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8 Feb 2006 : Column 1288W—continued
Packaging
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to reduce the amount of packaging being used for commercial products by companies in England. [47501]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 31 January 2006]: Two sets of regulations cover packaging in the UK, both of which encourage producers to minimise packaging. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005 are intended to increase the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. The amount of packaging waste producers have to recover and recycle is determined, in part, by the amount of packaging they handle. Therefore businesses can save money if they reduce the amount of packaging they use around their products.
The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003 (as amended) place a number of requirements on all packaging placed on the market in the UK, including a requirement that packaging should be manufactured so that the packaging volume and weight are limited to the minimum adequate amount to maintain the necessary level of safety, hygiene and acceptance for the packed product and for the consumer.
Poultry Slaughterhouses
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many poultry inspection assistants are employed by poultry slaughterhouses; and which slaughterhouses employ such assistants. [44894]
Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.
In the United Kingdom, as at 26 January 2006, there were 517 food business operator establishment staff, formerly known as plant inspection assistants, authorised under EC Regulation 854/2004 to carry out post-mortem inspection duties. These staff are employed at 71 poultry slaughterhouses.
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The following slaughterhouses employ authorised establishment staff:
Recycling
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will set national standards for recycling which apply to all local authorities. [45698]
Mr. Bradshaw: Government have set each local authority in England a statutory target for 2003–04 and 2005–06 and to assure that further progress is made. I recently launched for consultation options for further recycling/composting targets in 2007–08. Analysis of the responses is under way and there will be a formal announcement once a decision is made.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of corporate waste was recycled in each year between 2000 and 2005. [47502]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 31 January 2006]: Information on waste management by the businesses has been collected through the Environment Agency's Commercial and Industrial Waste Survey, conducted in 2002–03. This survey estimates that around 37 per cent. of waste from the commercial sector in England was recycled or re-used in 2002–03. Data for other years in the period requested are not available.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has for increasing (a) recycling and (b) composting. [46412]
Mr. Bradshaw: Waste Strategy 2000 set out national recycling and composting targets for household waste, of 17 per cent. in 2003–04, rising to 25 per cent. in 2005–06, then 30 per cent. in 2010 and 33 per cent. in 2015. Each local authority was also set a statutory target for 2003–04 and 2005–06 and to assure that further progress is made, I recently consulted on options for further recycling/composting targets in 2007–08. Analysis of the responses is under way and there will be a formal announcement once a decision is made. Provisional figures show more than a fifth (approaching 23 per cent.) of household waste in England was recycled, in 2004–05. Furthermore, waste disposal authorities have been set challenging landfill diversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste which will drive authorities to ensure that the recycling of this waste is maximised.
To support the attainment of these targets, Defra introduced the Household Waste Recycling Act in 2003 which provides that English waste collection authorities shall ensure, except in certain circumstances, that by the end of 2010 they collect at least two recyclable materials from doorsteps separate from the remainder of the waste. About two thirds of households in England now receive a kerbside collection of recyclable materials.
In the Spending Review 2004 the Government announced an increase in the Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services block of £888 million over 2004–05, by 2007–08 and over the three-year period to 2005–06, authorities are also benefiting from a total of 294 million invested through Defra's Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund. Its successor, Defra's Waste
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Performance and Efficiency Grant, will run in parallel for the first year and provide a further £260 million over the three years to 2007–08.
Since 2002, Local authorities have also been assisted by targeted support and advice available through the Waste and Resources Action Programme and Defra's Waste Implementation Programme—which will continue to provide targeted assistance to authorities for a further two years and an announcement of its new programme will be made in December 2005.
For the longer-term, as part of the review of waste strategy, Defra is looking at what levels and what forms of targets will be the most efficient at continuing the recent improvements we have seen in waste performance. The review will take into account existing policy levers designed to drive the management of waste up the hierarchy (such as the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme, the landfill tax escalator, and the obligations on producers in relation to packaging and waste electrical and electronic equipment). The Government intend to publish a consultation document on the Waste Strategy review in the next few weeks, followed by a revised waste strategy in the autumn.
Regulatory Reform Orders
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Regulatory Reform Orders her Department has laid before Parliament in each of the last five calendar years. [46810]
Jim Knight: The Department has laid before Parliament the following Regulatory Reform Orders:
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