Waste Management: Refuse Collections

Debate between Lord Storey and Baroness Hanham

Thursday 31st January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Storey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the £250 million fund set up to help local councils in England maintain or restore weekly bin collections.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham)]

My Lords, the impact of the £250 million Weekly Collection Support Scheme is that it will ensure a weekly collection of residual waste for around 6 million households while recycling 400,000 tonnes of waste and saving more than 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. All successful bids will deliver environmental benefits and successful local areas have been truly delighted with this financial injection into one of their most important services.

[Lord Storey]

I am grateful for my noble friend the Minister’s reply to my Question. On the Weekly Collection Support Scheme—the “Pickles fund”, as it is known—is there any evidence that having fortnightly bin collections leads to a fall-off in recycling? Further, the Minister will be aware that Liverpool City Council was awarded a grant but has since withdrawn its application. Can the Minister tell the House whether the Government amended any of Liverpool’s grant conditions between: first, the council applying for the fund; secondly, the Government awarding the money; and, thirdly, the council deciding not to accept the grant?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the short answer to my noble friend’s first question is no. I can amplify that a bit by saying that many of the successful bidders for the Weekly Collection Support Scheme are demonstrating that you do not need a fortnightly residual waste collection to generate high recycling rates. As I said, the scheme is set to generate 400,000 tonnes of recycling.

On Liverpool, I absolutely assure the House that the Government did not change any of the grant conditions between Liverpool City Council applying for funding, the Government awarding the money and Liverpool deciding to withdraw its bid. That was Liverpool’s option; it was not up to the Government.

Homelessness: Rough Sleepers in London

Debate between Lord Storey and Baroness Hanham

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, no one will know better than the noble Lord that local authorities have a particular responsibility for young people, particularly those under 16. At present, there is little evidence of children under 16 sleeping rough. If they do, it is for a very short time because local authorities and the leading young people’s homelessness charities, such as Centrepoint, take them in very quickly. I think 18 to 25 year-olds are more of a problem. They seem to sleep rough for a number of reasons, but I think I can reassure the noble Lord that there is very swift action if anybody under 16, certainly from the categories he knows about, is left out on the street for any length of time.

[Lord Storey]

My Lords, my noble friend may be aware of a recent survey which found that people sleeping rough on average had a 28% contact with police and only a 5% contact with outreach workers. Will she look at the Reading single homeless project, which found that it could reduce homelessness by 52% by targeting individual needs, whether they are related to drug abuse, alcoholism or mental health problems?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the noble Lord may know that my department initiated an across-department ministerial working group, which is concentrating on all aspects of homelessness, including rough sleeping. It has been very effective in finding ways of ensuring that the problems that the noble Lord raises are dealt with.