To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department’s policy is on increased mass-burn incineration of London’s waste. (98390)

London, in common with every other region in the UK, must achieve massive reductions in the extent to which it relies on landfilling its waste. We would prefer this to be achieved as far as possible by minimisation, reuse and recycling, but where this is not practicable, energy from waste (including mass burn incineration with energy recovery) offers substantial greenhouse gas emission savings over landfill.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the likely cost to the Greater London Authority of the proposed new duty on waste authorities to undertake their functions in general conformity with the Mayor’s Municipal Waste Management Strategy. (98391)

The proposed duty on waste authorities to undertake their functions in general conformity with the Mayor’s Municipal Waste Management Strategy will not impose additional costs on the Greater London Authority. The new duty, along with the Mayor’s existing power of direction, will help ensure the strategic vision the Mayor sets out for London is delivered on the ground.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps he is taking to deliver efficiency savings in waste management in London; (98392)

Mott MacDonald carried out work, jointly commissioned by DEFRA and the Greater London Authority (GLA), on opportunities for efficiency gains in waste management services in London. The report estimates that London authorities would need to generate efficiency savings of £45 million in 2007-08 and £145 million in 2009-10. The report considers efficiency savings that are achievable in London’s waste and identifies a number of areas where efficiency savings are possible. The report is published on the GLA website at:http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/waste/lswa/index.isp

“The Greater London authority: The Government’s Final Proposals for Additional Powers and Responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly”, concluded that the creation of a Single London Waste Authority responsible for waste disposal would not generate significant cost savings, and could even increase the costs of dealing with London’s waste. Further information is available on the Department for Communities and Local Government’s website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1501733.

We are making good progress towards achieving our Gershon efficiency savings on waste. Provisional figures for environmental services indicate that £245 million per annum of efficiency gains are expected to be achieved in 2006-07 (£55 million of which is expected to be achieved within London). This puts us well ahead of schedule to meet the £299 million per annum target for environmental services in 2007-08.

DEFRA will continue to facilitate efficiencies across England (including London) through:

(i) The Waste Implementation Programme which includes work-streams providing standard documentation, toolkits, best practice case studies, funding to local authorities for consultancy work, advice on technology choices, good quality data and help with Private Finance Initiatives and other funding arrangements.

(ii) The new Waste Infrastructure Development Programme (WIDP). WIDP aims to complement and expand on DEFRA's current efforts to comply with European Union Landfill Directive targets by:

(a) establishing the scale of residual waste treatment infrastructure required to meet the landfill Directive targets in 2010, 2013 and beyond and accurately monitoring the ongoing delivery of projects in order to stay abreast of continuing requirements; and

(b) developing and implementing measures which will accelerate the delivery of the necessary residual waste treatment infrastructure in a timely, value-for-money and affordable manner.

(iii) Support to the Regional Centres of Excellence—which have been drafting a national action plan on Environmental Services efficiency, supported by regional action plans;

(iv) The Waste and Resources Action Programme, which is funded by DEFRA and provides a wide range of support and best practice to local authorities on reducing and recycling waste;

(v) Other enablers, such as the Office of Government Commerce on procurement, and local authorities sharing best practice including through the Beacon council scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has received on Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority’s submission for the project to deliver recycling, treatment and disposal services. (96902)

The Secretary of State received a letter, dated 18 May 2006, from Councillor Steve Foulkes in his capacity as chairman of the Merseyside Leaders’ Group. The letter covered a number of issues including Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority’s proposed waste private finance initiative project and generic waste issues faced by councils nationally.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) local authorities about the level of support available to Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority to meet its statutory obligations. (96903)

The Secretary of State has had no discussions with ministerial colleagues or local authorities regarding the level of support available to Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority. However, my officials have been in productive discussion with officers from the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority, since the start of this calendar year, regarding their long-term procurement for delivering recycling, treatment and disposal services.