§ Mr. BaronTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of landfill tax will be given to the local authorities which are responsible for waste management, in order to fund recycling initiatives in(a) the current year and (b) 2002–03.[5195]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 19 July 2001]Landfill site operators can contribute a proportion of landfill tax revenue to a range of projects via the landfill tax credit scheme. Under the rules of the scheme, local authorities 1081W cannot receive funding from this source. However, the hon. Member may be interested to note that up to 31 August 2001, 15 Environmental Bodies (EB's) based in the county of Essex had spent approximately £1.2 million on sustainable waste management related projects.
The Government's policy, as set out in 'Waste Strategy 2000', is that the landfill tax credit scheme should be delivering an increase in recycling. The Treasury has subsequently issued indicative guidelines which said spend on sustainable waste management projects should increase to 65 per cent. of the credits available through the scheme, with at least a third of this being spent on recycling projects.
In the 2001 Budget statement the Chancellor said that in the longer term the Government are attracted to replacing the scheme, in whole or in part, with a public expenditure programme. That remains the position, although we have made no decisions yet about abolishing or radically changing the existing scheme.