---

21 Jul 2004 : Column 246W—continued

Energy Efficiency

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the external costs associated with waste disposal, with particular reference to the environmental costs. [184582]

 
21 Jul 2004 : Column 247W
 

Mr. Morley: The Review of Environmental and Health Effects of Waste Management, published in May 2004 identified and quantified the health and environmental impacts of different municipal waste management options. A second related report, to be published shortly, will identify the economic values for the impacts identified in the Health and Environmental Effects review. Combined, these studies will provide a range of external costs for each municipal waste management option.
 
21 Jul 2004 : Column 248W
 

These studies look at the direct impact of different waste management activities, but do not employ a full life cycle analysis to take account of, for example, the benefits of recycling.

Table C4 in Appendix B to Waste Strategy 2000 Part 2 provides estimates of the external costs and benefits of different waste management options (Source: adapted from Coopers and Lybrand (1997)).
Table C4: External costs and benefits of different waste management options

Waste management option	External cost estimate, £ per tonne of waste, 1999 prices
Landfill	3
Incineration (displacing electricity from coal-fired power stations)	-17
Incineration (displacing average-mix electricity generation)	10
Recycling	-161
Ferrous metal	-297
Non-ferrous metal	-929
Glass	-196
Paper	-69
Plastic film	17
Rigid plastic	-48
Textiles	-66

Fisheries

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of fisheries management schemes employing individual transferable quotas and effort control, based on days at sea. [184817]

Mr. Bradshaw: The most recent evaluation of various alternative fisheries management systems was carried out by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and set out in their "Net Benefits" report published on 25 March 2004. We will be examining the Strategy Unit's findings in detail with stakeholders before settling how to take them forward.

Flood Defences

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding has been allocated for flood defences in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [184067]

Mr. Morley: The Government continue to recognise the importance of flood management and have agreed, as part of the recent Spending Review, to carry forward the significant increases in funding allocated in Spending Review 2002. Total Government funding of flood and coastal defence in England is planned to be £478 million in 2004–05 and at least £564 million in 2005–06.

Fly-tipping

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will propose to the Environment Agency that it establish a national enforcement squad to specialise in detection and prosecution of incidences of fly-tipping, especially of hazardous waste. [183231]

Mr. Morley: Defra has been working closely with the Environment Agency on proposals to help tackle fly-tipping. The agency already has a national enforcement concordat and enforcement officers who deal primarily with tackling investigation of serious, larger incidents of fly-tipping.

Defra will work closely with the agency on efforts to increase the enforcement of illegally disposed waste by ensuring they have a comprehensive toolkit of powers to deal with fly-tipping.

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 gave the Secretary of State power to issue statutory directions to the agency and local authorities on the division of responsibilities for using their clear up powers to tackle fly-tipping. Defra has recently consulted on the proposed directions, which will be issued shortly.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Environment Agency on fly-tipping; and what joint activities are being undertaken. [183707]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 13 July 2004]: Defra has been working very closely with the Environment Agency to tackle fly-tipping. Recent work has included bringing forward measures in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, which allowed the Secretary of State to issue statutory directions to the Agency and local authorities to clarify the division of responsibility for dealing with fly-tipping.

The ASB Act also led to the development of the Flycapture database, which the Agency has developed on behalf of Defra. The system went live on 5 April 2004 and take-up has been encouraging, with around 90 per cent. of local authorities registered in the first month.

Defra are currently exploring with the Agency the possibility of developing a comprehensive training package tailored for local authorities. This will allow the Agency to pass on their experience in enforcement to local authorities ensuring fly-tipping is prevented and penalised accordingly.
 
21 Jul 2004 : Column 249W
 

The Department will carry on working closely with the Environment Agency to ensure that they have a suitable toolkit of powers to properly tackle the illegal disposal of waste or fly-tipping.

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 to extend the requirement to report fly-tipping to fly-tipping on private land. [183226]

Mr. Morley: Section 55 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 set up a requirement for waste collection authorities and the Environment Agency to submit data to Defra on incidents of fly-tipping. The new database went live in April.

Take up of the system has been excellent with over 90 per cent. of authorities registered but it is important to ensure that reliability and quality of current data sources is as good as possible before exploring extending the system. The requirements to report to Flycapture will be reviewed after the first year of operation.

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make fly-tipping an arrestable offence. [183232]

Mr. Morley: Under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the illegal disposal of hazardous waste can incur imprisonment of up to five years on conviction on indictment. This automatically makes it an arrestable offence. Arrest without warrant can occur in relation to arrestable offences or in relation to non-arrestable offences in particular circumstances.

It is open to question however, whether it would be possible to justify, by reference to the level of seriousness, making any act of fly tipping by itself an arrestable offence or one attracting a custodial sentence. However, my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, has indicated his intention under the Police Reform Act 2002 to conduct a public consultation on modernising police powers, which includes the intention to rationalise the powers of arrest.

Hazardous Waste

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much additional expenditure the Environment Agency has allocated in 2004–05 to address unlawful depositing of hazardous waste. [183230]

Mr. Morley: The agency's expenditure on enforcement across all its activities amounts to £12 million per annum, funded through Grant in Aid. The Agency uses its judgment to prioritise its enforcement effort to deliver the best outcome to protect the environment and human health. Unlawful activity involving hazardous waste is an enforcement priority for the agency in 2004–5 and it will not hesitate to use its powers where evidence is obtained that may lead to prosecution in the courts.
 
21 Jul 2004 : Column 250W
 

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) businesses, (b) trade associations and (c) trade publications her Department has contacted to provide information on changes in the way hazardous waste is treated and disposed of from 16 July onwards. [184770]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 16 July 2004]: The Department has taken, and will continue to take, a range of measures to inform businesses of incoming legislation and their legal obligations as producers of waste.

It is not possible to give a precise figure of how many individual businesses and trade bodies have been reached as a result of Defra and Environment Agency communications on this subject. A recent Defra survey, carried out among a cross-section of small businesses, showed a 78 per cent. awareness of the Landfill Regulations and an 84 per cent. awareness of the forthcoming Hazardous Waste Regulations.

The Department works closely with other organisations who are better placed to disseminate information to businesses on our behalf. For example, Envirowise has produced a Hazardous Waste Guide for Chief Executives of small businesses, which will be distributed to over 13,000 businesses.

The Department has also produced its own smaller leaflet called "Hazard Alert", which has been distributed to a wide stakeholder audience. In addition a dedicated hazardous waste web portal is available at www.hazardouswaste.org.uk.

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what timetable (a) has operated until now and (b) has been set out for the future, for informing businesses of changes to the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste and the types of waste classified as hazardous, resulting from waste-related European Union Directives. [184771]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 16 July 2004]: The timetable for implementing changes resulting from European Union Directives usually takes several years, and businesses should expect and anticipate the regulatory changes from an early stage.

To date, businesses have been informed about these changes through the negotiation of the Directives, via the consultation exercises undertaken on the implementation and regulatory amendments and also by means of stakeholder forums, such as the Hazardous Waste Forum.

Since early 2004, a Defra communications strategy has been in place to inform businesses about the changes that are being introduced as a result of the Landfill and Hazardous Waste Directives over two years. As part of this function a dedicated website, widely distributed leaflet, a number of stakeholder events and relevant articles in the trade press have been produced.

Communicating with businesses about these changes will continue while the waste-related European Union Directives are implemented.
 
21 Jul 2004 : Column 251W
 

---