To ask the Minister of the Environment what plans she has to encourage shops to reduce the number of plastic bags used.

My Department continues to support voluntary initiatives aimed at reducing carrier bag usage (plastic bags and paper bags) such as the current UK-wide agreement between Government, the Waste Resources Action Programme and retailers which aims to reduce the overall environmental impact of all carrier bags by 25% by the end of 2008. Retailers are seeking to achieve this reduction by:

encouraging customers to significantly reduce the number of carrier bags they use;

reducing the impact of each carrier bag e.g. by using less material or incorporating recycled content; and

enabling the recycling of more carrier bags where appropriate.

I am encouraged by the various initiatives brought forward by major supermarket chains to reduce usage of carrier bags.

In last month's budget speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that legislation would be introduced to impose a charge on single-use carrier bags if we have not seen sufficient progress on a voluntary basis. This is obviously a very significant development and my officials are currently liaising with colleagues in GB to obtain more detailed information on initial legislative proposals and we are also considering any possible implications for Northern Ireland.