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9 May 2008 : Column 1238W—continued
Widowed People
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many widowers alive today had spouses who died before 1972. [203901]
Mr. Watson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 9 May 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many widowers alive today had spouses who died before 1972. (203901).
The information you requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Cars: Manufacturing Industries
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount of pollution generated in the process of manufacturing a standard family car. [204203]
Joan Ruddock: DEFRA has not undertaken any work to quantify the pollution associated with car manufacture. However, the King Review gives estimates of the carbon dioxide emitted at all life cycle stages. Similar information on other pollution impacts is published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and is also covered by the ‘Environmental Improvement of Passenger Cars' report recently published by the European Commission.
Domestic Wastes: Contracts
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley of 31 March 2008, Official Report, columns 491-6W, on Domestic Wastes: Contract, if he will place in the Library copies of the final reports of the research projects with the SIS codes of (a) WR0103, (b) WR0104, (c) WR0106, (d) WR0107, (e) WR0112, (f) WR0217, (g) WR0506, (h) WR0512, (i) WR0705 and (j) WR0601. [202934]
Joan Ruddock: Every research project commissioned by DEFRA is published on our website once it is complete. The following projects are completed and arrangements are in hand to place them in the House Library.
WR0107 - Modelling Impacts of Lifestyle Changes on Household Waste Arisings.
WR0112 - Understanding Household Waste Prevention Behaviour.
WR0512 - Evaluation of the Household Waste Incentives Pilot Scheme.
WR0601 - Health and Environmental Impacts of Vermin/Insects in the Context of Waste Management Operations.
The following projects are not yet complete, but will be made available as soon as final reports have been accepted for publication:
WR0103 - Household Waste Prevention Policy Side Research Programme.
WR0104 - Lifestyle Scenarios: Futures for Waste Composition.
WR0106 - Achieving Household Waste Prevention and Promoting Sustainable Resource Use through Product Service Systems.
WR0506 - Benefits of Third Sector Involvement in Waste Management.
Although co-funded by DEFRA, the following projects were commissioned by other bodies and reports for these studies can therefore be obtained from them.
WR0217 - Assessment of Occupational Health and Safety Risks of Waste Collection and Handling Systems (Commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive).
WR0705 - Updated Lifecycle Study on Reusable and Disposable Nappies (Commissioned by the Environment Agency).
EU Law
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department has taken to implement (a) EC Regulation 166/2006, (b) EC Regulation 1882/2002, (c) Council Directive 96/61/EC, (d) EU Directive 2003/87/EC and (e) Commission Directive 2003/35. [203722]
Joan Ruddock: The information requested is as follows.
(a) Steps taken to implement EC Regulation 166/2006
The EC regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) and amending Council directives 91/689/EEC and 96/61/EC was agreed on 18 January 2006 and came into force on 24 February 2006. PRTRs are publicly accessible compilations of data that describe the releases of substances to the environment and waste transfers. The E-PRTR regulation is a directly binding piece of European legislation and does therefore not need to be transposed into domestic law. In August 2007 DEFRA published a consultation document concerning among other issues proposals on designating competent authorities, enforcement, reporting requirements and quality assessment of the collected emissions data. We have recently published the Summary of Responses received during the consultation period.
(b) Steps taken to implement EC Regulation 1882/2002
This regulation is published and updated daily and contains, for information, the Standard Import Values for determining the entry prices, on import into the EU, for certain fruit and vegetables. These values are used for customs tariff purposes by HM Revenue and Customs and importers. The regulation does not require implementation.
(c) and (e) Steps taken to implement Council Directive 96/61/EC and Commission Directive 2003/35
The Council directive 96/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) was agreed on 24 September 1996 and came into force on 30 October 1996. The IPPC directive provided a transitional period from 30 October 1999 to 30 October 2007 during which
existing installations could be brought under the requirements of the directive. New installations had to comply from the outset.
In England and Wales the IPPC directive was transposed through the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000. The PPC regulations were introduced under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999.
The parts of the Public Participation directive 2003/35/EC which amended the IPPC directive and came into force on 25 June 2003 were transposed in England and Wales on that date through the PPC regulations. This directive provides an increase in the already high level of public participation in the process by which regulators consider applications for environmental permits to operate new or substantially changed industrial installations subject to the IPPC directive.
From 6 April 2008 the PPC regulations have been superseded by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007.
The IPPC directive and its subsequent amendments have since been codified and repealed by directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (codified version).
(d) Steps taken to implement EU Directive 2003/87/EC:
The EU emissions trading directive 2003/87/EC was agreed on 22 July 2003 and came into force on 25 October 2003. The directive has been transposed into UK legislation through the greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme regulations.
On 24 May 2005 the UK published the approved National Allocation Plan (NAP) and installation-level allocations for Phase I of the EU ETS, which ran from 2005 to 2007. The approved NAP and final allocation decision for phase ii of the scheme, running from 2008 to 2012, were published on 16 March 2007.
On 23 January 2008, the European Commission published its draft proposals for the review of the EU ETS required under article 30 of the EU directive on the EU ETS. The role of the review is to develop the EU ETS in a positive way post-2012 and learn from experiences so far. The UK welcomed the European Commission's ambitious proposals for tackling climate change and delivering a low-carbon economy in Europe. The UK will now be entering into negotiations with other member states and the Commission and will also be releasing a formal consultation soon. Once agreed by the European Council and European Parliament, the changes will need to be transposed into UK law.
Fly-Tipping: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many incidents of fly-tipping there were in the London Borough of Bexley in each of the last five years; and how many people were prosecuted in each such year for such offences. [203383]
Joan Ruddock: Data are only available from 2004 onwards.
I have arranged for a table to be placed in the Library of the House showing the number of fly-tipping incidents and prosecutions recorded in each local authority by local authorities on Flycapture for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Following the release of the 2006-07 Flycapture statistics on 9 October 2007, this information has been sent to all MPs. It is also available to download electronically on DEFRA'S Flycapture website at:
Food: Waste Disposal
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the effects of kerbside food waste collections on levels of household composting. [202953]
Joan Ruddock: Separate collections of food waste are relatively novel in the UK. In the 19 trials being conducted by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, early indications are that public participation in collections is of the order of 60-80 per cent. Of the food waste being put out for disposal around 70 per cent. is being captured by the food waste collection. The remainder is being disposed of in the residual bin. This excludes any food waste that may be home-composted. Many of the trials are being conducted in urban areas where the uptake of home composting is low as properties have either very small or no gardens. However, a customer survey in some of the trial areas indicated that between 58 per cent. and 74 per cent. of respondents considered that the availability of a food waste collection had not changed what they put in their home composting bin.
WRAP proposes to continue to monitor the food waste collection trials, and will be reporting on its findings in due course.
Some local authorities are trialling the collection of food waste with garden waste collections. The partial evidence available so far suggests that these arrangements are not generally successful in capturing food waste from the residual waste stream, Furthermore, separate research carried out by WRAP in 2007 indicates that the existence of kerbside garden/organic collections has limited impact on levels of home composting by home composting households. The main reasons given are:
1. They consider home composting to be more environmentally friendly and divert as much via that route as they can, using collection services only for items that they decide are unsuitable for home composting (pernicious weeds, large and woody items etc.)
2. As they are keen gardeners they want to make as much compost as possible, and will use the collection service only for items that don't readily compost
3. At certain times of the year their gardens produce an excess of certain waste materials and they will consider using the kerbside service to get rid of this excess material.
The inference is that food waste collected with garden waste has little overall impact on the amount of material which is home-composted.
Nature Conservation: EU Law
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what shadow price per hectare of salt marsh he has used for the purpose of implementation of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. [204622]
Joan Ruddock: A key mechanism for delivery of this Directive is the flagship agri-environment scheme, environmental stewardship. Shadow prices are not used to determine payment rates for this scheme as they are derived from the income forgone by the landowner in carrying out the prescribed management. The payments for salt marsh options available under the environmental stewardship higher level scheme, were, in common with all the other options, calculated in 2004. There are a number of options available ranging from the maintenance of coastal saltmarsh (30/ha) to the creation of inter-tidal/saline habitat on arable land (at 700/ha).
Regeneration: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what funding allocated by his Department for the Castle Point Regeneration Partnership is planned to be spent. [203642]
Joan Ruddock: The Castle Point Regeneration Partnership includes various bodies such as the Department for Communities and Local Government, the East of England Development Agency, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Essex county council and Castle Point borough council which contribute funding to the project. Neither DEFRA nor Natural England has set aside funds for the Castle Point Regeneration Partnership.
Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has powers to sanction local authorities that do not offer waste disposal free of charge to schools and prisons. [202485]
Joan Ruddock: The duty on a local authority to collect household waste is contained in section 45(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Waste from schools and prisons is classified by schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 (CWR) as household waste. Local authorities have no powers to charge for the disposal of household waste.
There are no powers in the EPA for DEFRA or the Secretary of State to sanction any authorities that charge for the disposal of household waste.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1373W, on Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges, if he will place in the Library a copy of the August letter to local authorities on section 46 powers. [204578]
Joan Ruddock: I have arranged for the information requested to be placed in the Library of the House.
Waste Management: Prisons
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations his Department has received from local authorities on Schedule 2 waste obligations to collect rubbish from prisons without imposing a charge. [202944]
Joan Ruddock: Since January 2008 DEFRA has received four letters from local authorities and one from the Local Government Association (LGA) asking the Government to consider the right of Schedule 2 waste producers to free waste disposal.
The letter from the LGA and my reply to it have both been published on the LGA's website.
Waste Management: Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his policy is on the inclusion of (a) incineration and (b) recycling facilities in projects undertaken as part of his Department's waste private finance initiative funding scheme; and if he will make a statement. [202946]
Joan Ruddock: Local authorities are best placed and responsible for deciding the most appropriate waste management facilities for their areas. Recovering energy from waste is a sustainable option for residual waste that would otherwise go to landfill. It is important that plans for energy from waste facilities emerge out of local waste strategies, so that all options for reuse, recycling and composting can be explored first.
The Government wish to encourage local authorities to consider using anaerobic digestion. Other than this, we do not generally think it appropriate to express a preference for one technology over another. Any given technology is (where applicable) more beneficial if both heat and electricity can be recovered. Particular attention should therefore be given to the siting of plant to maximise opportunities for Combined Heat and Power.
The current Waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) criteria were issued in May 2006. Projects must meet these criteria in order to be considered for PFI credits. The criteria aim to ensure that PFI credits are allotted to projects that are value for money and enable the investment in residual waste infrastructure necessary if the demanding targets in the Landfill Directive and Waste Strategy for England 2007 are to be met.
The following criteria are included:
2. PFI credits are awarded to authorities primarily to deliver increased diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill. Proposals should demonstrate how the schemes:
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