British Waterways Board (Hansard, 4 March 1991)

§ Mr. Martlew
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the reasons for the British Waterways Board's decision no longer to set targets for revenue from leisure, freight and estates for years after 1990–91 in his Department's annual report.

§ Mr. Baldry
Ministers set annual targets for a range of performance indicators agreed with the British Waterways Board (BWB). The previous set of performance indicators are being reviewed in the light of the board's move to regional management and the Government's endorsement of the integrated business strategy in February 1990. Income from leisure, freight and estates is incorporated in the figures for internally generated income in the table at figure 16 in the Department's 1991 annual report.

§ Mr. Bradley
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates he has received of income to British Waterways from the disposal of estates for the next four years.

§ Mr. Baldry
Estimates of income from all sources for the next four financial years will be provided in the British Waterways Board's (BWB) 1991 corporate plan. The plan is not published, but the Government's decisions about the Exchequer grant and borrowing limits for BWB in 1992–93 onwards, which will be announced in the autumn, will be based on its assessment of the board's projected income and expenditure. Income from disposal of assets is shown in the board's annual report and accounts.

§ Mr. Win Griffiths
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to what extent he took the state of the property market into account when determining revenue grant to British Waterways.

§ Mr. Baldry
[holding answer 1 March 1991]: British Waterways Board grant settlements take account of all relevant factors.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all sites of special scientific interest associated with waterways administered by British Waterways.

§ Mr. Baldry
[holding answer 28 February 1991]: This information is not available centrally, but the Nature Conservancy Council's memorandum to the Environment Select Committee in February 1989 gave details of some 110 km of 19 British Waterways Board waterways notified as sites of special scientific interest (the Fifth Report from the Environment Committee—Session 1988–89, Appendix 16 (HC 237)).