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EU Farming Regulations

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had with his European colleagues about ensuring uniformity of farming regulations across Europe. [122407]

Ms Quin: The Minister and I regularly meet colleagues from the other member states and the European Commission to discuss agricultural legislation. We are committed to the proper implementation of European legislation but also aware of the burdens that regulation can place on farmers. The recent Action Plan for Farming reaffirmed that we will avoid all gold plating of legislation.

Apiculture

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 16 March 2000, Official Report, column 311W, what steps he has taken to ensure beekeepers take appropriate measures to contain varroa in the current season. [122411]

Mr. Morley: In the UK, the Government fund a range of measures costing around £1.5 million annually. The National Bee Unit, in England, provides a free diagnostic and inspection service for the beekeeping industry, and training and guidance for beekeepers.

Sugar

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his oral statement of 11 May 2000, Official Report, column 1027, what the Government's policy is on the appropriate level of support for sugar. [122965]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The Government's view is that the EU sugar regime needs to be reformed and simplified. This was also the view of the previous Administration.

Agri-monetary Compensation

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from what date agri-monetary compensation has been available to the Government; and what was the maximum amount of agri-monetary compensation available to Britain in each year of the system's existence. [122970]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The UK has been eligible for agri-monetary compensation since 1997. The following amounts became available (in three year degressive packages) in each year:

	£ million
1997	1,036
1998	248
1999	579
2000(11)	291

(11) To date

Hedgerows

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his statement of 11 May 2000, Official Report, column 1036, concerning hedgerows, if the

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European Commission has abandoned plans to re-interpret IACS rules in a way that would penalise farmers for maintaining hedgerows over a given width. [122992]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The European Commission has accepted that we should continue for this year to apply our existing rules and practices for measuring field margins. As regards 2001 and subsequent years, MAFF officials are continuing to work with the Commission Services to clarify what types of margins will be acceptable for inclusion in aid claims.

Over 30-Months Scheme

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the level of expenditure on the Over-30-Months scheme was in each year since its introduction; what the expected level of expenditure is in the current year and in each of the next five years; and, for each annual figure, how much is contributed from (a) UK funds and (b) EU funds. [122994]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The information is as follows:

£ million

Year	Expenditure	Contributed from UK funds	Contributed from EU funds
1996-97	858	389	469
1997-98	432	230	202
1998-99	380	195	185
1999-2000(12)	394	208	186
	Current forecasts:
2000-01	329	176	153
2001-02	329	176	153

(12) Provisional

The forecasts through to 2001-02 are set out in the MAFF/IB Departmental Report 2000. As part of Spending Review 2000 these forecasts together with forecasts for 2002-03 and 2003-04 are being reviewed. They will be announced as part of the SR2000 settlement in the summer.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if a request was made by the Government to discuss the lifting of the Over-30-months scheme weight limit at (a) the first and (b) the second Beef Management Committee meetings in April. [121429]

Mr. Nick Brown: Officials wrote to the Services of the European Commission on 5 April asking them to make a proposal to the Beef Management Committee on 14 April to remove the weight limit on payments of Over- 30-months scheme cattle. The Commission were unable to prepare a proposal in time for submission to that meeting, and there was no second meeting of the Management Committee in April. A proposal to remove the weight limit was agreed at the Beef Management Committee on 12 May.

Farm Waste Grant Scheme

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answers of 18 April 2000, Official Report, column 333W and 5 May 2000, Official Report, column 245-46W, concerning the Farm Waste

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Grant Scheme, if he will reconcile the figures for expenditure on the Scheme in 2001-02 given in the two answers. [123017]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 22 May 2000]: The figure which I gave to the hon. Member on 17 April, on the aid measures in respect of the Farm Waste Grant Scheme announced as part of the Action Plan for Farming, represents the new funding which will be made available in 2001-02. The figure, which I gave him on 5 May, is the total amount, which will be available to farmers under this Scheme from 2001-02, including the current provision.

Secondments

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many staff from his Department were seconded to private sector companies in (a) May 1997 to April 1998, (b) May 1998 to April 1999 and (c) May 1999 to April 2000; and if he will list in each case the companies to which staff were sent, the names and ranks of the staff involved and the duration of the secondment. [123421]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 24 May 2000]: Secondments and attachments are part of the Interchange Initiative which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. All sectors of the economy are involved: Voluntary, Education, Health, Public and Private. Interchange is a key component of the reform agenda. The Modernising Government White Paper committed us to increasing interchange, in particular by bringing in more people on secondment and sending more of our people out.

The information requested in the question subparts:

(a) For the period May 1997 to April 1998 two staff were involved in secondments to:
Coopers and Lybrand, Grade 7 (3 November 1997 to 3 September 1998)
Capita/RAS. Grade 7 (10 November 1997 to 5 February 2000)
(b) For the period May 1998 to April 1999 two staff were involved in secondments to:
Alternative Crops Technology Information Network, HSO (1 June 1998 to 30 November 1999)
Capita/RAS. Grade 7 (15 September 1998 to 30 September 2000); Grade 7 (10 March 1999 to 9 July 2000)
(c) For the period May 1999 to April 2000 see (b).

Websites

Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what his Department's policy is on (a) advertising and (b) acknowledging company sponsorship on the websites of his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies; which companies (i) have placed advertisements and (ii) are acknowledged as sponsors on those websites; how much revenue has been received for each financial year since 1997 from such advertisements and sponsorship; and if that revenue has been retained within the budget of his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [119551]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 19 May 2000]: As far as core MAFF, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are concerned, the current position is that there is no commercial advertising or sponsorship on websites.

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The acceptance of advertising and the acknowledgement of sponsors by MAFF Non-Departmental public bodies are matters for the discretion of the Accounting Officer of the Non-Departmental public body concerned.

The British Potato Council and the Home Grown Cereals Authority both acknowledge their IT consultants as suppliers. No revenue is received.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew acknowledges on its website the following companies, including Trusts and Foundations, who have supported the Millennium Seed Bank Project: Millennium Commission, Wellcome Trust, Orange plc, The Esmee Fairburn Charitable Trust, Glaxo

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Wellcome plc, The Maurice Laing Foundation, The Rufford Foundation, Tate and Lyle plc and the Philecology Trust. The total revenue received from sponsors since 1997 is as follows.

Year	£000	$000
1996-97	1,075	0
1997-98	2,355	13
1998-99	5,569	100
1999-2000	9,045	100

The revenue received has been retained to spend on the Millennium Seed Bank Project.

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