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12 Jul 2004 : Column 875W—continued
Planning Guidance (Satellite Dishes)
Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will issue new planning guidance on regulations for the number of satellite dishes applying to residential homes to give discretion to local planning authorities; and if he will make a statement. [182723]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consulted last year on changes to the planning regulations for satellite dishes and other antennas. We expect to make an announcement on the way forward in due course, after which we will bring forward revised regulations and updated guidance.
The regulations provide for the specific number, size and location of satellite dish antennas which can be erected without the need for planning permission. However, it is open to those who wish to have additional dishes to make a planning application in the usual way.
Regional Assembly and Local Government Referendums Order
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission concerning the definition of convincing evidence in paragraph 7.14 of the explanatory memorandum to the Regional Assembly and Local Government Referendums Order 2004; and if he will make a statement. [181793]
Mr. Raynsford: Neither Ministers nor officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have had any such discussions.
Rent Arrears
Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will amend the Housing Act 1988 to give county courts discretion not to make an order for possession under mandatory Ground 8, Schedule 2, if the rent arrears are a consequence of a delay or failure in payment of housing benefit. [182715]
Keith Hill:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to amend Ground 8 of Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. The Department of Work and Pensions has introduced a range of housing benefit reforms that are improving the performance of local authorities in administering housing benefit. The average time taken to process housing benefit claims in 2003–04 was 49 days compared to 55 days in 2002–03.
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Skew Bridge Roadworks
Mr. Key: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discretion Salisbury District Council has to reduce (a) council tax and (b) business rates in recognition of disruption to domestic and business life caused by roadworks at Skew Bridge on the A36 (T) at Salisbury. [180778]
Mr. Raynsford: Salisbury district council has power to offer locally defined council tax discounts under section 13 A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (which was inserted by section 76 of the Local Government Act 2003) and hardship relief from non domestic rates under section 49(1) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
West Yorkshire Fire Authority
Colin Burgon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding was made available for the West Yorkshire Fire Authority (a) in 2004–05 and (b) in each of the last nine years. [183032]
Mr. Raynsford: West Yorkshire Fire Authority reported receiving the following grants in 2004–05 and in each of the last nine years as follows:
| Amount of grant | |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 43,234 |
| 1996–97 | 44,809 |
| 1997–98 | 47,748 |
| 1998–99 | 49,121 |
| 1999–2000 | 50,439 |
| 2000–01 | 50,883 |
| 2001–02 | 53,250 |
| 2002–03 | 54,631 |
| 2003–04 | 56,362 |
| 2004–05 | 59,545 |
Colin Burgon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many firefighters were employed by the West Yorkshire Fire Authority (a) in 2004–05 and (b) in each of the last nine years. [183033]
Mr. Raynsford: The most recent information is at 31 March 2004.
The information requested is set out below:
| Year(2) | Wholetime | Retained | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,787 | 165 | 1,952 |
| 1996 | 1,756 | 181 | 1,937 |
| 1997 | 1,739 | 180 | 1,919 |
| 1998 | 1,727 | 179 | 1,906 |
| 1999 | 1,723 | 177 | 1,900 |
| 2000 | 1,680 | 173 | 1,853 |
| 2001 | 1,683 | 169 | 1,852 |
| 2002 | 1,660 | 163 | 1,823 |
| 2003 | 1,678 | 159 | 1,837 |
| 2004 | 1,658 | 165 | 1,823 |
(2) Data refer to workforce as at 31 March except for 1995, where data refer to 1 January.
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PRIME MINISTER
Commission for Africa
Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Prime Minister what assessment the Commission for Africa has made of the potential for the use of revenue from energy resources for combating poverty in Africa. [183202]
The Prime Minister: The Commission for Africa will examine ways of combating poverty including improving the efficient, transparent and fair management and use of revenues from natural resources. It will report next year.
European Constitution
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will publish, before the Summer Adjournment, the draft of any Bill necessary to come into force prior to ratification of any treaty establishing a constitution of the European Union; and if he will indicate prior to that date what opportunities each House will have to consider the merits of each article or part of that treaty before its ratification. [183240]
The Prime Minister: The Bill to give effect to the treaty cannot be published until after the treaty has been finalised and signed. Signature is currently planned for the autumn.
Parliament has had many opportunities to consider the text of the treaty during the negotiations, for example through Select Committees, Standing Committees and debates on the floor of the House. It will have further opportunities when considering the Bill.
Honours System
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister when he expects Sir Hayden Phillip's review of the honours system to report to him. [183517]
The Prime Minister: Sir Hayden Phillips' review of the honours system will be published shortly.
Iraq
Adam Price: To ask the Prime Minister if he will give an undertaking that efforts will be made to bring to justice those responsible for the murders of British service personnel and civilians in Iraq. [183524]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on 8 July 2004, Official Report, columns 48–49WS, by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Hoon).
Mr. Tom Kelly
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his oral answer of 28 April 2004, Official Report, column 885, on Mr. Tom Kelly, on what date the family of the late Dr. David Kelly accepted the apology of his official spokesman for making derogatory remarks after Dr. Kelly's death. [183152]
The Prime Minister:
I have nothing further to add on this issue.
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Racism
David Winnick: To ask the Prime Minister what safeguards are in place to ensure that Ministers do not inadvertently attend meetings or send messages to meetings where racist or anti-semitic individuals are platform speakers. [183142]
The Prime Minister: The Ministerial Code provides guidance to Ministers on how they should undertake their official duties. As the Code makes clear, it is for individual Ministers to account for their decisions and actions.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Combined Heat and Power
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the study on combined heat and power potential due for release in January 2004. [182012]
Mr. Morley: We expect to be in a position to publish this study shortly.
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government will publish details of the Combined Heat and Power Quality Improvement Programme mentioned in the CHP Strategy. [181953]
Mr. Morley: As stated in "The Government's Strategy for CHP to 2010", which we published on 26 April of this year, a Quality Improvement programme will be developed to make use of the performance assessments of CHP schemes carried out under the CHP Quality Assurance programme. In common with the other measures set out in the strategy that have not yet been implemented, this programme is currently in development.
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the Government propose to close the shortfall in capacity between the 8.1 GWe central projection in the Combined Heat and Power Strategy and the 10 GWe target. [181965]
Mr. Morley: The figure of 8.1 GWe is the central projection within a range of 7.7–9.4 GWe, which mainly allows for uncertainties over gas and electricity price movements. This does not take account of either the introduction of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme or the CHP measures in the Energy White Paper, which are at too early a stage of development to quantify fully. The support measures set out in "The Government's Strategy for CHP to 2010", which we published on 26 April of this year, are expected to contribute around 1.9 GWe to achievement of the 10 GWe target and we are confident that by working in close partnership with industry we can help CHP realize its full potential in the low carbon economy of the future.
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she estimates the Government will achieve the 2000 combined heat and power target of 5 GWe. [181966]
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Mr. Morley: I anticipate that the figure of 5 GWe of installed Good Quality CHP capacity will be achieved this year.
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what measures suggested by respondents to the 2002 Draft Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Strategy were included in the Government's final CHP Strategy; [181967]
(2) what new measures to promote combined heat and power (CHP) have been announced by the Government in the CHP Strategy. [181968]
Mr. Morley: The responses to the May 2002 CHP Strategy consultation fed into the Energy White Paper and the final CHP Strategy. The new measures announced since the Strategy consultation include:
a 15 per cent. target for Government Departments to use CHP generated electricity;
reviewing the power station consent guidance to ensure the opportunities for CHP are fully considered; and
field trials to evaluate the benefits of micro-CHP.
The full range of measures to support CHP are set out in the final strategy.
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Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how the Government are encouraging other parts of the public sector to adopt the combined heat and power (CHP) targets similar to its announcement of a 15 per cent. target for Government Departments; [181969]
(2) if she will list the (a) Departments and (b) buildings which are included within the Government's target of 15 per cent. combined heat and power use within the Government estate. [181970]
Mr. Morley: The Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government estate covers central Government Departments and their Executive Agencies (see following table). It does not cover non-departmental public bodies and other associated bodies, the devolved Administrations, or local authorities. Departments are responsible for the promotion of sustainable development to their associate bodies and many public bodies are already taking a lead on sustainable development issues. It is anticipated that Departments will promote the framework to their non-departmental public bodies and other associate bodies and further encourage development of strategies for target setting, performance improvement and reporting along the lines set out in the framework. For further information, please see http://www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/index.htm.
(3) Taken from the Civil Service Yearbook (online version) http://www.civil-service.co.uk/content/deDt/ministerslist.asp.
12 Jul 2004 : Column 881W
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how the Government will emphasise the benefits of combined heat and power (CHP) and community heating in planning and sustainable guidance, as mentioned in the CHP Strategy; [181971]
(2) what work has been undertaken to invite the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust to review current and future programmes to ensure they reinforce delivery of the combined heat and power target. [182010]
Mr. Morley:
Emphasising the benefits of CHP and community heating in planning and sustainable guidance plus the Energy Saving Trust and Carbon Trust reviewing current and future programmes to ensure they reinforce delivery of the CHP target were among the support measures set out in "The Governments Strategy for CHP to 2010", which we published on 26 April of this
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year. The delivery of both measures is an ongoing process and we are working closely with other parts of government and both trusts to continue to deliver them.
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will publish the calculations relating to the estimate of 100–400MWe of combined heat and power capacity brought online as a result of the introduction of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme; [182039]
(2) what work has been undertaken on a framework for pilot projects within the UK Emissions Trading Scheme for which combined heat and power projects may be eligible. [182011]
Mr. Morley:
The range of 100–400MWe was estimated on the basis of sensitivities to financial incentives implied by the Cambridge Econometrics 2003 remodelling of Good Quality CHP capacity. That model was the source of the central projection of
12 Jul 2004 : Column 883W
8.1GWe by 2010 contained in "The Government's Strategy for CHP to 2010", which we published on 26 April of this year. The remodelling is available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/energy/environment/energyefficiency/chpreport.pdf.
The Energy White Paper included a support measure for CHP via a pilot project entry route into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. This was overtaken by European Commission's proposal to link projects into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which will now take precedence over the UK scheme.
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