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Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (Manchester)

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many homes in Manchester, Central have benefited from the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme. [184172]

Mr. Morley: The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme is now marketed as Warm Front. Between the launch of the scheme in June 2000 and the end of March 2004, approximately 2,889 households in Manchester, Central received assistance from the Scheme.

Human Pesticide Poisoning

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the cases of human pesticide poisoning mentioned by the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) in his broadcast comments on Farming Today of 17 June; in each case (a) who was the investigating agency and (b) what information from medical practitioners was obtained; and whose conclusion it was that illness was found not to be due to the effects of pesticides. [184435]

Alun Michael: It would be quite wrong for me to release the individual case details of the 60 incidents referred to in my broadcast. They were investigated by the Field Operations Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and detail of individual incidents is presented to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides to inform the pesticides approvals process.

Cases of alleged ill health caused by the use of a pesticide are investigated by the HSE or the Local Authorities. Reports are then submitted to the Pesticide Incidents Appraisal Panel (PIAP) for their assessment. The membership of PIAP includes medical practitioners and a representative from the Department of Health. PIAP considers individual incident and case reports to identify if there is a link between exposure and ill health which may indicate a trend to inform the regulatory system. Medical records are only obtained from GPs and hospital doctors with the consent of the subject. PIAP considers clinical information as it is recorded in medical files.

The details of the results and conclusions are available in the latest PIAP annual report available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/fod/pir0203.pdf

Landfill

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she applied for a derogation from the EU Landfill Directive for the years (a) 2006, (b) 2008 and (c) 2018. [182988]

Mr. Morley: Article 5(2) of the EC Landfill Directive sets three target years 2006, 2009 and 2016 by which member states must reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfills in proportion to the amount produced in 1995. Under the Directive there is a four-year derogation from these targets available to member states that sent to landfill more than 80 per cent. of their collected municipal waste in 1995. The UK qualifies for this derogation.
 
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The UK does not need to apply to make use of the derogation. The Directive only requires member states to inform the Commission if it intends to make use of the derogation. The Government intend to make use of their derogation and will inform the Commission before each target year.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs why the targets in the Landfill (Scheme Year and Maximum Landfill Amount) Regulations 2004 are measured by weight instead of volume. [182989]

Mr. Morley: The Landfill (Scheme Year and Maximum Landfill Amount) Regulations 2004 divide the UK's targets under Article 5(2) of the EC Landfill Directive between the four countries of the UK. The Directive limits by weight the amount of biodegradable municipal waste allowed to be sent to landfill from member states. The Regulations set the targets consistently with the way the UK's performance will be measured under the Directive.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the delays to the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. [182990]

Mr. Morley: The decision to delay the implementation of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme until 2005, announced by the Minister of State for Local and Regional Government on 19 November 2003, was made as part of Defra's contribution to helping to reduce spending pressures on local government in 2004–05.

The decision reflected the views of local authorities, received through the consultation on implementing the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, that more time was needed to prepare for this new scheme which is a significant departure from the normal operations of local authorities. The delay in starting the scheme will mean that waste disposal authorities will have to make steeper annual reductions in the amount of biodegradable waste they landfill in order to meet the first target year of 2010 but they will have more time to plan how to do this.

The Government are using the additional time to raise awareness of the scheme within local authorities and to support those who plan to make use of its provisions. A series of regional events will be taking place later this month to explain the scheme to local authorities, waste management companies and other interested parties. In addition, workshops will be arranged early in 2005 to give local authority officers hands-on experience of operating a trading scheme. Written and electronic guidance material will also be made available.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's plans are to deal with biodegradable municipal waste which will not be permitted to be sent to landfill under the Landfill (Scheme Year and Maximum Landfill Amount) Regulations 2004; and whether she plans to permit an increase in the number of incinerators in the UK as a consequence of the regulations. [182991]

 
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Mr. Morley: It is for individual waste disposal authorities to decide which waste management options to use to meet their statutory obligations in the light of local circumstances. The Government have no plans for the provision of any particular number of incinerators.

Defra's Waste Implementation Programme provides waste disposal authorities with a package of support measures designed to help them meet their share of the national target for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill. In particular its new Technologies Demonstrator programme aims to establish five plants by the end of 2005 with a further five initiated by the end of 2006. The 10 plants will cover at least four different technologies either not currently available in this country or new to the industry, with a target of diverting at least 240,000 tonnes/annum of biodegradable municipal waste away from landfill. This should encourage the faster development and take up of new and innovative technologies.

The Statutory Instrument specifies the maximum amount of biodegradable municipal waste allowed to be sent to landfills; it does not impose a ban on land filling above these permitted levels. However, waste disposal authorities responsible for part or the whole of the UK exceeding the maximum amounts set out in the Instrument will be liable to a penalty.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what increased funding will be given to local authorities to cover their responsibilities under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. [182992]

Mr. Morley: The cost to local authorities of meeting Landfill Directive obligations was addressed in the main in Spending Review 2002, which included increases to the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) block and PFI credits for local authorities.

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme is designed specifically to enable local authorities to choose the most cost effective way to meet their Landfill Directive targets taking account of local circumstances.

The Spending Review settlement 2004 announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 July incorporates additional targeted funding for waste management including an extra:

£275 million in PFI credits for local authorities in 2006–07 and 2007–08; and

£35 million in 2006–07 and 2007–08 for the new waste management Performance Reward Grant.

These additional funds will enable further investment in sustainable waste management and encourage local authorities to meet their targets efficiently.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of the Landfill (scheme year and maximum landfill amount) Regulations on incineration in England. [183035]

Mr. Morley: The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme requires local authorities progressively to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. Incineration, with or without energy recovery, provides an alternative to landfill, as does recycling. It is up to local authorities to develop and implement a
 
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strategy for implementing the scheme to match their local circumstances, taking into account statutory recycling and composting targets and planning guidance, among other things.

Waste Strategy 2000 provided five estimates of waste management options over the period 2000 to 2020. A 'base case' was modelled so that the additional cost of meeting the landfill targets for biodegradable waste and the waste strategy goals could be calculated. The other four models provided different mixes of recycling, composting and incineration and the additional capacity required for those facilities under each option.

The actual figures for additional capacity can be seen in annex C in Part Two of Waste Strategy 2000 (table C8 on page 194). A copy of the strategy is in the House of Commons Library and can also be accessed through the Defra website (www.defra.gov.uk)

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many waste landfill sites she expects to have received a permit to receive hazardous waste by 16 July. [183798]

Mr. Morley: Seven dedicated hazardous waste sites will have received a PPC permit to receive hazardous waste by 16 July. This figure comprises five merchant sites and two in-house sites.

In addition to these, 12 sites are awaiting the final decision on their PPC permit application, but currently hold Waste Management Licences to receive hazardous waste. This figure comprises six merchant sites and six in-house sites. These sites will continue to be able to receive those hazardous wastes allowed under their Waste Management Licence.

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