§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department has spent in each of the past three years on training for environmental health officers under the Contaminated Land Regime, Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990; and if she will make statement. [150612]
§ Mr. MorleyWith grant-in-aid from the Department, the Environment Agency enables training in procedural and technical aspects of the regime to include places for both local authority and Agency staff, in a joint approach. The latter often make up 75 per cent. or more of those attending.
The Agency spent around £180,000 on developing such training in 2003–04, and an estimated £120,000 to £150,000 per annum in earlier years. They work closely with the National Society for Clean Air, and the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health who also provide training for local authority staff. The Agency has made materials available for use by other training providers.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial and practical assistance her Department has given to environmental health officers since the Contaminated Land Regime, Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 came into force; and if she will make a statement. [150613]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Department has been providing financial assistance to English local authorities for contaminated land capital projects for many years. Since the introduction in April 2000 of the contaminated land regime in Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a total of £33.083 million capital funding has been provided, covering the financial years 2000–01 to 2002–03. Final figures are not yet available for 2003–04, but approvals to local authorities total a further £10.8 million, although the final outturn may be lower. Our project assessors frequently give advice to individual authorities which can save money and improve results.
546WTo reflect the revenue implications of the regime for local authorities, £12 million per year was added to revenue support grant, and distributed in the normal way through the system of standard spending assessments. Capital and revenue support will continue under the new prudential finance system.
The Department, together with the Environment Agency, has also been producing procedural and technical guidance, notably the Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA) Model and associated materials. This work is continuing. Details are available on the Department's website. The Environment Agency have also produced a number of technical and other documents.