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16 Oct 2003 : Column 312W—continued
Water Pricing
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Water Price Review 2004. [131071]
Mr. Morley: The Director General of Water Services (Ofwat) is responsible for setting water price limits.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on 21 January 2003, Official Report, column 5WS, this year when publishing her Initial Guidance on the periodic review to the Director General. A joint statement, explaining what the review is, setting out how and when decisions will be taken, and inviting views, was issued in August by Government and the environmental and quality regulators and Defra was a signatory.
The Secretary of State's Principal Guidance to the Director General will be published in early 2004 and she will make a further Ministerial Statement to the House at that time.
Water Quality
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the quality of UK (a) inland and (b) coastal water; and what research she has conducted on levels in other EU countries. [131070]
Mr. Morley: Monitoring and assessment of inland and coastal waters in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and with respect to the devolved functions in Wales are matters for the Scottish Executive, the Northern Ireland Executive and the National Assembly for Wales.
In England, in 2002, the Environment Agency surveyed about 7,000 freshwater sites, representing 35,000 kilometres of rivers and canals, for their chemical quality and around 2,000 of these for biological quality. The results of this most recent assessment of inland water quality can be found on the Agency's website www.environment-agency.gov.uk from Tuesday 23 September 2003.
Our national monitoring programme provides regular data on the environmental quality of the marine environment, including coastal waters. A National Marine Monitoring Programme, consisting of 109 stations monitored by six agencies, has been set up to detect long-term trends in physical, biological and chemical variables at selected estuarine and coastal sites. In 2000, the OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic produced a set of Quality Status Reports for the region, which evaluated the effectiveness of measures taken,
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planned for the protection of the marine environment and set priorities for the region. This was agreed by all the contracting parties, including the UK. Other regional seas programmes have produced similar assessments for other European waters.
The UK participates fully in the activities of the European Environment Agency, which compiles and disseminates information for Europe on a wide range of environmental topics, including inland and coastal water quality, through its website, its Environmental Signals reports and other publications.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the five (a) best and (b) worst performing regions of England in
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chemical quality of water were in the last year for which figures are available. [131072]
Mr. Morley: The following table shows results from the Environment Agency's 2002 General Quality Assessment of rivers and canals in each of the Agency's seven regions. These were published by DEFRA on 23 December 2003 on their website (http://www.defra. gov.uk/environment/statistics/index.htm).
Chemical quality is one of a range of indicators of the overall quality of a water body and is affected by human activity, natural geography and weather.
The table is presented in order of the percentage of river lengths which are of 'Good and Fair' chemical quality, however this is an arbitrary choice and the order would vary if it was based on a different range of grades.
| Grade | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EA region | Good (Grades A+B) | Fair (Grades C+D) | Poor (Grade E) | Bad (Grade F) | Good and Fair(Grades A+B+C+D) |
| South West | 83.2 | 14.0 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 97.2 |
| Thames | 67.8 | 27.7 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 95.5 |
| Midlands | 63.0 | 31.1 | 5.5 | 0.3 | 94.2 |
| North East | 67.6 | 25.6 | 6.1 | 0.8 | 93.1 |
| Southern | 43.5 | 48.4 | 8.1 | 0.0 | 91.9 |
| Anglian | 54.5 | 37.2 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 91.7 |
| North West | 62.0 | 29.4 | 7.7 | 0.7 | 91.5 |
| England | 65.5 | 28.3 | 5.8 | 0.4 | 93.8 |
Note:
The regions shown are Environment Agency regions. The Midlands and the North West regions cross the Welsh political border, however the overall England results do reflect the English political boundary.
LEADER OF THE HOUSE
Video-conferencing
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Leader of the House what assessment he has made of the (a) demand and (b) capacity for video-conferencing and web-cameras for honourable Members' use. [132117]
Mr. Hain: I am aware that some hon. Members would like to see additional provision for video-conferencing and web-cameras. I suggest that my hon. Friend approach the Speaker's Advisory Panel on this. The Information Committee has also taken an interest in this.
TREASURY
Private Sector Health Care
15. Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received regarding the provision of a subsidy through the tax system towards the cost of health care in the private sector. [132070]
Dawn Primarolo: We receive many representations regarding many issues of tax policy.
I remain unconvinced that reducing the NHS budget by £1 billion to subsidise the private health insurance payments of those who already can afford it is an effective use of taxpayers money funds.
Economic Growth
16. Mr. Hunter To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the projections for United Kingdom growth made by (a) the Treasury and (b) independent forecasters at the time of the (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003 budget. [132071]
Ruth Kelly: Between the 2002 and 2003 Budgets, both the Government and independent forecasters revised down their GDP growth forecasts for 2003, reflecting a fragile global economic environment and heightened international uncertainties.
At the time of the 2003 Budget, the average of independent forecasts for GDP growth in 2003 was consistent with the Budget forecast, with over 70 per cent. of forecasters included in HM Treasury's 'Comparison of independent forecasts' either within of above the Budget forecast range.
Financial Mutual Organisations
17. Mr. Bailey To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on support for financial mutual organisations; and if he will make a statement. [132072]
Ruth Kelly: The Government welcomes the contribution of the mutual sector to providing greater choice and diversity in the market and in tackling financial exclusion. The Government will continue to work closely with the sector.
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Tax Allowances
18. Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to index- link personal tax allowances at least in line with inflation. [132073]
Dawn Primarolo: The level of personal allowance for 2004–5 will be announced, as usual, at the Pre Budget report.
Budget Forecasts
19. Mr. Boswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next plans to meet the new Governor of the Bank of England to discuss the Chancellor's Budget forecasts on the public sector deficit for 2004–05. [132074]
Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor meets the Governor of the Bank of England regularly to discuss various issues concerning the British economy, including the public finances. In addition, a representative from HM Treasury attends each of the monthly meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee.
Eurozone
20. Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the recent change in the budget deficits (a) in Germany, (b) in France and (c) on average in the eurozone. [132075]
Ruth Kelly: In 2002, the general Government deficit reached 3.1 per cent. of GDP in France, 3.5 per cent. of GDP in Germany and 2.3 per cent. of GDP in the euro area.
Youth Unemployment
21. Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the level of youth unemployment on the economy; and if he will make a statement. [132076]
Ruth Kelly: Youth unemployment is particularly detrimental to the long-term health of the economy.
That is why this Government have made a priority of reducing it. With the help of the New Deal for Young People, we have reduced long-term youth unemployment by 133,000 or three-quarters since 1997.
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