To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the reasons are for his Department's participation in the Environmental Permitting Programme; and what assessment he has made of the programme's effect on landfill sites and former landfill sites. (168173)

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 were laid in Parliament in October 2007. They provide an opportunity to reduce administrative burdens on business and regulators by replacing the existing waste management licensing and pollution prevention and control (PPC) systems with a single, simple, radically streamlined environmental permitting and compliance system for England and Wales. The regulations will maintain existing levels of protection of the environment and human health for waste management licensed and PPC permitted sites, including landfill sites and former landfills which have licences or permits.

I refer my hon. Friend to the regulatory impact assessment that accompanies the regulations and which is published on our website.