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Scrapie
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to bring forward legislation to provide for compulsory powers to cull sheep from flocks possessing the genotype susceptible to scrapie. [11211]
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Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth) on 5 November 2001, Official Report, column 30W.
Imports
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the volume of (a) food imports and (b) agricultural imports into the United Kingdom in the last three years. [12809]
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Mr. Morley: It is not meaningful to combine volumes of different types of products. The table therefore shows the value of UK imports of food and agricultural products between 1998 and 2000.
More detailed information on food and agricultural imports, including volumes, can be found at the DEFRA website (www.defra.gov.uk/esg/work—htm/index/ trade.htm and click on the link to "UK trade data in food, feed and drink including indigenity and degree of processing").
Source:
HM Customs and Excise
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Tenanted Farms
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the future viability of local authorities' tenanted farms. [12807]
Mr. Morley: The 47th Annual Report to Parliament on Smallholdings in England was published in 1999. This report which is available in the Library of the House, covered the period to 31 March 1997. This showed that the total expenditure in the year to 31 March 1997, by local authorities with smallholdings, was £16.9 million and total income in the same period was £25.3 million. The Department also conducts an annual survey of tenanted land although this does not separately identify local authority tenanted farms.
We have also commissioned work to establish the role local authority tenanted farms play in providing farming lets to new entrants. A preliminary assessment of the impact of the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 was conducted by the University of Plymouth in 1997. This indicated that county smallholdings play an important but reducing role in providing farming lets to new entrants. A full policy evaluation of the 1995 Act is currently under way and this explores this area further. This work should be completed in early 2002.
Ragwort
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many horses have died from ingesting ragwort in each of the last 10 years. [13597]
Mr. Morley: This information is not collected by the Department. However I can confirm that where agricultural land, or land used by farmers who have
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diversified into equine enterprises, is threatened by the spread of injurious weeds such as ragwort the Department will continue to investigate any complaints received. We will also use our links with other organisations such as the British Horse Society to ensure horse owners are aware of the dangers of ragwort.
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
Legislation
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the President of the Council how many (a) Budgets have been introduced and (b) Government sponsored Bills have reached the statute book since 1997. [13866]
Mr. Robin Cook: The information requested is as follows—(a) Five and (b) 140.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures she is taking to ensure that water and sanitation issues are considered by the world summit on sustainable development; and if she will make a statement. [10934]
Mr. Meacher: I have been asked to reply.
To ensure that the UK views on water and sanitation are considered at the world summit on sustainable development (WSSD), I led the UK delegation to United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in
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Geneva in September. UNECE is the regional preparatory conference at which items for inclusion in WSSD are discussed. The conference agreed that WSSD should develop specific initiatives, building on work undertaken since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, in areas such as freshwater and sanitation.
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In December this year I will be leading the UK delegation to the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn at which water and sanitation issues will be further discussed. The discussions at the Bonn conference will be reported to the second preparatory committee for the world summit on sustainable development.