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8 May 2007 : Column 44W—continued


Marine Bill

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the timetable is for introduction of the Marine Bill following consultation on the draft Bill. [135068]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government are committed to fulfilling the 2005 manifesto commitment to introduce a Marine Bill in this Parliament. Consultation on a Marine Bill White Paper closes on 8 June. The timing of the introduction of a Bill to Parliament will depend on the responses to the consultation, further consideration within Government and the availability of parliamentary time.

Noise

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to publish the new national ambient noise strategy. [135397]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government plan to issue a combined national noise strategy, covering both environmental and neighbourhood noise, by the end of 2007.


8 May 2007 : Column 45W

Oil: Pollution

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many oil spills there were at (a) residential and (b) commercial premises in each of the English regions in each of the last five years. [135586]

Ian Pearson: The information requested is set out in the following table. This represents all reported incidents to the Environment Agency. In a report commissioned by the Oil Care Campaign, “An Analysis of Inland Oil and Fuel Incidents in England and Wales”, published in April 2005, it was estimated that approximately a third of all such incidents are reported to the Environment Agency.


8 May 2007 : Column 46W
Private and domestic oil pollution incidents by region: 2000-06
Total oil incidents Total domestic Total commercial Premises not identified

Anglian region

2002

289

62

196

31

2003

266

60

181

25

2004

260

55

169

36

2005

256

55

162

39

2006

196

36

135

25

Wales

2002

72

18

43

11

2003

90

19

64

7

2004

106

24

61

21

2005

113

27

72

14

2006

99

30

50

19

Midlands region

2002

344

46

251

47

2003

315

38

227

50

2004

272

33

202

37

2005

192

36

127

29

2006

217

35

152

30

North East region

2002

128

18

86

24

2003

148

15

105

28

2004

145

11

120

14

2005

145

18

104

23

2006

90

15

55

20

North West region

2002

130

21

91

18

2003

132

22

98

12

2004

77

24

39

14

2005

90

16

62

12

2006

89

12

64

13

South West region

2002

245

59

151

35

2003

258

80

120

58

2004

260

81

138

41

2005

243

90

116

37

2006

252

82

132

38

Southern region

2002

235

82

126

27

2003

215

81

111

23

2004

206

71

111

24

2005

161

54

78

29

2006

165

58

80

27

Thames region

2002

229

51

147

31

2003

185

35

127

23

2004

148

24

101

23

2005

191

38

114

39

2006

144

28

95

21

Source:
The Environment Agency’s National Incident Recording System, May 2007.

Oil: Storage

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received on the oil and oil waste storage regulations. [135590]

Ian Pearson: My Department has received representations on a range of oil related issues, including the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001.

I also met with the Environment Industries Commission (EIC) late last year to discuss oil storage and other matters of concern.

Packaging: Waste Disposal

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions his Department has held with retailers on the reduction of packaging waste. [135654]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government have already introduced two sets of regulations to encourage producers (including retailers) to minimise, recycle and recover packaging and reduce packaging waste.

The packaging regulations have helped to reduce the amount of packaging used around products. However, more still needs to be done to reduce the amount of packaging and packaging waste being generated in the first place. We have asked the Advisory Committee on Packaging to work with industry to find solutions to this problem and recommend ways of encouraging businesses to further reduce the amount of packaging they use.


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