HC Deb 17 September 2004 vol 424 cc1929-30W
Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make monthly statements over the following 12 months on the number of hazardous waste producers contacting her Department and the agencies for which she is responsible who have been unable to find a waste contractor able to take the hazardous waste they produce, giving details of the(a) type of waste and (b) amount of waste concerned. [187172]

Mr. Morley

The Department, the Environment Agency and Envirowise each have arrangements in place to deal with inquiries from business and industry on hazardous waste, and in particular on the changes brought in by the Landfill Directive. The agency has set up a national call centre, and Envirowise has established a dedicated helpline. Inquiries to the respective organisations are on a range of issues. I have asked my officials to collate information on the inquiries received, and place this data on the Department's website. Waste producers who cannot find a waste contractor able to take their waste are encouraged to follow a number of options including contacting the agency or Envirowise. Other options are to contact a member of the Environment Services Association, their own trade association, or check the options available to them to reduce or eliminate the hazardousness of the waste.

Sue Doughty

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2004,Official Report, column 250W, on hazardous waste, if she will provide full details of the sampling process used to obtain the cross section of small businesses that received the survey; how many businesses were sent the survey; how many businesses returned the survey; and if she will place a copy of (a) the survey and (b) the full responses received in the Library. [187174]

Mr. Morley

The survey, about awareness of hazardous waste issues, was distributed to 199 small businesses through the Institute of Directors (54) and the Small Business Service (95 electronically and 50 by post). Approximately 37 businesses returned the survey direct to Defra (17 electronically and approximately 20 by post). The 20 hard copies were not retained, but the original survey has been placed in the Library along with the 17 electronic returns and the compiled results for all 37 responses returned as percentages.