§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will provide further financial assistance for local authorities for the storage of fridges for the period January to March; [41361]
(2) when she will announce the financial assistance to be given to local authorities for the storage of refrigerators from April 2002; and if she will make a statement. [41360]
§ Mr. MeacherIn early December, I announced a payment of £6 million to cover local authority costs from January to March 2002. This payment will be made through the Revenue Support Grant for 2002/2003 and will be distributed to waste disposal authorities according to the Standard Spending Assessment Formula. We are monitoring the impact of the Regulation and assessing what further action is required.
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§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on the United Kingdom's understanding of paragraph 14 of the recitals to EC Regulation 2037/2000 as agreed on 29 June 2000. [38871]
§ Mr. MeacherParagraph 14 of the recitals to EC Regulation 2037/2000 states,
Provision should be made for the recovery of used controlled substances, and to prevent leakages of controlled substances.Article 16 of the Regulation deals with the,
Recovery of used controlled substancesand Article 17, "Leakages of controlled substances".
According to the clarification finally given of Article 16(2), it applies to the recovery of controlled substances in domestic refrigeration, used either as the refrigerant or to blow the insulating foam. Thus, the UK's understanding is that the provision referred to in paragraph 14 of the recitals relates inter alia to recovery from refrigeration insulating foam.
§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the statement of the Minister for the Environment of 31 January 2002,Official Report, column 414, how the figure of £6 million was reached. [35923]
§ Mr. MeacherThis figure was based on early estimates of the costs that local authorities would have for storage in the period January to March 2002. However, we are monitoring developments and shall continue to assess the impacts of the Regulation to determine what further action is required beyond that.
§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement about meetings between her Department and Commissioner Wallstrom on the impact of the directive on disposal of refrigerators. [40298]
§ Mr. MeacherI discussed EC Regulation 2037/2000 and its impact on the disposal of refrigerators on the telephone with Commissioner Wallstrom on 4 February.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State discussed EC Regulation 2037/2000 and its impact on the disposal of refrigerators with Commissioner Wallstrom in the margins of the Environment Council meeting on 4 March.
There have been numerous meetings between my officials and those from the European Commission where this issue was discussed. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 6 February 2002, Official Report, column 989w.