HL Deb 16 July 1981 vol 422 cc1371-2

3.12 p.m.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper. After the State occasions, the dust-carts!

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they propose to take in respect of local authorities which arrange to discharge their statutory duty of rubbish collection only at weekends.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Bellwin)

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government are not aware that anyone is proposing to do so. Some may have considered it and I imagine the public health, environmental and particularly the expenditure and management implications for the collection area have weighed strongly against it.

Lord Boyd-Carpenter

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that very satisfactory reply, can I infer from it that if he were to have his attention drawn to specific examples Her Majesty's Government would take the necessary action?

Lord Bellwin

My Lords, if my noble friend would draw my attention to specific details I would be very glad to have a look at them.

Baroness Birk

My Lords, would the Minister agree that, where the collection is done by the local authorities direct, anybody who objects has a chance to get some redress, but that where it is contracted out, as it is in some authorities, there is quite a different situation? Further, is it not better to have refuse collected over the weekend than not at all?

Lord Bellwin

My Lords, if there is no collection at all then the authority concerned is not carrying out its statutory duty. I know of no such case.

Lord Leatherland

My Lords, the noble Lord will realise that in this House there is an expert on every conceivable subject, and I was the chief cost accountant for the Birmingham refuse disposal department before I degenerated into journalism. Therefore, may I ask the noble Lord whether he will bear in mind when he comes to consider this question that there are some places from which refuse must be collected at weekends? I am thinking of fish markets and meat markets, and places of that kind, and I remember that we always used to collect from them at weekends.

Lord Bellwin

My Lords, the noble Lord, with his obviously vast experience, is referring, of course, to the collection of trade refuse, and indeed there are situations where that is done at weekends.