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Electoral Pilots

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether local authorities operating electoral pilots for the May 2002 local elections involving all-postal ballots will be required to (a) ensure that ballot papers are fully accessible to visually impaired voters through the use of (i) standard ballot papers which conform to clear print guidelines, (ii) tactile templates, and (iii) notices in alternative formats and (b) offer visually impaired and other print disabled people an alternative means of casting a secret ballot independently. [19846]

Dr. Whitehead: The criteria for assessing applications to conduct electoral pilot schemes at the May 2002 local elections include the criterion that no elector, including anyone who is visually impaired, should be disadvantaged in casting their vote in any proposed pilot compared with the standard procedure for conducting elections. We will consider any alternative means for visually impaired electors to vote in secret provided the basic principles for secrecy of the ballot are maintained.

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Visually Impaired Voters

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps his Department is taking to ensure that electoral administrators comply with the duty to display at least one large print notice and have available a voting template for the benefit of visually impaired voters at every polling station in the May 2002 local elections; and what assessment he has made of the availability of these devices at the 2001 General Election. [19847]

Dr. Whitehead: Returning officers are under a legal duty to display a large print ballot paper and to provide a voting device for the visually impaired in each polling station. Any returning officer failing to comply may, therefore, be subject to prosecution. The Home Office ensured that sufficient voting templates were available to every returning officer free of charge to supply each polling station at the 2001 General Election.

Public Service Agreements

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what progress is being made in concluding local public service agreements. [21426]

Mr. Raynsford: The national roll-out phase of local PSAs is now under way. Almost 120 local authorities have said they want to take part in the programme over the next two years. We have signed the first of these further agreements with East Riding of Yorkshire council, and expect to sign agreements with Leeds city council, Peterborough city council and Buckinghamshire county council before Christmas. Copies of local PSAs will be placed in the House Library as they are concluded.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Livestock Markets

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of loss in (a) turnover and (b) tax revenue caused by the closure of livestock markets. [19741]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 4 December 2001]: The Department is working to establish the economic losses resulting from the closure of livestock markets. The tax revenue losses from closure are very uncertain.

Rural Bus Services

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 28 November 2001, how many rural households were within 10 minutes walk of an hourly bus service in (a) 1992 to 1994, (b) 1995 to 1997 and (c) 1998 to 2000. [20703]

Alun Michael: It is not possible to provide figures of numbers of households because the appropriate total numbers of households in rural areas for multiplying up the proportions are not available. Rural areas are all areas which are not defined as urban areas, plus urban areas with a population less than 3,000, as defined by the 1991 census. Information on the proportion of households within 10 minutes walk of an hourly bus service (based

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on information from the National Travel Survey) was provided for the hon. Member on 21 November 2001, Official Report, columns 327–28W, by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble).

Energy Policy

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what submission her Department has made to the performance and innovation unit's inquiry into long-term energy policy. [18238]

Mr. Meacher: The Department submitted six papers to the performance and innovation unit's energy review, all of which can be seen on its website. The papers are entitled: Introduction and Projections Methodology; Low Carbon Options for the Domestic Sector; Scope for Demand Side Measures in Industry; Energy Projections for the Service Sector; Transport Energy Efficiency; and Additional Savings and Associated Costs. I am a member of the advisory group to the review, and my Department has also been in regular contact with the unit throughout the review.

Animal Holdings

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many holdings in each of the last 10 years had (a) one animal, (b) two to five animals, (c) five to 10 animals, (d) 10 to 100 animals, (e) 100 to 200 animals and (f) more than 200 animals. [20715]

Mr. Morley: Number of main holdings in England by animal size group is provided in the table.

Animal size groups

12–56–1011–100101–200201 and overTotal
19905373,4383,87834,80617,14837,88597,692
19915693,5863,93034,64416,85037,16096,739
19926653,6773,98834,84916,68936,74596,613
19937793,8254,16134,86416,55736,41496,600
19947453,8744,08034,49516,44636,16495,804
19955933,1733,51732,89116,17735,10291,453
19965893,2793,44732,25416,16234,52490,255
19976483,0363,20732,65715,64734,19289,387
19986452,9953,38131,43315,33733,98487,775
19994763,2913,31131,07015,20033,64086,988
20006654,0883,51027,37213,64931,65080,934

Note:

Animals include total cattle and calves, total pigs, total sheep and lambs, total goats and farmed deer (except for 1990 where no figure for farmed deer is available).

Source:

June Agricultural and Horticultural Census (main holdings only).


Trade Effluent

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 2 July 2001, Official Report, column 46W, on trade effluent, if she will answer all the questions listed. [20691]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 4 December 2001]: In my answer of 2 July 2001, Official Report, column 46W, I informed my hon. Friend that the information he

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requested was not held centrally. I now have this information which I am pleased to make available to him. The following tables contain this information.

The total number of prosecutions for breaches of trade effluent discharge consents between 1 April 1999 and 31 July 2001 is 21, with total fines of £141,500. Unfortunately no information is available for 1998 as records only began in April 1999.

Environment agency region/sectorTotal fines (£)
Anglian
NoneNone
Midlands
NoneNone
North East
Food Processing32,000
Mining/quarries500
Local authority1,500
North West
Brewery9,500
Board Manufacturer10,000
Timber Merchants2,000
Mining/quarries4,000
Paper Manufacturers17,500
Southern
Food Processing14,000
Mining/quarries2,000
Food Processing2,000
South West
Textiles2,000
Mining/quarries1,000
Food Processing3,000
Mining/quarries500
Mining/quarries(41)
Thames
Brewery9,000
Wales
Water4,000
Water2,000
Water10,000
Energy15,000

(41) 3 year conditional discharge


Percentage

Compliance of discharge consents in force
Environment agency region199819992000
Anglian73.574.378.6
Midlands(42)83.585.984.7
North East85.986.583.8
North West88.686.482.3
Southern62.859.670.7
South West49.261.361.9
Thames87.084.286.5
England80.181.579.5
Wales77.352.271.8
All regions79.678.378.5

(42) Midlands Region data for 1998 and 1999 are for all trade discharges as it is not possible to breakdown this historic data to significant discharges only


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Percentage of consents in force monitored
Environment agency region199819992000
Anglian91.192.887.3
Midlands82.572.866.6
North East45.745.049.2
North West73.558.561.6
Southern77.777.356.0
South West100.091.080.4
Thames93.587.459.2
England74.869.164.1
Wales62.272.989.8
All regions72.769.667.3

Percentage of trade discharge consents reviewed
Environment agency region199819992000
Anglian211
Midlands5619
North East222
North West352
Southern9179
South West12814
Thames351818
England769
Wales152019
All regions8810

Percentage of discharge consents containing red list substances
Environment agency region199819992000
Anglian7.06.16.1
Midlands3.02.85.1
North East2.22.32.2
North West3.92.80.7
Southern12.216.39.9
South West11.69.78.5
Thames4.03.52.9
England4.64.24.4
Wales0.50.80.8
All regions4.03.83.9

Number of industrial discharge consents in force
Environment agency region199819992000
Anglian313374378
Midlands1,1861,329680
North East982958950
North West559675586
Southern188141232
South West362442541
Thames277317377
England3,8674,2363,744
Wales(43)740531528
All regions4,6074,7674,272

(43) The figure for 2000 is an estimate, accurate data are unavailable



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