§ The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley)Charges to cover the costs of local enforcing authorities in regulating processes which are subject to Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Local Air Pollution Control (LAPC)) were introduced in April 1991. Interim charges for installations which are subject to the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 (Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC) and Local Authority—Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (LA-IPPC)) were introduced in August 2000.
With the approval of the Treasury to the extent required, and following consultation with local authority associations and industry, myself with my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming have made revised schemes in respect of the Environmental Protection Act England and Wales and in respect of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act. The schemes specify the scale of fees and charges to take effect from 1 April 2004.
There will be a 2.75 per cent. increase to the LAPC, LAPPC and the LA-IPPC fees and charges schemes for 2004–05. One of the factors taken into account was the take-up of cost accounting by local authorities which, when fully adopted, should provide the evidence of the adequacy or otherwise of current charging levels. According to my Department's statistics, 66 per cent. of local authorities had adopted cost accounting practices for LAPC by 31 March 2003, compared with 51 per cent. by the same date in 2002. A further 19 per cent. had said they intended to introduce cost accounting by the end of 2003–-04, while the remaining 15 per cent. have no stated plans to do so.
There will also be an additional fee spread over the 18,000 regulated activities, amounting to approximately £⅔ per standard activity. This is required to cover the £40,000 necessary to recover the costs of the Environment Agency's technical unit which provides guidance notes for use by local authorities and operators and is funded under the scheme.
The schemes will be laid before both Houses and copies placed in the Libraries.