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Refuse Collection

We are conscious of the important work that has been done by a variety of delivery bodies, including WRAP, with small businesses over the years, but we are re-orienting that spending. We will ensure that support is given in different ways across Government, and it is important to small businesses, particularly because of their size, that they do not have to approach or be approached by a lot of different agencies and Departments. We should be channelling a much more holistic service for small business. The changes are a rationalisation and what has been said is absolutely accurate. In other circumstances, there might have been a longer period over which support was redirected, but we have taken the steps now because we are in a tight budgetary situation. It makes sense. We do not expect small businesses to be in difficulty as a consequence, and I think neither does WRAP. The hon. Lady asked about anaerobic digestion, incinerators and a whole raft of disposal technologies. In particular, she asked why it is that they are all on the continent and not here. The fact is that we have had, for far too long, too many holes in the ground and landfill has been too cheap. Countries such as the Netherlands, which have not had the potential to put their waste in holes in the ground, have had to develop alternative solutions at great speed. That is why the technologies are so much more advanced in other countries than they are here. We have now made our decisions. We have been following the landfill directive, and we know where we are going. We will constantly reduce the amount of material going to landfill. That means that these other technologies become cost-effective and of interest to big business, which means that they will be coming on stream. In order to incentivise and assist with that process and ensure that there is appropriate and sufficient waste infrastructure in place, the Government have provided, as the comprehensive spending review settlement indicated, PFI credits worth £2 billion to facilitate the provision of such infrastructure over the next three years. That is an unprecedented amount of money. We believe that many technologies will be put in place as a consequence of that support. It has to be said that private industry itself is already on this path. In DEFRA, we have contributed to the development of anaerobic digestion and we have made it very clear that we think that it is one of the preferred technologies. It has great potential for not just taking a variety of biodegradable waste, but also ending up with a digestate that can be used in agriculture or, alternatively, with bio-gas.