Chamber and committees

To implement Scotland's National Waste Strategy eleven Area Waste Plans are being prepared; these will set out the Best Practicable Environmental Option for dealing with waste from each area. The plans are being prepared by groups consisting of local authorities, industry and local organisations, and are co-ordinated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.The plans have reached various stages of preparation. One draft plan (for the Forth Valley area) was published for public consultation recently. Interim discussion papers setting out options for waste management have been issued for public consultation for four other areas, with others planned between now and October.Consultation on the draft plans themselves is programmed in most cases by the end of 2001, with the remainder by the end of the financial year following which they will be finalised.

The funding for the Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme is £24 million as announced originally. This funding will be allocated to providing reductions in water and sewerage charges from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2004.In 2001-02 the Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme will allocate £10 million to provide a reduction in water and sewerage charges to households in receipt of Council Tax Benefit whose charges exceed £180. These reductions will be backdated to 1 April 2001.Plans to allocate the remaining £14 million will be published in due course following analysis of data captured in 2001-02.

There is no need to carry out the investigation suggested. The National Waste Strategy states that, as well as the waste hierarchy, a number of other principles need to be taken into account in establishing a sustainable future for waste management. As part of the implementation of the strategy, 11 Area Waste Plans are being prepared to set out the Best Practicable Environmental Option for dealing with the waste from each area. In making these decisions, the groups will compare a range of waste management options (including recycling, composting and thermal treatment) and will consider environmental, social and economic aspects. The groups preparing these plans include local representatives from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, local authorities, enterprise companies, industry and local community organisations and the draft plans will be issued for public consultation.I also refer to the consultation paper on the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) issued by the Executive on 3 August 2001. The paper proposes that support under the obligation will not be given for electricity generated from incineration of municipal waste, but will be given for electricity from gasification or pyrolysis of the biodegradable fraction of such wastes. This will encourage the development of integrated waste systems which include waste separation, recycling etc.

A study by the University of Dundee sampled and analysed soil for a range of 17 pollutants, including toxic metals, at 85 different sites near the incinerator at Baldovie. Concentrations of four of these substances were found to be above maximum levels recommended for soil at a number of the sampling sites. It should be stressed that these are not connected to the modern incinerator now operating at Baldovie. These findings were not unexpected for an urban environment and contain nothing to suggest that there is any significant threat to the health of those living near the incinerator or the wider population in and around the city of Dundee, or to the environment. The University of Dundee is currently carrying out a detailed epidemiological study into the health of the potentially affected population and no additional investigation is planned pending publication of the findings from this study.

The finance being made available to the water authorities is set out in the latest Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive. In addition, £10 million is to be made available for the water charges relief scheme. Under resource budgeting, external financing limits are no longer set.

The breakdown requested is as follows (£ million):

Description	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Energy Saving Trust - domestic energy efficiency programmes in Scotland	2.140	2.140	2.140	2.140
CCL Receipts - business energy efficiency with carbon Trust and renewable energy programmes	N/A	4.700	2.000	3.000
Scottish Energy Efficiency Office - promotion and marketing	0.081	1.081	1.081	1.081
Total	2.221	7.921	5.221	6.221

The budget provision shown against the Scottish Renewables Obligation (SRO) is to cover the Fossil Fuel Levy in Scotland, which is set by the energy regulator each year to cover the cost of renewable energy projects operating under the SRO. The levy in the current year is 1.2% and is expected to rise to 2.1% over the next three years as more SRO projects are built and their costs fall to be met by the levy. That is why the provision shown in the budget rises over the next three years.However, this is not a cash provision, as the Fossil Fuel Levy is levied on all electricity suppliers by the energy regulator Ofgem, and used to offset the above market cost of renewable energy projects under the SRO. There is no Government cash expenditure involved.

We are committed to placing the environment and climate change at the heart of policy-making across the Executive. In recognition of this, the policies in the Scottish Climate Change Programme (SCCP) cut across a number of different areas and, whilst the main driver may not necessarily be climate change, they will deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The SCCP, available on the Executive's website at www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/environment/ccm.pdf, includes detail of planned and actual expenditure in a number of these policy areas. For example, we have allocated £2.14 million for each of the three years 2001-02 to 2003-04 for the activities of the Energy Saving Trust to stimulate energy efficiency savings, a core part of the SCCP. That expenditure will, however, bring social and economic benefits as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Climate Change Programme seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a variety of voluntary, regulatory and educational measures.

£2.5 million was allocated between local authorities as part of the agreed local authority settlement in 2000-01, for planning and preparation for implementation of the National Waste Strategy. In 2001-02, this amount was included within the waste management grant-aided expenditure figure, although it is for authorities to determine their actual level of expenditure.Additional grant-in-aid has also been announced for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to take account of the duties that will fall to it in fulfilling the Executive's Programme for Government commitments. This includes the implementation of the National Waste Strategy and assistance with the preparation of the Area Waste Plans.