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4 Jul 2005 : Column 10W—continued
Recycling (London)
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many recycling points there are in each London borough per 1,000 population. [8313]
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Mr. Bradshaw: The number of recycling points in each London borough per 1,000 population are listed in the table.
(2)'Recycling points' include both civic amenity and recycling sites situated within each London borough. Civic amenity and recycling site numbers are taken from the 2003–04 Defra/GLA municipal waste management survey.
Source:
Population data are taken from the National Statistics' website and are mid-year estimates for 2003.
River Thames
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the estimated number of fish in the River Thames was in each year since 1997. [5277]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Environment Agency and its predecessor organisations have performed a biannual qualitative fisheries survey on the tidal River Thames since 1992. However, the dynamic nature of estuaries, with highly mobile and widely dispersed fish populations means that no quantitative data is available to estimate fish numbers using currently available methodologies. This is the case throughout Europe for estuarine fish populations. Recent EC FAIR (June 2000) research 1 identified our current fisheries monitoring programme as 'Best Practice'. The primary objective of this survey programme is to provide a consistent data set to detect trends and new species in the Thames.
1 European Commission FAIR report, Commercial Fish and European Estuaries—Priorities for Management and Research". Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, June 2000.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what forecasts were made of the number of times the Thames Barrier would be closed in each year since its inception. [8427]
Mr. Morley: The Thames Barrier is operated by the Environment Agency. At the design stage of the barrier the forecast number of closures was 1–2 per year in the 1980s when the barrier first became operational, gradually rising to approximately 30 by the year 2030 or broken down as follows:
| Closures per year | |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 5 |
| 2000 | 10 |
| 2015 | 20 |
Forecasting the frequency of future closures of the barrier depends on two principal factors:
(a) the impacts of climate change on sea and river levels—based on the climate change scenarios currently available; and
(b) the extent to which these levels may be reduced by other flood risk management measures used within the Thames Estuary in conjunction with operation of the barrier.
Waste Management Licences
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will review the (a) waste management licence requirements for small, low-risk biofuel processes and (b) the regulatory burden relating to on-farm composters. [5887]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows:
(a) Officials are about to open a review of waste management licensing exemptions and would consider this the best place to look at representations for amendment of the exemptions regime. The review will consider representations about the inherent risks that the processing of biofuels may pose to the environment and to human health. The review will evaluate whether any activity in connection with the processing of bio fuels for recovery should be eligible for exempt from waste management licensing.
(b) We announced the consultation on the draft Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 on 9 December 2004, Official Report, column 106WS. One of the main purposes of the draft Regulations is to apply to agricultural waste the national controls that are in place to comply with the Waste Framework Directive and which currently apply to all other sectors of industry and types of waste. The consultation paper included a Regulatory Impact Assessment and is available in the Library of the House and on the Department's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/agwaste-regs/index.htm. The consultation closed on 18 March 2005 and we are currently considering the responses to it.
Water Leaks
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much leakage from the mains water supply in London there has been in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [8211]
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Mr. Morley: The Director General of Water Services publishes leakage figures annually in the Security of Supply, Leakage and the Efficient Use of Water" report. Ofwat will publish the figures for 2004–05 in July and the formal report towards the end of 2005.
Ofwat do not publish leakage figures for the London area. However data are available for Thames Water's area of supply, which covers London and other areas. Total Thames Water leakage, in megalitres per day, for the last five years was reported as follows:
| Ml/d | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 662 |
| 2000–01 | 688 |
| 2001–02 | 865 |
| 2002–03 | 943 |
| 2003–04 | 946 |
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Criminal Offences
John Penrose: To ask the Solicitor-General what procedures (a) Government Departments and agencies and (b) local authorities with independent prosecuting authority for criminal offences use to forward details of convictions, cautions and intelligence on possible criminals to (i) the Criminal Records Bureau and (ii)the Police National Computer; what amendments to these procedures are proposed in relation to the National Intelligence Database; and if he will make a statement. [9736]
The Solicitor-General: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Parental Responsibility
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on the CPS's ability to prosecute under the existing provision in law for parents being held accountable for the behaviour of their children. [8414]
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The Solicitor-General: I regularly meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss criminal justice issues; however, we have not had any formal discussions on this topic.
Parents are encouraged to accept responsibilities for the behaviour of their children.
Where problems exist, parents could be made subject to parenting orders if they have either failed to cooperate with the terms of a parenting contract or have been uncooperative during the course of voluntary efforts to tackle their child's behaviour. If they then fail to comply with the terms of the order, they may be prosecuted for breaching it.
Youth courts also have the power to impose parental bindovers on the parents of young people who have been convicted of an offence, but these are rarely used.
Breaches of parenting orders and parental bindovers are the only measures available to the CPS to hold parents accountable for the behaviour of their children.
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