| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Convention on the Future of Europe
Baroness Massey of Darwen asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What arrangements will be made to select the United Kingdom's national parliamentary representatives to the Convention on the Future of Europe.[HL2383]
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The other place will be given the opportunity to debate a Motion nominating members to the convention, and your Lordships' House will be given the opportunity to debate such a Motion subject to agreement between the usual channels.
Environmental Statements
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many applications for consent they expect will be made during 2002 under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) (England) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3966); how many additional staff will be required to administer the regulations; and what is the amount included for this work in the relevant budget line of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget; and[HL2245]
Whether, under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) England Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3966), the selection criteria for the screening decision, the required information for inclusion in the environmental statements and the criteria used for consent decisions in each case will include and take account of any proposed loss of open country (and therefore access land) under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.[HL2246]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): The resource requirements for implementing the regulations will depend on the number and types of applications for consent. Costs
will be met from the overall funding available to the department, which remains to be allocated for 2002–03.Schedule 1 to the regulations lists the criteria to be taken into account in deciding whether a project is likely to have significant environmental effects for which an environmental statement is required. Guidelines on applying these criteria, which are to be published shortly, list factors which will be taken into account, as appropriate, and include "any public rights of way or public access, commons or other open spaces used by the public". The required information for inclusion in the environmental statement, on which consent decisions will be based, will depend on the degree of significance of the various factors in individual cases.
Waste Recycling
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What levels of waste recycling have been achieved in each local authority; what targets they have set these authorities for the future; and how, in detail, they define "waste" and "recycling" in relation to this.[HL2250]
Lord Whitty: The latest data available (for 1999–2000) on the percentage of household waste recycled in each waste collection and waste disposal authority are available in the Library of the House. This table also gives the statutory performance standards for 2003–04 and 2005–06 for the recycling and composting of household waste for each authority.
Data for 2000–01 are currently being collated from local authorities.
These percentages and standards relate to household waste. This is defined as all waste collected by waste collection authorities under Section 45(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, plus all waste arising from civic amenity sites, and waste collected by third parties for which collection or disposal recycling credits are payable under Section 52 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
"Recycled" means reprocessed in a production process for the original purpose, or for other purposes, but excluding energy recovery.
"Composted" means the controlled biological decomposition and stabilisation of organic substrates, under conditions that are predominantly aerobic and that allow the development of thermophilic temperatures as a result of biologically produced heat. This includes composting undertaken at a central or community composting facility. Home composting is not included. The tonnage to be used in calculation is the material sent for composting to these facilities.
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether building waste and composting of garden waste are components of the recycling target; and, if not, why not.[HL2251]
Lord Whitty: Statutory performance standards for recycling and composting by local authorities, set under the best value regime, relate to household waste, and therefore building waste and other non-household waste is not included. However, the Government's Waste Strategy 2000 set a separate target of reducing, by 2005, the amount of industrial and commercial waste sent to landfill to 85 per cent of that landfilled in 1998 to encourage businesses to reduce waste.
Garden waste is included in the calculation of the recycling/composting target if it is composted at a central or community composting facility. Home composting is not included as it is not collected by the collection authority and the amounts of waste composted are therefore very difficult to determine.
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What quantity of composted recycled garden waste they expect to be generated annually by local authorities over the next five years; and what is the current market for such material.[HL2253]
Lord Whitty: Figures from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey show there have been substantial increases in the amount of household waste collected for composting by local authorities in England and Wales: from 462,000 tonnes in 1998–99 to 670,000 tonnes in 1999–2000. Local authorities have statutory performance targets which require them to double the overall recycling and composting rate by 2003–04 and treble it by 2005–06.
The Composting Association estimates that the potential market for compost is in excess of 20 million tonnes per annum, with significant potential in the agriculture sector.
Pennine Cycleway
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What progress is being made on the creation of the proposed Pennine cycleway; and what are the targets for achievement in 2002.[HL2244]
The Minister of State, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): The Pennine cycleway is part of the National Cycle Network being promoted by the transport charity Sustrans. The responsibility for progressing the network rests with Sustrans, not with central government.
Progress on the Pennine cycleway was delayed by the foot and mouth epidemic last year. I understand that Sustrans has recently received a rural recovery grant of £110,000 from the Countryside Agency for the Pennine cycleway. This should enable progress to be made on the completion of a number of missing links in the cycleway during the early part of 2002.
Street Works
Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the speech by Lord Filkin on 19 December 2001 (HL Deb, col. 346), where in the Street Works (Charges for Occupation of the Highway) (England) Regulations 2001 it is made clear that the "duration of the works" referred to in paragraph 5(4) is measured in days rather than hours or weeks.[HL2268]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My noble friend Lord Filkin wrote to the noble Earl on this matter on 10 January 2002. A copy of his letter has been placed in the Library of the House. As this explains, the intention is that, for the purposes of any lane rental schemes to be operated under the regulations, the charges referred to will apply per day for which each street works last. While "duration" is not defined in the regulations in this way, it will be made clear in the orders which the Secretary of State needs to make to allow each authority to operate a lane rental scheme that the charges are to be daily ones.
Bus Lane Contravention
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they are in a position to give a date by which consultation will commence under Section 144 of the Transport Act 2000 to enable local authorities outside London which have decriminalised parking enforcement status to impose penalty charges in respect of bus lane contravention, using camera enforcement.[HL2225]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Drafting of the regulations is still in progress. We must also consult the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Home Office on the drafts. We are pressing on with preparation of the regulations as quickly as possible, but in the circumstances I cannot give a specific date by which public consultations will commence.
Bristol Royal Infirmary
Baroness Gale asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they will publish the response to the report of the public inquiry into children's heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984–1995.[HL2350]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We have today published our response to the Kennedy Report (Learning from Bristol: The Department of Health's Response to the Report of the Public Inquiry into children's heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984–1995—Cm 5363) and copies are available in the Library and the Printed Paper Office.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |