§ 18. Mr. LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment. Food and Rural Affairs what structures are being put in place to help local authorities achieve their statutory waste targets. [13082]
§ Mr. MeacherWe are helping councils deliver their Statutory Performance Standards for recycling and composting through major extra funding from the Spending Review 2000. By 2003–04 revenue support will have risen by £1.1 billion over current provision; there is £220 million for PFI waste schemes over the spending review period; and there is a £140 million ring-fenced fund for waste and recycling over the next two years. £50 million of New Opportunities Fund moneys will also be available over the next two years to support community sector work on recycling in the UK.
The Government have also established the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a company with £40 million funding to help to overcome market barriers to recycling. It will operate across all waste streams to foster markets for recycled materials.
We view the statutory targets we have set for local authority recycling and composting of household waste as a major priority. Where authorities fail to deliver those targets the Secretary of State has powers to intervene under Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999.
A protocol has been agreed with the Local Government Association setting out the principles under which these powers will be used. These could range from inviting the authority to submit an action plan setting out how it proposed to meet the statutory recycling targets by a given deadline, to at the other end of the scale, removing the management of the waste function from the authority completely and asking another agent to conduct the waste service on their behalf.