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16 Jun 2005 : Column 552W—continued

Public Toilets

John Hemming: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2005, Official Report, column 563W, on public toilets, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the reduction
 
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in the number of public toilets; and what assessment he has made of the public health and environmental consequences of the change. [4616]

Mr. Woolas: As stated in my previous answer on 8 June 2005, Official Report, column 563W, the provision and maintenance of toilets in public places is at the discretion of local authorities who have, under section 87 of the Public Health Act 1936, a power to provide public conveniences, but no duty to do so.

It is therefore for individual local authorities to decide whether or not to provide public toilets and, if so, how many. In doing this, each local authority must balance the competing priorities of a whole range of services. The vast majority of government support is paid as a block grant, so that local authorities have considerable freedom to determine their own spending priorities.

Supporting People Programme

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish the revised formula for the allocation of funds for Supporting People; and what consultation he plans to undertake on the formula. [4573]

Mr. Woolas: The current version of the Supporting People distribution formula is being developed in cooperation with representatives from local government. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plans to consult on a revised model for distributing funds shortly.

Unitary Authorities

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will rule out establishing unitary authorities in areas where a referendum has not given the assent of the people; and if he will make a statement. [3769]

Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 6 June 2005, Official Report, columns 406–07.

Voluntary Organisations (Grants)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department gave in grants to voluntary organisations in each London borough in the last year for which figures are available. [2534]

Yvette Cooper: This information is not collected centrally by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister across all programmes.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to bring forward legislation to replace the testing of animals under the REACH proposals with a testing strategy that uses advanced scientific techniques for (a) safety testing and (b) risk assessment without using animals; and if she will make a statement. [4147]

Mr. Morley: The REACH proposals will require industry to provide data on chemicals to enable an assessment to be made of their potential harm to the environment and human health. There will in some
 
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cases be a legal requirement for the use of animals for safety testing in much the same way as the current requirements for chemicals under existing regimes. However, the REACH regulation will require that all existing data from animal tests and alternative methods of generating data are taken into consideration before any new animal testing is carried out.

The Government are committed to minimising the numbers of animals used for safety testing and risk assessments under REACH and is supporting work aimed at the development of integrated testing strategies based on existing data, advanced modelling approaches and in vitro testing methods that do not require the use of animals. However, before the new methods can be accepted by regulatory authorities, there is a need for the methods to be fully validated as fit for purpose. It is also very unlikely that alternative methods will be available in the short term for certain toxicity endpoints, particularly those involving long-term exposure to chemicals.

Beavers

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will assess the effects of introducing beavers in Scotland to the ecology of the UK; and what representations she has received in connection with plans by the Scottish Executive to proceed with release of beavers in Scotland from (a) English Nature and (b) other bodies and organisations. [4914]

Jim Knight: Responsibility for nature conservation in Scotland is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. No re-introduction of beavers into the wild in Scotland can take place without a licence granted by the Scottish Executive. Scottish Ministers are currently considering an application from Scottish Natural Heritage to re-introduce beavers but have not yet reached a conclusion.

English Nature supports the proposal by Scottish Natural Heritage, on the grounds that it is properly researched and meets the requirements of the IUCN guidelines on introductions. However, they recognise that the re-introduction of a species that has been absent for several hundred years must proceed with great care, and address the concerns of a wide variety of interest groups. They advise that the next step should be to undertake a small scale trial re-introduction to improve predictions on impact and spread.

No other representations have been received on this issue by Defra.

Carbon Emissions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the level of carbon emissions from oil and gas producers operating in the North Sea was in the last period for which figures are available; what allocation they have been awarded under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme; and if she will make a statement. [3128]

Mr. Morley: The Approved National Allocation Plan for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, as published on 24 May, details the historic emissions and allocation methodology for the distribution of allowances to all sectors and installations covered by the scheme. Annual
 
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emissions from the 88 offshore installations covered by the EU ETS were 14.3 million tonnes carbon dioxide in 2003. The annual allocation to offshore installations in Phase I (2005–07) of the Scheme is 14.4 million allowances.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government are on target to reduce carbon emissions (a) as agreed under the Kyoto protocol and (b) by 20 per cent. by 2010. [4696]

Mr. Morley: Estimates published in March this year suggest that in 2004 UK greenhouse gas emissions were provisionally about 12.5 per cent. below base year levels. The data released in March also indicate that, even without the further action currently being considered under the review of the UK Climate Change Programme, the UK will be about 20 per cent. below base year levels in 2010. The UK is therefore on course to meet its Kyoto protocol commitment to reduce emissions of a basket of six greenhouse gases by 12.5 per cent. below base level years by 2008–12. This is a significant achievement. On the basis of existing policies, emissions of carbon dioxide are projected to be about 13 per cent. below the 1990 level in 2010. We therefore recognise that more needs to be done if we are to meet our more challenging domestic goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her most recent estimate is of the level of UK carbon emissions resulting in a year from electrical appliances being left in standby mode. [4451]

Mr. Morley: The most recent estimate by the Government's Market Transformation Programme (MTP) is that taken together consumer electronics, home computing equipment, domestic cooking equipment and office equipment in the UK produced approximately 800,000 tonnes of carbon (c7 TWh) in the UK during 2004.

We are also aware that there is further energy consumption from white goods such as washing machines and dishwashers which are switched on awaiting use or after they have completed their wash cycles; consumer electronic equipment using external power supplies (eg domestic portable telephones) that continue to consume energy when plugged in but not in use; and domestic personal computer equipment where the stand-by facilities are not properly enabled. Taken together, these sources of consumption may bring the overall figure to around 1 million tonnes of carbon.

In order to try to tackle this problem the Market Transformation Programme (www.mtprog.com) has been encouraging manufacturers to reduce both the on" and the stand-by power consumption of household appliances through the adoption of design improvements, voluntary codes of conduct, and best practice guidelines and targets. This approach has been fairly successful in respect of televisions: an EU-wide voluntary agreement will mean that the majority of new televisions sold in the UK now consume around 1 watt
 
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of power in stand-by mode rather than the 3–8 watts consumed by older models. This agreement is currently being extended to cover other consumer electronics.

A similar agreement for external power supplies aims to encourage new power supplies consuming around half a watt in stand-by mode compared to the present average of just over 2 watts.

The recently agreed Framework Directive for the Eco-design of Energy Using Products (EUP), which is expected to come into force later this year will provide a streamlined and effective route for setting EU-wide environmental requirements for traded goods. EUP requires the Commission and member states to treat the issue of stand by energy consumption as a priority area for consideration. The UK will work proactively with the Commission and other member states to influence and speed the delivery of measures under EUP.

In addition the Government's initiative on sustainable procurement, announced in the autumn of 2003, includes a requirement for Government Departments which purchase computers and televisions to specify low stand-by power requirements.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the daily energy consumption resulting from the use of standby units on televisions; and if she will make a statement. [4452]

Mr. Morley: The Government's Market Transformation Programme estimates that in 2004 the 62 million television sets in use in the UK consumed just over 3 million Kwh per day while in stand by mode—approximately 8 per cent. of their total average daily energy consumption.

The Market Transformation programme estimates that by 2010 the number of televisions in use in the UK will rise to 67 million.

In order to try to reduce the overall energy consumed by televisions the Market Transformation Programme (www.mtprog.com) has been encouraging manufacturers to reduce both the on" and the stand-by" power consumption of televisions through the adoption of design improvements, an EU wide voluntary code of conduct, and best practice guidelines and targets.

The EU-wide voluntary agreement on televisions has been fairly successful in reducing the average energy consumed by televisions in stand-by mode with the majority of new televisions sold in the UK soon to consume around 1 watt of power in stand-by mode rather than the 3–8 watts consumed by older models. This agreement is in the process of being extended to cover other consumer electronic equipment.

The recently agreed Framework Directive for the Eco-design of Energy Using Products (EUP), which is expected to come into force later this year will provide a streamlined and effective route for setting EU-wide environmental requirements for traded goods. EUP requires the Commission and member states to treat the issue of stand by energy consumption as a priority area for consideration. The UK will work proactively with the Commission and other member states to influence and speed the delivery of measures under EUP.
 
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In addition the Government's initiative on sustainable procurement, announced in the autumn of 2003, includes a requirement for Government Departments which purchase televisions to specify televisions with stand-by power requirements of less that 1 watt.

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