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Integrated Pollution Legislation
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many court cases have (a) the Environment Agency and (b) her Department taken on breaches of the integrated pollution prevention and control legislation; and what the outcome was in each case where proceedings are complete. [37340]
Mr. Bradshaw: In 2003 the Environment Agency prosecuted Kvaerner Engineering and Construction UK Limited for a breach of the PPC Regulations.
In 2004 the Environment Agency prosecuted Sita Southern Limited for a breach of the PPC Regulations.
In 2005 the following companies were prosecuted by the Environment Agency for breaches of the PPC Regulations: Global Commodities (UK) Limited, HLC Waste Management Services Limited, Istil (UK) PLC, James Cropper PLC, Monckton Coke and Chemical Company Ltd, Robert Wiseman & Sons Limited and Sita Southern Limited.
A table providing additional information such as the offence, the date of prosecution and the outcome of each prosecution will be deposited in the Library of this House.
This Department does not itself take prosecutions, but some installations are regulated by local authorities rather than the Environment Agency.
We publish statistics annually which give the number of prosecutions taken by local authorities, although do not distinguish between those taken under their air pollution powers from those under their integrated pollution prevention and control powers.
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In 2004–05 13 prosecutions were reported. This information is listed in table 12a of the recently published Statistical Survey at this address http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/lapc/survey0405/index.htm . The survey reports for both 2002–03 and 2003–04 are also available on the same website at thisaddress http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/ppc/index.htm .
Landfill
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the burden on local waste disposal authorities of the current (a) landfill tax penalties and (b) landfill allowance targets; what financial support will be made available to assist them in funding the new waste disposal technologies; if she will take steps to return to the waste disposal authorities who pay landfill tax the funding raised by the tax to assist them in funding their minimisation and recycling initiatives. [38996]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is as follows:
(a) There are no penalties within the Landfill Tax regime. Budget 2003 announced that future increases in the standard rate of landfill tax would be introduced in a way that is revenue neutral to business as a whole and to local government, reflecting the need to consider the social and economic effects of the increase. In last year's Spending Review funding through increased levels of landfill tax where recycled back into the Environmental Protective and Cultural Services block of the Formula Spending Share.
(b) Funding has been made available on a consistent basis to assist local authorities in developing new waste technologies. In last years Spending Review the Government announced an increase in the Environmental Protective and Cultural Services block of the Formula Spending Share of £888 million by 2007–08 over 2004–05. Over the three-year period to 2005–06, authorities are also benefiting from a total of £294 million invested through the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund and its successor the Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant, will provide a further £260 million over the three years to 2007–08. Finally, through the private finance initiative credits worth £355 million have been made available over the three years to 2005–06, with a further £535 million available in 2006–07 and 2007–08.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made in meeting EU Landfill Directive targets for (a) 2010, (b) 2013 and (c) 2020. [38901]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The Government, through the Office for Government Commerce are currently undertaking an information gathering project with the Local Government Association and other local government stakeholders to assess the current and future diversion capacity in England. The information from this project will give a clear indication about how the targets are being met. Data collection from waste collection and waste disposal authorities was undertaken in July, with a 70 per cent. response rate. The results of the exercise are currently being analysed and will be used to assess the potential LATS diversion, recycling recovery and data for current and future procurement contracts. The
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results will be published early in 2006. The intention is to review this project annually, to allow the Government to closely monitor and evaluate progress towards the targets.
Municipal Waste
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much municipal waste was produced in each of the last 10 years. [38975]
Mr. Bradshaw: Information on municipal waste arisings is available from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey. Annual estimates for England are only available from 1996–97 to 2003–04.
| Thousand tonnes | |
|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 24,588 |
| 1997–98 | 25,711 |
| 1998–99 | 26,337 |
| 1999–2000 | 27,480 |
| 2000–01 | 28,057 |
| 2001–02 | 28,905 |
| 2002–03 | 29,494 |
| 2003–04 | 29,105 |
Nappies
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of (a) household waste sent to landfill and (b) total biodegradable waste sent to landfill was made up of disposable nappies in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [39562]
Mr. Bradshaw: We do not collect information on the amount of disposable nappies used nor of the disposal route for specific waste streams.
The Strategy Unit report 'Waste Not Want Not' estimated that in 2000–01 nappies comprised around 2 per cent. of household waste, equivalent to 350,000 tonnes. In 2003–04 72 per cent. of our household waste was sent to landfill and just under 9 per cent. went to incineration.
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of vehicular rights likely to be extinguished under clause 62 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill if enacted in its current form. [39420]
Jim Knight [holding answer 9 January 2006]: Clause 62 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill will extinguish certain unrecorded public rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles. For the very reason that these rights of way are unrecorded, it is difficult to give an accurate account of the number of vehicular rights that are likely to be affected.
A study commissioned by the Countryside Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales, which reported in March 2002, estimated that there are 2,700 km of rights of way (both unrecorded or recorded as other categories of rights of way) that, but for this legislation,
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would be likely to qualify as byways open to all traffic. It is likely that public rights for mechanically propelled vehicles will be extinguished over all of these routes under the new legislation.
In addition, it is likely that public rights for mechanically propelled vehicles will be extinguished on most of the routes that are currently recorded as roads used as public paths. These extend to about 6,000 km in England and Wales, roughly 3 per cent. of the current rights of way network. However, some of these routes would already have been included in the results of the study referred to above, although we cannot quantify the extent of this overlap.
Public rights of way for vehicles that are not mechanically propelled will not be affected, nor will private rights for mechanically propelled vehicles.
Poultry
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many poultry owners are registered with her Department; and what the flock size is of each registered poultry owner. [38029]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 15 December 2005]: As of midnight on 13 December 2005, 88 eligible poultry premises have been registered on the new GB poultry register. In some cases, an owner has registered more than one premises. The total numbers of poultry on each registered premises are as follows:
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