§ Mr VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much funding has been given to health authorities to update their existing waste incinerators since 1987; and how much of that has been given to Leicestershire health authority;
(2) how many waste incinerators, for disposing of contaminated waste from hospitals, are currently in use in England and Wales; and what information he has on how much it costs to run them each year;
394W(3) how many hospital waste incinerators are classified as out of date in England and Wales; and what estimate has been made of how much it will cost to upgrade them to new Environmental Protection Act 1990 standards;
(4) what information he has on how many health authorities in England and Wales are preparing to send hospital waste to Germany to be changed to safe fuel before returning it to Britain to be disposed of.
§ Mr. DorrellFinancial provision for the disposal of clinical waste is subsumed within overall annual allocations to health authorities. There are approximately 600 NHS-owned incinerators in England. Their running costs, maintenance, upgrading and any plans for replacement are a matter for individual health authorities.
A "Strategic Guide for Waste Management" was issued to health authorities/NHS trusts in March 1991 (ELM(a1)M/1), a copy of which is available in the Library. It included guidance on meeting incinerator standards required by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and arising from relinquishment of NHS Crown immunity on 1 April 1991. It recommended that health authorities/NHS trusts examine a wide range of options for future clinical waste disposal of which wholly NHS owned and operated incinerators is only one. Decisions remain the province of individual health authorities/NHS Trusts.
We are not aware of any proposals to send clinical waste to Germany for reprocessing.