Chamber and committees

The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations prohibit imports and exports of waste for disposal to and from the UK. However, there is no restriction on movement of waste between parts of the UK. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has no powers to control the origin of waste deposited at a landfill site, this is a commercial matter for a landfill operator, as long as the site is operated in compliance with the waste management licence.

The National Waste Strategy provides a policy framework for dealing with Scotland's waste. One aspect of the strategy is the "proximity principle" that waste should be treated or disposed of as near as possible to the point where it arises, although this has to be balanced against other issues such as cost and availability of suitable facilities. The importation of waste into Scotland is therefore neither banned nor encouraged in the strategy.The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations prohibit imports and exports of waste between member states for disposal. However, there is no restriction on movement of waste between parts of a member state and this is normally a commercial matter.

The Marine Stewardship Report is intended to cover the United Kingdom as a whole. Although many of the matters addressed in the report are reserved, the Scottish Executive has been closely involved in the drafting of the report where it touches on devolved matters or issues with a particular Scottish dimension. The Executive also hosted a workshop last November to obtain the views of Scottish stakeholders on the scope and content of the report.

This is a matter for future Spending Reviews.

The introduction of recycling targets will be informed by the findings of the Area Waste Plans currently being developed as part of the National Waste Strategy. This will ensure that the Best Practicable Environmental Option for dealing with waste in each area has been taken into account before targets are established.

The obligation in the Landfill Directive to reduce the proportion of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill applies to Member States, based on 1995 levels. Scotland will be expected to meet a proportion of this. There are a number of potential methods for dividing the overall figures between local authorities, which do not depend on knowing the actual amounts of waste for each authority for that year. We plan to publish a consultation paper later in 2002 setting out proposals on how we shall establish the baseline and target figures for each authority.

The Health Service Ombudsman is responsible for reviewing complaints wherever they occur in NHSScotland. The Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman Bill proposes the establishment of a "one stop shop", combining the offices of the Scottish Parliamentary, Health Service, Local Government and Housing Association Ombudsman.

As at 16 January, Eaga had installed 405 central heating systems in the private sector. They are on target to install over 3,500 systems by 31 March 2002. Information is currently being collected from the social rented sector landlords, but indications show that they will have installed around 6,400 central heating systems by 31 March 2002.

The evaluation of the NHS complaints procedure which was carried out on a UK basis during 2001 considered the operation of the procedure in all parts of the NHS, including dental services. The report of the independent researchers can be found at: www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/health/nhscomplaints.pdf.A pre-consultation exercise was carried out in the autumn of 2001 to inform the development of proposals to meet the Health Plan commitment of establishing a new complaints process which is "credible, easy to use, demonstrably independent and effective". A working group, which includes patient representatives, is currently developing proposals for inclusion in a public consultation on the new procedure for issue in March 2002. The new procedure will continue to cover dental services.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20749 on 10 January 2002.