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27 Feb 2006 : Column 257W—continued
Social Security Fraud
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the annual cost to public funds of social security fraud in West Lancashire in each of the last three years. [53382]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available at constituency level.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Advisory Committee on Pesticides
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the advice of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides that compulsory five metre buffer lanes to reduce the impact from pesticide spray drift are unnecessary. [52227]
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Mr. Morley: The Government are currently considering all the recommendations in the report from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) on Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders" including the suggested 5m buffer zone". These deliberations will take account of the advice from scientific committees including the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and the Department of Health's Committee on Toxicity, Committee on Carcinogenicity and Committee on Mutagenicity. The Government aim to publish a response to the RCEP by the summer.
Air Quality
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made towards bringing the standard of air quality in the parts of Denton and Reddish constituency designated as an air quality management area to within the guideline limits. [51143]
Mr. Bradshaw: Local authorities have a duty under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to review and assess the current, and likely future, air quality in their areas. Where local authorities consider that one or more of the nationally prescribed air quality objectives for each of the seven pollutants is unlikely to be met by the relevant deadline, they must declare an air quality management area (AQMA), covering the area where the problem is expected. These local authorities must then take action, along with other agencies and organisations, to work towards meeting the air quality objectives.
Tameside MBC first declared AQMAs for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and particles (PM 1 0 ) in July 2001 and these were superseded by declaration of a single AQMA in September 2005 for NO 2 and PM 1 0 which covered a number of major roads. Tameside and the other Greater Manchester local authorities produced a joint air quality action plan which was publicly consulted upon in June 2004; my Department also commented on the plan. Tameside are now implementing measures to work towards meeting the air quality objectives. Tameside submitted an action plan progress report in September 2005 which reported that they were on schedule in implementing the majority of their 31 measures and that progress had been made on key measures such as implementation of quality bus corridor measures.
Greater Manchester authorities are now working closely with transport planners in finalising the new Local Transport Plan (LTP) which is due in March 2006. Including measures within the LTP should also help increase the capacity to deliver cleaner air within the AQMAs.
The Government are also currently undertaking a review of the air quality strategy to identify potential new additional measures to move us closer to meeting the air quality objectives and generate cost-effective health benefits.
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment has been made of air quality standards in Denton and Reddish constituency. [51144]
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Mr. Bradshaw: Local authorities have a duty under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to review and assess the current, and likely future, air quality in their areas. Guidance on reviews and assessments are available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/lagm/guidance/index.htm and http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/lagm/guidance/pdf/lagm-tg03.pdf.
Tameside submitted their last updating and screening assessment in December 2003. Tameside also carried out a detailed assessment in respect of nitrogen dioxide and particles (PM 1 0 ) between October 2003 to July 2004 and they submitted a progress report in September 2005. Tameside subsequently amended their AQMA in September 2005. The next round of review and assessments has now started and local authorities are asked to submit a new updating and screening assessment by end of April 2006. Copies of all the review and assessment reports are available from the following contact at Tameside MBC gary.mongan@tameside. gov.uk.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she is taking to improve air quality in Shrewsbury town centre. [52257]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government are committed to delivering cleaner air, and action is being taken at international, national and local level to tackle air pollution. We are involved in a number of international and European fora in dealing with air quality issues. For example, we are currently negotiating in Europe further reductions to stringent Euro V emission standards for light duty vehicles. We are also currently negotiating the newly proposed European air quality directive.
Nationally, we are undertaking a review of the air quality strategy to identify potential new additional measures to move us closer to meeting the national air quality objectives and generate cost-effective health benefits.
At the local level, local authorities also have a role to play in helping the Government deliver cleaner air. Where local authorities consider that one or more of the nationally prescribed air quality objectives is unlikely to be met by the relevant deadline, they must declare an air quality management area (AQMA), covering the area where the problem is expected. These local authorities must then take action, along with other agencies and organisations, to work towards meeting the air quality objectives.
Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council declared three AQMAs in respect of nitrogen dioxide due to road traffic which came into effect on 1 May 2003 and they have recently amended one AQMA to include most of the town centre which will come into effect on 1 March 2006. Shrewsbury and Atcham are currently developing their air quality action plan, which will set out measures to work towards meeting the air quality objective.
Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council are now also working closely with Shropshire county council in finalising the new Local Transport Plan (LTP) which is due in March 2006. Including measures within the LTP should also help increase the capacity to deliver cleaner air within the AQMAs. Shropshire county council have
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also been awarded £480,000 pump-priming funding from the Transport Innovation Fund to explore innovative ways to tackle congestion, including road user charging, in Shrewsbury.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment has been made of air quality standards in each London borough. [52276]
Mr. Bradshaw: Local authorities have a duty under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to review and assess the current, and likely future, air quality in their areas. Guidance on reviews and assessments are available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/laqm/guidance/index.htm and http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/laqm/guidance/pdf/laqm-tg03.pdf
The Mayor has responsibility for ensuring the Local Air Quality Management regime is undertaken appropriately by London boroughs.
Local authorities are expected to undertake air quality reviews and assessments every three years. The last round of reviews and assessments started in 2003 and London boroughs had to submit their Updating and Screening Assessments by December 2003, and they were expected to submit either a Detailed Assessment (where further investigation was required) or a Progress Report by December 2004. All local authorities were expected to submit additional Progress Reports in April 2005. Copies of all the review and assessment reports are available from each of the London boroughs. The next round of local authority review and assessments has now started and local authorities are asked to submit a new Updating and Screening Assessment by end of April 2006.
At present, 31 of the 33 London boroughs have declared air quality management areas and those boroughs have either produced air quality action plans or are in the process of developing one. All boroughs are therefore at various stages within the review and assessment process.
Air Quality Management Areas have been declared for nitrogen dioxide and PM10. The majority of borough action plans and the Mayor have identified the development of a Low Emission Zone within London as a key action in the delivery of improved air quality.
All London boroughs undertake air quality monitoring and therefore keep a regular check on levels of air pollutants in their areas. My Department also has a national air quality automatic urban and rural monitoring network (AURN) to monitor air pollution levels across the UK. There are 24 AURN sites across London: of these 14 are owned by the London boroughs. All the data from these sites are recorded on an annual basis and are available from the National Air Quality Information Archive at www.airquality.co.uk
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment has been made of air quality standards in West Lancashire constituency. [53314]
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Mr. Bradshaw: Local authorities have a duty under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 to review and assess the current, and likely future, air quality in their areas.
Guidance on reviews and assessments are available at:
West Lancashire district council submitted their last Updating and Screening Assessment in June 2003. They submitted a Progress Report in May 2004. Subsequent to this report, the requirement to carry out a Detailed Assessment for nitrogen dioxide was identified. My officials understand that West Lancashire DC currently expect to complete the Detailed Assessment by April 2006, at which time a decision will be made as to whether they will be required to declare an Air Quality Management Area.
The next round of review and assessments has now started and all local authorities are asked to submit a new Updating and Screening Assessment by end of April 2006. Copies of all the aforementioned review and assessment reports are available from the Environmental Protection Manager at West Lancashire DC: a.hill@westlancsdc.gov.uk.
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