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13 Mar 2006 : Column 1854W—continued
Fly-posting
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase the powers of local authorities to remove fly-posters. [56719]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
From April local planning authorities will be able to enter occupied as well as unoccupied land in order to remove fly-posters and recover their costs of removing fly-posters by direct action. A notice may be served to require fly-posters to be removed from street furniture and other structures in or on any public street, and from surfaces owned, occupied or controlled by transport operators or providers, and educational institutions, provided the land is public or the surface is visible from public land or to members of the public using the services of that body
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she expects research projects being undertaken by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research to be affected by the reduction in funding from her Department. [54610]
Jim Knight: The Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) is contractually obliged to deliver the Defra-commissioned research projects currently being undertaken, the full costs of which are being met by my Department. Spending by Defra on research at IGER in the financial year 2006–07 is forecast to be around £5 million.
Landfill Directive
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she expects the United Kingdom to meet its Landfill Directive Article 5 targets for (a) 2010 and (b) 2013; and if she will make a statement. [56691]
Mr. Bradshaw:
Meeting the Landfill Directive Article 5(2) diversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste in 2010 and 2013 remains very challenging but achievable. It depends on necessary investment soon in facilities including those to recover energy from biodegradable waste where there is no reasonable prospect of it being recycled or composted.
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Nappies
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what help her Department is providing to local authorities to introduce schemes designed to encourage parents to use reusable nappies. [55038]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Waste and Resources Programme (WRAP) has been taking forward a programme of work to increase awareness about re-usable nappies.
The aim of the WRAP initiative was to provide support to schemes run by local authorities and re-usable nappy businesses. In addition it provides information about re-usable nappies to parents and health professionals. The initiative received funding for a period of three years, and finishes at the end of March 2006.
Private Office
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of her private office was in the last year for which figures are available. [55719]
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Jim Knight: The overall cost of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Secretariat for financial year 2004–05 (the last year for which figures are available) was £4,542,929. The Secretariat then encompassed the private offices of Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, Parliamentary Branch, Correspondence Section, Honours Section and Cabinet Section. The costs include Ministerial and staff salaries, staff training, travel and subsistence, publications, hospitality, office equipment purchase and running costs (including phone costs and IT software).
Recycling
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding (a) Uxbridge and (b) the London Borough of Hillingdon received to support recycling in each year since 1997. [53645]
Mr. Bradshaw: Funding and Support for Hillingdon from 1997:
London Borough of Hillingdon received £402,500 in London's 2002–04 Round of funding (£202,500 Capital and £200,000 Revenue) for their project titled Kerbside Collection of Compostable Garden Waste".
LASU DCS stands for Local Authority Support, Direct Consultancy Support which is not direct funding but the equivalent value in consultancy services.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will introduce legislation which would require commercial companies to recycle their own waste products. [56725]
Mr. Bradshaw: There is no planned legislation but there are existing regulations on producer responsibility. Producer responsibility is aimed and ensures that businesses who place products on the market take responsibility for those products once they have reached the end of their life.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005 are intended to increase the recovery and recycling of packaging waste. While the regulations do not specifically require businesses to recycle their own packaging waste, those that do send their packaging waste to an accredited reprocessor, can if they wish, offset this tonnage against their recovery and recycling obligations.
The Government are currently considering introducing producer responsibility regulations for the collection and recycling of non-packaging farm plastics. Packaging plastics are already covered under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005.
The End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005 require vehicle producers to meet recovery and recycling targets and ensure that vehicles are increasingly designed for recycling .
The Government are in the process of transposing the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which will make producers responsible for the collection, treatment and recycling of electrical products when they become waste. In addition to this, we expect an EU Directive on batteries to come into force by the middle of 2006 which, like the WEEE Directive, will make producers responsible for collection, treatment and recycling of batteries.
The Government also has voluntary producer responsibility agreements with the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA), Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) to increase the recycling levels of newspaper, direct mail and magazines.
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of waste was recycled in (a) Hereford and (b) Herefordshire in the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [56722]
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Mr. Bradshaw: Results for the unitary authority of Herefordshire for percentages of household waste recycled and composted over the last five available years are taken from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Audit Commission best value performance indicators.
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BVPI 82a | |||||
| Household waste recycled(4) 10.8 | 8.1 | 10.3 | 13.6 | 15.0 | |
| BVPI 82b | |||||
| Household waste composted 2.1 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 6.7 | |
| Total | 12.9 | 12.5 | 15.4 | 19.5 | 21.7 |
(4) There was a change of definition to BVPI 82a in 2001–02, to exclude previously included materials, such as incineration residue and recycled rubble. Therefore a direct comparison cannot be made between 2000–01 and later years. As BVPI results are available at local authority level, results for Hereford are not available separately and are therefore included within the unitary authority of Herefordshire.
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