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11 Nov 2008 : Column 1008W—continued
Landfill Tax
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been raised by the landfill tax in each of the last five years; and how much has been spent on waste reduction or recycling programmes. [233422]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
Annual UK landfill tax receipts for 2002-03 to 2007/08 are published by HM Revenue and Customs at:
Total public sector expenditure on waste management is available in Table 5.2 at:
Maps: Environment Agency
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria the Environment Agency uses to prioritise areas for preparing flooding maps with light detection and ranging technology. [231310]
Jane Kennedy: By March 2011 the Environment Agency will have increased its coverage of digital terrain data. This will provide an accurate, cost-effective model of terrain suitable for assessing flood risk in areas having between a 1 per cent. and 0.1 per cent. annual probability of fluvial flooding, or between a 0.5 per cent. and 0.1 per cent. annual probability of tidal flooding in any year.
The Environment Agency has developed a three-year programme to obtain this level of coverage starting with the areas identified by Catchment Flood Management Plans, Shoreline Management Plans and National Flood Risk Assessment as at highest risk.
Office of Water Services: Finance
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the budget is for Ofwat’s regulatory activities in each of the next three financial years. [232696]
Jane Kennedy: Ofwat’s estimated budget for the next three financial years is set out in the following table.
| Budget (£ million) | |
Ofwat has recently published for consultation its draft forward programme of work for 2009-10 to 2011-12. This includes details of its planned areas of work for the next three years and budget estimates for the same period. The consultation can be accessed via Ofwat’s website:
Oil: Waste Management
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2008, Official Report, column 178W, on oils: waste management, what provision there is for clean fuel oil in the waste oils directive; and if he will make a statement. [232664]
Jane Kennedy: The waste oils directive includes a range of provisions which relate to the management of waste oils, including part-processed waste oils which remain a waste. One of the core objectives of the directive is that member states should give priority to the regeneration of waste oil (that is the recycling of waste oil back to lubricant) ahead of the combustion of waste oil for energy recovery. There is no specific mention in the directive of any trade-marked substances such as "Clean Fuel Oil".
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2008, Official Report, column 178W, on oil: waste management, what measures are in place to ensure the collection and correct management of waste oil. [232286]
Jane Kennedy: A combination of waste controls require all wastes, including hazardous wastes such as waste oil, to be collected and treated in an environmentally sound manner. The Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 provide for the safe tracking and movement of hazardous waste. The Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 require sites that recover or dispose of waste to have in place an appropriate permit or exemption from permitting. Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 makes it an offence to deposit waste, including hazardous waste, in or on any land unless under the terms of an environmental permit or an exemption from permitting.
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's definition is of (a) waste oil and (b) product equivalent fuel; and if he will make a statement. [232289]
Jane Kennedy: Directive 75/439/EEC (as amended) defines “waste oils” as meaning,
“any mineral-based lubrication or industrial oils which have become unfit for the use for which they were originally intended, and in particular used combustion engine oils and gearbox oils, and also mineral lubricating oils, oils for turbines and hydraulic oils”.
DEFRA has implemented this definition by means of regulation 2(1) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. DEFRA does not define "product equivalent fuel".
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are in place to encourage the complete recovery of waste oil to produce product equivalent fuel. [232291]
Jane Kennedy: The Environment Agency are developing an end-of-waste protocol for the production of processed fuel oil from waste lubricating oils, and have recently consulted on the possible terms of this protocol. The Agency's draft makes it clear that, where the proposed criteria are met, the resulting processed fuel oil will normally be regarded as having been fully recovered and to have ceased to be waste. It is anticipated that a post-consultation draft of the protocol will be submitted to the European Commission in January 2009 for notification as a technical regulation in accordance with the Technical Standards Directive (98/34/EC).
Packaging
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) which groups have been consulted as part of the Strategic Review of Packaging Policy; [230776]
(2) what the status is of the Strategic Review of Packaging Policy; and whether there is a date set for the implementation of the policy review. [230778]
Jane Kennedy: The Strategic Review of Packaging Policy was initiated as a response to the Prime Ministers Strategy Unit ‘Food Matters’ report published in July 2008.
Since July, DEFRA and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform have been working together in collaboration with the Devolved Administrations to develop a strategy for packaging.
The strategy will aim to set out how packaging policy will play its part in the climate change and resource efficiency agenda over the next decade and beyond, and how it will address consumer concerns about packaging. The strategy will be a policy statement describing where packaging policy should contribute to the set out in the 2007 Waste Strategy for England and be gradually phased in over a number of years, starting in delivery ambitions implementation will early 2009.
Despite the short timescales, the Government have consulted a wide range of stakeholders during the formation of this strategy. These key stakeholders included the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP) which has representatives from compliance schemes, waste management companies, brands and manufacturers; the Packaging Recycling Action Group (PRAG), which has representatives from trade organisations, retailers, local government and manufacturers; the Waste Action Forum, Improvement and Efficiency South East, the Local Government Association, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, Friends of the Earth, the Sustainable Development Commission and the Green Alliance.
Additionally, DEFRA held a successful stakeholder event on 17 October. The event tested emerging thinking on the current direction of the packaging strategy and gathered a rang of stakeholder opinions. Around 50 organisations were represented at the event, including Material Organisations, Alupro, Corus, the British Plastics Federation, packaging designers and manufacturers including Deputy Speaker Smith Packaging and Sealed Air and packaging industry trade organisations including INCPEN and the Packaging Federation.
Recycling
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the capacity of England’s recycling facilities, broken down by type of facility. [231669]
Jane Kennedy: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) ran a conference on 23 October entitled “Recovered Materials: Navigating the Global Economic Slowdown”.
At the conference, WRAP reported that in 2007, 110 million tonnes of material, with an economic value of £3.7 billion, were collected for recycling in the UK. Of this material, 97 million tonnes was processed in the UK.
A breakdown of these figures by material is given in the following table.
| mt | ||
| Material stream | Collected | Processed in UK |
Figures for England are not available separately.
It is important to note that data on recycling capacity is highly dependent on the point in the recycling chain (from collection, through sorting and reprocessing, to end-use) at which the measurement is made. For this reason, a single estimate of the UK’s overall recycling capacity is not available.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to improve recycling capacity. [231670]
Jane Kennedy: For the period 2008-09 to 2010-11, DEFRA is making £185 million of grant funding available to local authorities through the Waste Infrastructure Capital Grant (WICG) and £60 million through the London Waste and Recycling Fund. These un-ringfenced capital grants will be paid to upper tier and unitary authorities in recognition of the need to provide waste infrastructure, such as recycling and composting facilities, in time to help England meet landfill targets.
Recycling: Greater London
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much waste was recycled by each London borough in the latest period for which figures are available. [231722]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested is as follows:
| Authority | Household recycling and composting 2007-08 (Tonnes) |
| Source: WasteDataFlow, Best Value Performance Indicators | |
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