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Organic Conversion
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many farmers have (a) applied for and (b) been awarded financial support for organic conversion in each year since such support began. [117120]
Mr. Morley: The details are as follows:
| Applications | Approvals | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994-95 | 72 | 37 |
| 1995-96 | 64 | 64 |
| 1996-97 | 117 | 57 |
| 1997-98 | 216 | 133 |
| 1998-99 | 222 | 118 |
| 1999-2000 | 1,274 | 1,021 |
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the level of resources allocated to organic conversion in (a) the current and (b) the next three financial years. [117119]
Mr. Morley: Support for organic conversion aid payments to farmers in England will be £11.35 million for 1999-2000 and £12 million, £18 million and £20 million respectively for the next three years.
Websites
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of websites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each website (i) the topics which have been covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each website for each of the next three years. [115392]
Mr. Morley:
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 457W
Joan Ruddock:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what reports he has received regarding commercial cultivation of Novartis genetically modified Bt maize in Germany; and if he will make a statement. [113618]
Ms Quin
[holding answer 9 March 2000]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Minister for the Environment on 9 March 2000, Official Report, column 779W.
Further to this reply, Ministers at MAFF received a press release issued by Novartis in Germany regarding the decision of the German Federal Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Environment to suspend approval of Novartis' genetically modified Bt maize. Novartis believes this decision is not supported by the scientific data. The Government will follow developments on this issue closely, but this does not affect the position stated by my colleague the Minister for the Environment, as there are no plans to cultivate this crop commercially in the UK for at least the next few years.
Mr. Keetch:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans the Government have to use the provision under the EU Rural Development Regulations to introduce cross-compliance, where direct payments in support of agricultural production are conditional on the carrying out of measures to protect wildlife, in cases where cross-compliance may have a detrimental effect on competitiveness. [117594]
Mr. Morley:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 30 March 2000, Official Report, column 252W.
Mr. Ruane:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of United Kingdom demand for organic food was met by domestic production in each of the past 10 years. [117543]
Mr. Morley
[holding answer 3 March 2000]: Estimates of the volume of imported organic food since 1997 are between 60 and 70 per cent. per annum. We do not have statistics for the years preceding 1997.
Mr. Keetch:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to make use of the provision under Article 13(b) of the EU Rural Development Regulation to introduce schemes of management for areas where environmental restrictions apply; and if he will make a statement. [116314]
Mr. Morley:
The Government's proposed use of measures available under the EU Rural Development Regulation (EC) No. 1257/1999 is set out in the rural development plans for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which have been submitted to the European Commission for approval. Those plans do not include use of Article 13(b) compensation payments for observing European Community environmental restrictions because the Government's policy is to encourage a positive approach to environmental
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 458W
management through agri-environment measures under Article 22. In England, these include the Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Schemes.
Mr. Cotter:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which Minister in his Department has responsibility for regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement. [117416]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today to my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Quinn) by the Minister for the Cabinet Office.
The executive functions of the Secretary of State for Wales transferred to the National Assembly for Wales on 1 July 1999. Section 65 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 requires the Assembly to make provision within its subordinate legislation procedures for regulatory appraisals before a draft of the relevant statutory instrument is laid before the Assembly.
However, I also retain an interest in how UK Government regulatory reform affects Wales.
Mr. Brady:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates his Department has made of net migration of inhabitants from city centres in each of the last five years. [116146]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Graham Brady, dated 4 April 2000:
4 Apr 2000 : Column: 459W
Mr. Russell Brown:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what targets will be set for the Valuation Office Agency for the year 2000-01. [117918]
Dawn Primarolo:
I have set the following key targets for the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in 2000-01:
Further details are contained in the Valuation Office's Forward Plan, copies of which will be placed in the Library of the House on publication.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number and volume of investments held in (a) Maxi ISA accounts and (b) Mini ISA accounts. [117236]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information requested can be found in Inland Revenue press release REV7.
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent question on estimated net migration from city centres.
The information that you require is not available. At present it is not possible to produce annual migration estimates for small geographical areas such as city centres. Migration estimates are only available for former Family Health Service Authority areas. These are broadly consistent with shire counties, metropolitan districts and groups of London boroughs. This is because estimates of internal migration within the United Kingdom are based on the movement of NHS doctor's patients between the former Family Health Service Authorities.
ONS have recently investigated the feasibility of using the postcoded information held on patient registers to better estimate migration at local level. It is possible that in the future we will be able to provide migration estimates for different geographies such as city centres.
Moves for former Family Health Service Authority areas and between the individual Government Office Regions (GORs) and the rest of the United Kingdom are published in Key Population and Vital Statistics, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
Operational
to clear 80 per cent. of 1995 List rating appeals outstanding as at 31 March 2000 by 31 December 2000
to publish by 31 October 2000 the first rolling two year forward programmes for clearance of 2000 list rating appeals
to clear by 31 March 2001 council tax appeals equal to the number received in the 12 months to 30 September 2000, within a maximum of 52,000 appeals in England and 3,700 in Wales
Customer service and quality
to secure Charter Mark awards for 25 per cent. of the VOA's Groups by 31 March 2001
to achieve specified standards for:
(a) valuation accuracy and
(b) timeliness
in 90 per cent. of cases
Finance and cost efficiency
to break even after charging for the full cost of chargeable services including notional interest of 6 per cent. on the average working capital--measurement will be within a tolerance of the greater of 2 per cent. of relevant turnover or £1 million
to achieve an increase in the VOA's efficiency index to 1.13 (1998-99 = 1.00).
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