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Veterinary Laboratories Agency

Helen Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what targets he has set the Veterinary Laboratories Agency for 2000-01. [120978]

Mr. Nick Brown: I have set the Veterinary Laboratories Agency the following performance targets for 2000-01:

Efficiency
1. To deliver the efficiency savings in the Efficiency Plan.
Service Delivery
2. To achieve 85 per cent. of ROAME R&D milestones.
3. To deliver 90 per cent. of export tests to published turnaround times.
Service Quality
4. (a) To achieve UKAS accreditation for appropriate export testing in Laboratory Testing Department.
(b) To maintain the current accreditation programme.
(c) To improve the VLA teamscore under the EFQM Excellence Model.
Financial Performance
5. To recover the full economic cost (before exceptional items and calculated in accordance with resource accounting principles) of its services.
6. To operate within 95 per cent. and 100 per cent. of allocations by the MAFF Management Board for running costs, capital and receipts.

Central Science Laboratory

Helen Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what targets he has set the Central Science Laboratory for 2000-01. [120980]

Mr. Nick Brown: I have set the Central Science Laboratory the following performance targets for 2000-01:

Efficiency
1. To deliver the efficiency targets set out in the Business Plan.

3 May 2000 : Column: 146W

Quality and Delivery of Science
2. To review the methodology used for assessing customer satisfaction and undertake a survey in spring 2001 based on the review results.
3. To achieve a minimum of 85 per cent. of project milestones in MAFF commissioned projects.
Financial Performance
4. To recover the full economic costs (calculated according to resource accounting principles) of its services, after allowing for relocation costs.
5. To operate within 95 per cent. and 100 per cent. of allocations by the MAFF Management Board for running costs, capital and receipts.

Centre for Environment, Fisheries and

Aquaculture Science

Helen Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what targets he has set the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science for 2000-01. [120981]

Mr. Nick Brown: I have set the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science the following performance targets for 2000-01:

Delivery of Service
1. To give satisfaction to its customers in the way that outputs are provided taking account of the relevance, timeliness and value for money of outputs and the achievement of ROAME milestones.
Quality of Science
2. To make satisfactory progress with the Action Plan resulting from the 1999-2000 Science Audit.
Efficiency
3. To achieve the savings forecast in the Efficiency Plan.
Financial Performance
4. To recover from Government Departments and agencies and external customers the full economic costs (calculated according to resource accounting principles) of its services.
5. To operate within 95 per cent. and 100 per cent. of allocations by the MAFF Management Board for running costs, capital and receipts.

3 May 2000 : Column: 147W

TREASURY

Energy (Domestic Users)

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the recent studies (a) undertaken, (b) commissioned and (c) reviewed by his Department that assess the elasticity of demand of domestic users of energy with respect to the price they pay; and if he will make a statement. [120413]

Mr. Timms: "Energy Projections for the UK, Working Paper, March 2000", made available by the Department for Trade and Industry alongside the Government's draft Climate Change Programme, implicitly includes within its projections updated estimates of the price elasticities of demand for domestic fuels. Previous to this, the Institute for Fiscal Studies produced a working paper for Customs and Excise titled "The Simulation of Indirect Tax Reforms: The IFS Simulation Program for Indirect Taxation (SPIT)" which also looked at the elasticity of demand for domestic fuel and power.

Labour Market Data

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the pre-release recipients of labour market data from the Office for National Statistics. [120228]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 2 May 2000]: In accordance with long-standing practice, this information is provided to a tightly restricted group of officials on a strict "need-to-know" basis.

MEP Pensions

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the cost to his Department of funding the pensions of Members of the European Parliament in each of the last three years; to how many beneficiaries these payments are made; and what estimate he has made of the future annual liability for making such pension payments. [119585]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Expenditure on pensions is met from the EC budget.

Sustainable Development

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if it is the Government's policy that each Government Department should give equal priority to promoting social progress, effective protection of the environment, the prudent use of natural resources and the maintenance of high and stable levels of growth in the second comprehensive spending review; how many times the Chairman of the Green Ministers Group has met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to discuss integrating sustainable development in the second comprehensive spending review; how many of the draft public service agreements submitted to the Treasury explicitly refer to the promotion of sustainable development; and if he will make a statement. [119784]

Mr. Andrew Smith: At the start of the Spending Review last autumn, sustainable development was identified as a common issue for all Departments to take into account when drawing up their spending proposals. The Government's approach to sustainable development is set out in "A Better Quality of Life", published in May 1999.

3 May 2000 : Column: 148W

The Treasury asked that Green Ministers in Departments be closely involved in the preparation and conduct of Departmental contributions to the Review, to ensure that proper consideration is given to sustainable development issues. All Departments have now made their submissions, and the Treasury is assessing them to determine the extent to which further work is needed. Significant points are included in my Spending Review meetings with colleagues.

The Financial Secretary acts as the Green Minister for the Chancellor's departments and as such attends Green Ministers meetings with the Chairman of that Group.

Single Flights

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the taxable position of single flights (a) from and (b) to regions designated in section 19 of the Finance Bill. [120629]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 2 May 2000]: The effect of Clause 19 will be that passengers on flights from airports in the Scottish Highlands and Islands will be relieved of air passenger duty. Flights to the Scottish Highlands and Islands from other parts of the UK will not be covered by the exemption. However, the provisions of Clause 18 will mean that the duty on economy flights to the Scottish Highlands and Island will be halved to £5 while the duty on non-economy flights will remain at £10. Flights between airports in this region will be entirely exempt from duty.

National Insurance

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to increase the level of interest paid on backdated national insurance contribution rebates. [119940]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 20 April 2000]: The Department has paid, automatically, an additional 0.5 per cent. for each month of delay beyond October 1998. These payments are continuing, with Age Related Rebate payments due to be paid on 2 May 2000, increased by 9.5 per cent.

The Department's compensation scheme is regularly reviewed and any changes to current arrangements will be published in the normal way.

Region (Definition)

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his definition of "region" as used in section 19 of the Finance Bill; and how this relates to local government area and ward boundaries. [120628]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 2 May 2000]: Clause 19 introduces a provision which will allow passengers on flights from airports in certain regions to be exempt from Air Passenger Duty (APD). The regions will be defined by Treasury Order and it is the Government's intention that the order will name the Scottish Highlands and Islands. This region includes the local authority areas of Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles, Highland, Argyll and Bute, part of North Ayrshire and part of Moray.

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