

31 Jan 2003 : Column 1076W

of the Deputy Prime Minister believes that it has set the level of floors and ceilings at an appropriate level to ensure a reasonable increase in grant for all authorities.

Neighbourhood Renewal

Dr. Francis: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on how the development of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy has been influenced by lessons from the Adult and Community Learning Fund. [94466]

Mrs. Roche: The development of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy was influenced by the Adult and Community Learning Fund in that Department for Education and Skills officials provided the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit with the findings of the independent ACLF evaluations and impact studies as the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy was being devised.

Waste Disposal

Harry Cohen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will impose, as an additional requirement upon the City of London Corporation, as part of the local government grant allocation settlement, provision for the effective removal from forest and other open space land, for which it is responsible, rubbish which has been fly-tipped, obsolete tyres and refrigerators and abandoned cars, from its own resources; and if he will make a statement. [94518]

Mr. Raynsford: Under section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the local authority (or the Environment Agency) has the power to remove fly-tipped waste from private land and to recover the costs of doing so from the perpetrators, where they can be traced. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for the policy on fly-tipping. There are no plans to require local authorities to remove fly-tipped waste as such a requirement would provide an incentive for unscrupulous operators to fly-tip waste in the knowledge that it would be removed at no cost to them. Local authorities are already required to remove abandoned vehicles. It would therefore not be appropriate to impose additional requirements on the City.

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the differing regional take ups of working families tax credit before deciding that it would be appropriate for working families tax credit to be used in the education formulae of the local government grant. [94636]

Mr. Raynsford: Ministers are aware of the difficulties caused by differential take-up rates and that, as a new scheme, the working families tax credit might be particularly affected. They considered, however, that the benefit to the education formula of broadening the measurement of social need considerably outweighed any drawbacks.

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WALES

Bmibaby (Cardiff)

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had regarding the services offered by the airline Bmibaby from Cardiff airport. [90751]

Peter Hain: Services at Cardiff airport frequently arise in my discussions. The growing range of destinations now being offered by Bmibaby represents a substantial improvement in local customer choice, as well as a welcome contribution to the economy of South Wales.

Computer Misuse

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last five years, broken down by each category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [93048]

Peter Hain: One, since the establishment of the Wales Office on 1 July 1999. The individual concerned was given a formal warning.

Departmental Running Costs

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the running costs were of the Department in (a) 1997 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available. [90753]

Peter Hain: The net running costs of the Wales Office in 2001–02 were £2.4 million. The Department was established in 1999.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many full-time equivalent staff are employed in the Department; and what the figures were for 1997. [90667]

Peter Hain: Since the establishment of the Wales Office on 1 July 1999, it has been staffed entirely by secondees mainly from the National Assembly for Wales. As at 1 January 2003, the number of full-time equivalents seconded to the Wales Office was 42 staff.

Higher Education Funding

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on devolving to the National Assembly for Wales powers over tuition fees and maintenance grants over the weekend prior to the launch of the White Paper on Higher Education. [95229]

Peter Hain: I have regular discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, including, most recently, the question of further devolution in this area to the National Assembly for Wales.

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