§ Mr. TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will make a statement on his plans in respect of the(a) purpose and (b) timescale of issuing an order under section 16(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1999; [158517]
(2) how many working days will elapse between the termination of the current public consultation exercise and the implementation of an order under section 16(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in relation to the use of waste disposal companies by waste disposal authorities. [158523]
§ Mr. MeacherOn 9 April my Department issued for consultation a draft of the Waste (Foot-and-Mouth) Disease (England) Regulations 2001. Following consideration of the responses, the Regulations were made and came into 743W force on 13 April. The main purpose of the Regulations is to enable the Secretary of State to issue directions under section 57(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring the holders of waste management licences for specified landfill sites to accept and dispose of specified kinds of agricultural waste.
It is necessary to ensure that waste arising from the foot and mouth disease outbreak is disposed of effectively and in ways which protect the environment and human health. The Regulations will ensure that suitable landfill sites can be used where necessary to dispose of specified kinds of animal waste. However, the powers of direction under section 57(1) of the 1990 Act will be used only where the Government consider that their use in relation to each individual site is essential; and to date no such directions have been issued. Unless and until a decision to issue a direction is taken, it is not possible to say how many working days will have elapsed between the termination of the consultation exercise and the implementation of that direction.