§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reasons the Coopers and Lybrand report on local authority recycling plans will not assess the quality and realism of the plans; what steps he took to ensure that the tender specification for the report was widely distributed; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanThe review of local authority recycling plans is intended to provide a comprehensive picture of the information they contain; a qualitative assessment of the plans is beyond the scope of the exercise. We made clear our intention to commission a detailed study of the plans to extract useful information from them. Those organisations which expressed an interest in this project were invited to tender for the work.