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22 Jan 2004 : Column 1372W—continued
Municipal Waste
Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the application by the Department for a derogation for (a) 2006, (b) 2009 and (c) 2016 on the biodegradable municipal waste diversion targets of the Landfill Directive. [148757]
Mr. Morley: Article 5.2 of the Landfill Directive lays down demanding targets for reducing the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill and the timescale for achieving those targets. The targets require the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill to be reduced to 75 per cent. of the total amount (by weight) of such waste produced in 1995 by 2006; to 50 per cent. by 2009; and to 35 per cent. by 2016.
For those member states (like the UK) which landfilled more than 80 per cent. of their municipal waste in 1995, the Directive contains a derogation permitting a delay to the target dates by up to four years i.e. to 2010, 2013 and 2020. If a member state intends to take advantage of this derogation, there is an obligation on it to inform the Commission in advance. The UK will
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meet that obligation by informing the Commission at least a year in advance if it intends to make use of the derogation for a target year. As was made clear in the recent consultation, planning for the Landfill Allowances Trading Scheme assumes that the derogation will be used for all three target years.
Pollution Prevention
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to require companies storing oil to undertake environmental risk assessments. [148916]
Mr Morley [holding answer 19 January 2004]: There are no plans to require this. However, a full assessment of a company's site to identify potential sources of pollution and the development of a plan to minimise these risks is a central recommendation in the Environment Agency's Pollution Prevention Guidance on Industrial Sites (PPG11).
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to place the Environment Agency's pollution prevention guidelines on a statutory footing; and if she will make a statement. [148917]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 19 January 2004]: There are currently 27 Pollution Prevention Guidelines jointly published by the Environment Agency, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Environment & Heritage Service for Northern Ireland. These establish best practice for the prevention of pollution for a wide range of sectors and activities. Where appropriate, statutory codes of practice may refer to the standards set in the Pollution Prevention Guidelines. There are no plans at present to change the status of the Guidelines themselves.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to extend the Oil Storage Regulations to cover (a) domestic and agricultural waste oil and (b) underground oil storage tanks. [148918]
Mr Morley [holding answer 19 January 2004]: There are no current plans to extend the regulations. Separate regulations are already in place for agricultural fuel oil, waste oil storage is subject to waste regulation controls and statutory guidance is in place for underground oil storage. Large domestic storage tanks are already included in the Oil Storage Regulations and all new domestic installations are now subject to control under building regulations.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to establish a targeted inspection and enforcement regime in connection with the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) 2001 Regulations; and if she will make a statement. [148919]
Mr Morley [holding answer 19 January 2004]: The Regulations are enforced by the Environment Agency and apply minimum prescriptive standards on a blanket basis to all premises storing oil in above ground fixed or mobile tanks or facilities. There are no plans to change the Agency's approach to enforcement which is explained in the Defra guidance note which accompanied
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the Regulations. The Legislative background in that Guidance states that the Environment Agency will not need to make a special visit to individual sites to assess risks, but will enforce the regulations during routine visits and thus reduce resource burdens.
Prosecutions
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many prosecutions are pending in the (a) Foot and Mouth Department, (b) Forestry Commission, (c) Environment Agency and (d) IACS Payment Department. [148922]
Alun Michael: The information requested is as follows.
(b) Nine prosecutions are currently listed before the Magistrates Courts.
(c) Three hundred and sixty five prosecutions are currently listed before the Courts (based on information provided by the Environment Agency).
(d) Five prosecutions in relation to cases investigated by the Rural Payments Agency are currently listed before the Courts.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Civil Service (Disablities)
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out the number of employees in her Department who have a disability, broken down by disability type. [148984]
Mr. Caborn: Data on disability is collected on the basis of voluntary self-classification. The Department currently employs 12 people declaring a disability. The Department's Code of Practice on Equal Opportunities Monitoring prevents us from disclosing data for individual groups fewer than five. This is also in accordance with exemption 12 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Historic Buildings
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what financial support her Department provides for the maintenance of historic buildings; what plans she has to increase this support; and if she will make a statement. [149493]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's financial support for the maintenance of historic buildings is channelled through English Heritage, which received a baseline grant-in-aid allocation of £115.4 million in 2002–03. English Heritage's baseline grant-in-aid for 2003–04 and 2004–05 is £121.7 million. Funding for English Heritage beyond 2004–05 is currently under consideration.
In addition, Lottery funding is available for repairs to historic buildings through the Heritage Lottery Fund, which has a joint grant scheme with English Heritage for repairs to listed places of worship.
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This Department also administers the Treasury's Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which has provided £16.6 million of grants towards the cost of repairs to listed places of worship since December 2001. The Scheme is expected to continue until March 2006.
TRANSPORT
A40 (Cheltenham)
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to carry out a review of the new traffic arrangements on the A40 at the Charlton Kings Sixways Junction in Cheltenham; and in what form he would like submissions to the review. [148535]
Mr. Jamieson: The next review of the scheme is due in September 2004. This will be a formal Road Safety Audit. There is no statutory or formal consultation as part of this process but the Highways Agency would welcome feedback from local people about the scheme.
A565
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money Sefton council received on transference of ownership of the A565 from the Highways Agency; and how much it will receive on an annual basis. [148928]
Mr. Jamieson: The Highways Agency has a programme for handing over responsibility (known as detrunking) for the A565 trunk road to Sefton borough council on 1 April 2004. The statutory process to enable detrunking to proceed is currently ongoing, and includes negotiations with the council. A Grant, calculated to be in the region of £600,000, will be awarded based on a formula for maintenance expenditure. This Grant, uprated for inflation, will be paid in the 2004–05 financial year and will continue until detrunked roads are included in the Highways Maintenance Formula Spending Share.
Air Transport
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what representations he has received from the National Air Traffic Service on the need for them to validate capacity forecasts contained in the White Paper on The Future of Air Transport; [149045]
- (2) whether he has commissioned the National Air Traffic Service to validate the capacity forecasts contained in the White Paper on The Future of Air Transport. [149046]
Mr. Darling: National Air Traffic Services responded to the consultation exercises carried out prior to the publication of The Future of Air Transport, but have not made any representations to the Government since the White Paper was published. Air Traffic Management is an essential part of the Aviation White Paper strategy and NATS will have a key role in delivering it.
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