House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Jan 2006 (pt 6)

25 Jan 2006 : Column 2119W—continued

Roman Snail

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons the roman snail (helix pomatia) was not added to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act Review in 2002. [44866]

Jim Knight: Every five years the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) advises Government about the animals and plants that need legally protected through inclusion on schedule 5 (animals) or schedule 8 (plants) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The Committee's current review is considering the inclusion of the roman snail (helix pomatia) on schedule 5. No decision has been made to date as the review is still ongoing.

School Milk

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are in place to ensure that local authorities who discharge their responsibilities under the School Milk Subsidy scheme via contractors meet their legal obligation to ensure that free school milk is available to those children who qualify. [43868]

Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply.

There is no statutory requirement for milk to be provided in local authority maintained schools. It is a matter for local authorities and schools to decide. However, where a local authority provides milk, education legislation requires them to provide it free to pupils whose parents are in receipt of the following: income support; income based job seeker's allowance; support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; child tax credit, provided that they are not entitled to working tax credit, and have an annual income (as assessed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) that from 6 April 2005 does not exceed £13,910; or the guarantee element of state pension credit. In addition, children who receive income support or income based jobseeker's allowance in their own right are entitled to free school milk where it is provided.

It is this Department's view that where a local authority engages a contractor to supply milk to the schools in their area, the contractor is deemed to be acting on behalf of the local authority. In these cases the local authority would remain responsible for providing free milk to eligible pupils. The Department will investigate any complaints related to a failure to carry out duties imposed by education legislation. Ultimately, the Secretary of State may direct a local authority to carry out their duty in relation to free milk provision where they are failing to do so.

Timber

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to tackle the importation into the UK of illegal timber from (a) Indonesia, (b) China, (c) Brazil and (d) other timber exporting countries; and if she will make a statement. [44796]

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Mr. Morley: The most important recent development is the adoption, in December 2005 under the UK presidency of the EU, of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation. This will allow the EU to enter into Partnership Agreements with developing countries and provide them with assistance to tackle illegal logging. This assistance will include a licensing system designed to identify products and license them for export to the EU. It will be reinforced by powers for HM Customs to take a range of actions relating to unlicensed products from partner countries; this will allow member states to prohibit the import of illegal timber from those countries into the EU for the first time.

The first Partnership Agreements will be signed in 2006. The Department for International Development (DfID) has recently announced that it will be setting aside 24 million over the next five years for this FLEGT negotiation process and for tackling illegal logging more generally.

The Government also have been giving specific help to producer countries to prevent trade in illegal timber. Examples from the countries mentioned are as follows:

(a) Indonesia

In Indonesia there is a programme of work under a Memorandum of Understanding (signed in 2002) that commits both governments to tackle illegal logging and associated trade.

(b) China

The Eighth EU-China summit, held in Beijing on 5 September 2005, agreed that the EU and China would work together to tackle the problem of illegal logging in the Asian region. The Government are working to take this forward.

(c) Brazil

The UK has contributed £14 million to the multi-donor pilot programme for the Preservation of Brazilian Rain Forests and is a major contributor to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which is creating and maintaining protected areas in the region through the Amazon Region Protected Areas Programme.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the proportion of imported timber which comes from illegal sources; and what steps she is taking to prevent such imports. [44871]

Mr. Morley: The UK is the world's fourth largest importer of wood products. However, we are unable to estimate how much illegally logged timber is coming into the UK as timber is not identified as legal or illegal at ports of entry.

Once the recently adopted EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation comes into force it will enable member states to enter into partnership agreements with developing countries and provide them with assistance to tackle illegal logging. This assistance will include a licensing system designed to identify products and license them for export to the EU. It will be reinforced by powers for HM Customs to take a range of actions relating to unlicensed products from partner countries; this will allow member states to prohibit the import of illegal timber from those countries into the EU for the first time.

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Waste Management

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much waste was collected by each London borough in the most recent period for which information is available; and how much was (a) recycled, (b) sent to UK landfill sites, (c) incinerated and (d) sent overseas for landfill by each borough in that period. [44453]

Mr. Bradshaw: The latest available information is from the Defra and GLA joint Municipal Waste Management Survey 2003–04. Figures provided in table below show total municipal waste tonnages collected by all London boroughs and by disposal methods by all

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London authorities with disposal responsibilities. Amounts collected for recycling and composting by collection authorities have been included. The collection authority recycling and composting tonnages exclude waste collected centrally at civic amenity sites by the four London joint waste disposal authorities. The four London joint waste disposal authorities include both civic amenity recycling and composting as well as recycling and composting undertaken by their constituent collection authorities.

Landfill refers to UK landfill sites. No waste should have been exported from any London borough for landfill overseas since this is illegal under UK legislation.
2003–04 Total municipal waste collected with methods of disposal (tonnes)

(a) (b) (c)

Unitary authorities Total waste collected Recycled and composted Landfill Incinerated

Bexley 132,340 26,967 95,767 9,606

Bromley 172,437 29,296 100,259 42,882

Croydon 198,931 26,815 171,986 130

Greenwich 124,021 12,966 32,441 78,614

Kingston-upon-Thames 76,847 14,342 62,505 0

Lewisham 137,040 9,403 25,694 101,943

London Corporation 54,259 481 53,771 7

Merton 100,765 11,924 88,776 65

Southwark 134,714 8,985 94,429 31,300

Sutton 99,300 25,477 73,642 181

Tower Hamlets 103,396 4,088 99,292 16

Westminster 213,910 12,846 70,077 130,987

Waste disposal authorities with corresponding collection authorities

Total waste collected (a) Recycled and composed (b) Landfill (c) Incinerated

East London Waste Authority ⁽²⁾— 37,707 435,820 36,218

Barking and Dagenham 81,381 3,553 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Havering 100,350 7,349 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Newham 129,446 2,938 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Redbridge 100,851 8,509 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

North London Waste Authority ⁽²⁾— 104,324 453,313 393,681

Barnet 161,816 23,857 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Camden 133,625 18,481 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Enfield 127,538 20,294 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Hackney 116,014 5,378 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Haringey 121,497 8,715 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Islington 110,005 5,624 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Waltham Forest 114,929 13,139 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

West London Waste Authority ⁽²⁾— 115,429 727,867 487

Brent 119,023 9,919 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Baling 129,807 16,129 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Harrow 99,338 13,193 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Hillingdon 115,817 32,440 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Hounslow 113,805 15,952 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Richmond upon Thames 107,295 21,204 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Western Riverside Waste Authority ⁽²⁾— 53,129 435,507 906

Hammersmith and Fulham 90,375 9,595 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Kensington and Chelsea 90,820 10,958 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Lambeth 141,884 10,285 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

Wandsworth 134,888 17,306 ⁽²⁾— ⁽²⁾—

⁽²⁾ type of activity not undertaken by authority.

		(a)	(b)	(c)
Unitary authorities	Total waste collected	Recycled and composted	Landfill	Incinerated
Bexley	132,340	26,967	95,767	9,606
Bromley	172,437	29,296	100,259	42,882
Croydon	198,931	26,815	171,986	130
Greenwich	124,021	12,966	32,441	78,614
Kingston-upon-Thames	76,847	14,342	62,505	0
Lewisham	137,040	9,403	25,694	101,943
London Corporation	54,259	481	53,771	7
Merton	100,765	11,924	88,776	65
Southwark	134,714	8,985	94,429	31,300
Sutton	99,300	25,477	73,642	181
Tower Hamlets	103,396	4,088	99,292	16
Westminster	213,910	12,846	70,077	130,987

	Total waste collected	(a) Recycled and composed	(b) Landfill	(c) Incinerated
East London Waste Authority	⁽²⁾—	37,707	435,820	36,218
Barking and Dagenham	81,381	3,553	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Havering	100,350	7,349	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Newham	129,446	2,938	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Redbridge	100,851	8,509	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
North London Waste Authority	⁽²⁾—	104,324	453,313	393,681
Barnet	161,816	23,857	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Camden	133,625	18,481	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Enfield	127,538	20,294	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Hackney	116,014	5,378	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Haringey	121,497	8,715	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Islington	110,005	5,624	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Waltham Forest	114,929	13,139	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
West London Waste Authority	⁽²⁾—	115,429	727,867	487
Brent	119,023	9,919	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Baling	129,807	16,129	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Harrow	99,338	13,193	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Hillingdon	115,817	32,440	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Hounslow	113,805	15,952	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Richmond upon Thames	107,295	21,204	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Western Riverside Waste Authority	⁽²⁾—	53,129	435,507	906
Hammersmith and Fulham	90,375	9,595	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Kensington and Chelsea	90,820	10,958	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Lambeth	141,884	10,285	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
Wandsworth	134,888	17,306	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—

Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what sanctions will be applied to packaging producers and compliance schemes that did not discharge their recycling responsibilities appropriately in 2004. [40466]

Mr. Bradshaw: This is a matter for the Environment Agency and potentially the Courts.

Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what volume of street litter, exclusive of that which is collected from public litter bins, was collected by each local authority in each year since 1997. [45642]

Mr. Bradshaw: Waste collection authorities under Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 will include such services as street sweeping, bulky waste

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collection, hazardous household waste collection, litter collections, household clinical waste collection and separate garden waste collection (not for composting). These type of wastes have been annually recorded in the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey under the category Other collected household waste". Authorities are not required to record street litter separately. Therefore the information requested is not held by the Department.

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of Hammersmith and Fulham Council's response to her Department's consultation on new waste regulations which place a duty of care on householders for their household waste. [45914]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government consulted on household duty of care in their 'Living Places: Powers, Rights, Responsibilities' consultation in 2002. The Government considered responses to the consultation from the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, as well as other stakeholders. It took on board comments that a full waste duty of care requirement would be too onerous on householders, and difficult for local authorities to enforce. Instead, a partial waste duty of care was brought in by the Waste (Household Waste Duty of Care) (England & Wales) Regulations 2005.

The household duty of care has been brought in to ensure that England is in full compliance with Article 8 of the Waste Framework Directive.

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