§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what steps he is taking to encourage research into contaminated land remediation; [132100]
(2) how much finance has been made available for research into the remediation of contaminated land, and how many hectares of such land have been remediated, in each of the last 10 years. [132098]
§ Mr. MullinPublic funding is made available for contaminated land research on a variety of topics, including its remediation. This is undertaken by a number of bodies, including my Department, the Environment Agency, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, English Partnerships, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Medical Research Council. Further projects are being funded through various European programmes, including Life and the Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Development.
In addition, this type of research is an approved objective under the landfill-tax credit scheme.
It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of research specifically related to the remediation of contaminated land since funding programmes and individual projects within these programmes typically relate to wider issues than just remediation.
My Department has recently let a contract for a contaminated-land research audit. This aims to assess current contaminated-land research programmes and to identify gaps or duplication of effort and suggest ways to improve access to the results.
Figures for the amount of land that has been remediated in each of the last 10 years are not available. Most of this remediation has taken place as a result of voluntary action by landowners (for example, the redevelopment of brownfield sites). Statistics are not recorded when development takes place.