To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the maximum likely annual charge to be levied in respect of domestic waste collection. (192411)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill allow five local authorities to pilot incentives to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

No maximum charge has been set, although the Government retain a reserved power to create a cap on the level of incentive in the future, should this be necessary.

Since local authorities will not be able to keep any revenue which they collect through pilot schemes, they have no incentive to raise the level of the payments beyond what will encourage positive behaviour. Experience in other countries where incentive schemes are in operation also suggests that payments do not need to be high to be effective. The research report published in May 2007 shows, for example, that variable charges in the region of £30 to £50 were shown to drive behaviour change overseas.

Under a waste incentive scheme, it would be up to local authorities to set the level of charges that they believed would create an incentive. However, we will be looking at what level of charges are being proposed when local authorities come forward to run pilots.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether charges for the collection of household waste will be levied on householders occupying flats with communal bins. (193150)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill allow up to five local authorities to pilot incentives to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

As with many of the powers that councils have in relation to local services, it will be up to individual authorities, working with their communities, to decide which households a pilot scheme should cover. The decision will include whether or not to cover flats, where householders occupy communal bins.

However, the Government have stressed in our overarching framework that pilot authorities must take account of the needs of potentially disadvantaged groups in devising and running schemes. We will seek to develop and publish guidance in this area to assist authorities in their assessment of these groups.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to conduct a consultation exercise before issuing guidance on charging for the collection of household waste. (193151)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill allow up to five local authorities to pilot incentives to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

The Government are committed to producing a range of guidance to assist authorities in implementing household incentive schemes. The final timetable for producing and making guidance publicly available for comment has not been finalised, and to some extent will reflect the Bill’s progress in Parliament. However, this process will certainly take place before the pilots begin.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effect of charges for household waste collection on families with children under the age of 12 months. (193152)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 17 January 2008, Official Report, columns 1393-94W.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) who is responsible for deciding which local authorities charge for domestic waste collection; and whether such decisions will be subject to (a) parliamentary and (b) ministerial approval; (193155)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling. Councils wishing to pilot schemes will be able to come forward with plans to fit local circumstances. These must be approved by the Secretary of State. Decisions about which local authorities will be able to run pilots will not be subject to parliamentary approval. However, all the pilot schemes will have to meet the legislative framework agreed by Parliament.

We will be working with stakeholders to develop a process for local authorities to come forward with proposals to pilot a waste incentive scheme. We have not yet finalised the details of the application procedure, and we will want to discuss this further with stakeholders. However, we would certainly expect to see a good quality plan included in an application process.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what provision he has made for those who move out of a waste charging pilot area mid-year to be partially recompensed for annual charge payments. (193159)

It will be up to local authorities, working with their communities, to decide how to administer charges and rebates under a waste incentive scheme. Payments could be made on an annual basis or more frequently. Where residents move out of the area, having already paid a forward-looking charge, local authorities may wish to recompense them. We will be working with stakeholders to produce guidance for local authorities on this.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the annual average gross administrative cost in cash terms to local authorities arising from charging for the collection of household rubbish. (193162)

An Impact Assessment, evaluating the potential costs and benefits of running waste incentive pilot schemes, has been published and is available on the DEFRA website.

Research carried out for DEFRA presented in the Impact Assessment estimates annualised costs to local authorities of running a waste incentive scheme of between £236,000 to £532,000 based on the introduction of a revenue neutral scheme affecting 50,000 households.

However, we would expect local authorities to make overall savings from running a waste incentive scheme. This is due to the savings from having less waste to collect, treat and dispose of, which are estimated in the Impact Assessment to be between £0.3 million to £1.4 million per annum, which should be sufficient to outweigh costs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to counter the use of fake bin bags in areas where local authorities operate charges for the collection of domestic waste on the basis of payment by sack. (193163)

Where authorities are operating a sack-based waste incentive scheme they may, for example, need to consider the risk of residents purchasing and placing their waste in sacks other than those specified under the scheme.

Where this happens, local authorities may, if necessary, issue fines or fixed penalty notices to residents. However, effective communications with residents will be a more important way to avoid the use of counterfeit sacks. We will be working with local authorities to provide guidance on effective local communications.

The Climate Change Bill includes the requirement that local authorities have a fly-tipping prevention strategy for preventing, minimising or otherwise dealing with the unauthorised deposit or disposal of waste.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether plans for pilots for charging for the collection of household waste include (a) the use of radio-frequency identification microchips and (b) charging according to frequency of collection; (193182)

We have no plans to favour one type of collection method over another. It is up to each local authority, working with its community, to decide how its waste incentive scheme should operate. However, we have created powers in the Climate Change Bill to allow pilots to operate in a variety of ways, including but not limited to weight-based schemes using microchips or schemes based on frequency of collection. Authorities will also be able to operate schemes based on bin size or numbers of sacks used to contain waste.

DEFRA has no plans to conduct a privacy impact assessment on the powers in the Climate Change Bill for up to five local authorities to pilot waste incentive schemes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what exemptions are planned to operate in schemes to apply charges to the collection of household waste within pilot areas; (192313)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill allow five local authorities to pilot incentives to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

The exact details of how a scheme operates would be up to the local authorities coming forward to run pilots to decide. However, the Climate Change Bill requires authorities piloting waste incentives schemes to take account of groups which may potentially be disadvantaged unduly by the scheme. Authorities would also have the flexibility to decide which households in their area should be covered by the scheme. Where charges are part of a pilot scheme, only those producing the most non-recycled waste would pay more.

We will be developing and consulting widely on guidance for local authorities on how they might take account of disadvantaged groups in designing and running a waste incentive scheme.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with local authorities on the implementation of charges for the collection of household waste. (193143)

As is to be expected with any policy development, my officials and I have rightly had a range of meetings with a variety of stakeholders on the powers provided in the Climate Change Bill for up to five local authorities to pilot waste incentive schemes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effects of charges for the collection of household waste on the amount of waste placed in waste receptacles other than those associated with the property where the waste was generated. (193279)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill will allow up to five local authorities to pilot non-revenue raising incentive schemes, which are designed to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

We do not consider that the introduction of pilot schemes should lead to increases in fly-tipping or waste crime. There is a range of powers available to local authorities to ensure that waste is dealt with legitimately, and we would expect them to continue to do so should they pilot a waste incentive scheme. The Government encourage authorities to make good use of the powers available to them, taking account of local circumstances and priorities.

Also, as can be seen in the Climate Change Bill, local authorities will be required to have a fly-tipping prevention strategy. We will be working with stakeholders to develop guidance on what the strategy might include.

If residents are concerned about neighbours’ placing waste in their bins, the local authority may wish to consider offering lockable bins. Evidence from Flanders, which operates a weight-based scheme, suggests that residents do not regard this type of behaviour as a problem; and take-up of lockable bins is very low. However, the pilots will give us the opportunity to monitor this kind of behaviour and assess what strategies are effective in preventing it.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how long he expects the charging for collecting household waste pilots to last; and whether a (a) minimum and (b) maximum duration will be set for each pilot. (193286)

Powers provided in the Climate Change Bill will allow up to five local authorities to pilot non-revenue raising incentive schemes, which are designed to encourage household waste minimisation and recycling.

There is no general minimum or maximum duration for the pilots. Schemes will need to be in place for as long as needed in order to gather a solid evidence base to report back to Parliament. Ultimately it will be up to local authorities to come forward with proposals for pilot schemes, and my Department does not want to pre-empt that by specifying now how long each should last. When the Secretary of State designates pilot areas, each designation order will specify a time at which that pilot will end.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what account he has taken of the conclusions of the research commissioned from Eunomia on variable waste-charging in respect of the consideration by his Department of non-charging options in the guidance issued to the waste authorities running the related pilot schemes; and if he will make a statement. (193296)

My Department carried out a pilot study in England in 2005-06 for reward-only local authority incentives for household waste management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive range of reward schemes in encouraging householders to reduce, recycle and compost their waste. More information is available on the DEFRA website.

DEFRA later commissioned research from Eunomia on variable waste charging, which therefore did not have any impact on the earlier reward-only pilot study.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to take account of the availability of civic amenity sites in (a) local authorities running household waste reduction pilots and (b) neighbouring local authorities not running such pilots for the disposal of household waste by residents potentially affected by pilot schemes; and if he will make a statement. (193301)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling. Residents will remain able to use their civic amenity site in exactly the same way as now. The pilots will allow us to test any impacts of waste incentives on civic amenity sites within the local authority area and in neighbouring local authority areas.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) strategy and (b) timetable is for the (i) start and conclusion, (ii) contiguity, (iii) number, (iv) duration and (v) cross-fertilisation of the pilot schemes for charging for the collection of household waste; and if he will make a statement. (193302)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling. Councils wishing to pilot schemes will be able to come forward with plans to fit local circumstances which must be approved by the Secretary of State and follow clear guidelines which have been set out in the legislation.

There is no timetable for the introduction of the five pilot household waste incentive schemes (including those which have a charging element) announced last year. However, as stated during the Communities and Local Government Committee's hearing on waste on 17 December 2007, the earliest the pilots are likely to start (including those which have a charging element) is April 2009. The exact timing will be subject to the parliamentary process as well as the implementation timetable for each pilot.

There is no general minimum or maximum duration for the pilots—schemes will need to be in place for as long as needed in order to gather a solid evidence base to report back to Parliament. Ultimately it will be up to local authorities to come forward with proposals for pilot schemes, and my Department does not want to pre-empt that by specifying now how long each should last. When the Secretary of State designates pilot areas, each designation order will specify a time at which that pilot will end. Each of the five pilots could start at different times and run for different lengths of time, according to what is feasible and appropriate for the individual schemes and areas in question.

The pilots will give us the opportunity to learn about the impacts of waste incentive schemes in an English context, and to gather and share best practice.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has for the (a) timing and (b) number of further local authorities operating new arrangements for the collection of household waste following the commencement of the initial pilot schemes. (193303)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling.

As can be seen in the Climate Change Bill, after reporting the pilots and if Parliament agrees, the Government will be able to roll out the powers to all waste collection authorities in England to allow them to introduce a waste incentive scheme if they wish.

We have not set a time for making a decision about rolling out the powers. However, we would only do this once we had gathered sufficiently high quality evidence from the pilots.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much he has allocated to budgetary provision for waste collection authorities to introduce new arrangements for the collection of household waste after the conclusion of the pilot schemes. (193304)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling.

As I said in my written statement to Parliament on 15 November 2007, Official Report, columns 72-73WS, we will be providing funding of up to £1.5 million per year for three years to support the pilots, including funding for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

The Government have not allocated any funding at this stage for waste collection authorities to introduce waste incentive schemes, if and when the powers to do so were rolled out to all local authorities in England.

Research commissioned for DEFRA shows that authorities could make overall savings by introducing waste incentive schemes, as a result of having less waste to dispose of. In any case, it would be up to authorities themselves to decide whether or not they wanted to implement a scheme. Therefore, we would not expect them to need funding from Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how new arrangements for the collection of household waste will be applied to domestic properties where occupation is forbidden by law. (193308)

The Climate Change Bill includes powers for up to five local authorities to pilot incentives for household waste minimisation and recycling.

Ultimately, it is up to local authorities to decide which domestic premises would be covered by a waste incentive scheme. However, where domestic properties cannot be occupied, one would not expect household waste to be generated or collected, and it is therefore unlikely that waste incentives would apply.