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Parliamentary Questions

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the questions of the hon. Member for the Vale of York of 6 February, Refs 33931 and 33933–33935. [36941]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the replies to her on 12 February 2002, Official Report, columns 267–68W and 273–74W.

Common Agricultural Policy

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will calculate

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the change in CAP sterling payments to UK agriculture if the calculations had been based on ECU not the euro in each of the last three years. [37642]

Mr. Morley: It is not possible to calculate what CAP sterling payments to UK agriculture would have been in each of the last three years had they been based on the ecu rather than the euro. The ecu has not existed in the last three years. Eleven of the 15 currencies from which it was calculated were pegged to the euro throughout that period, and Greece joined subsequently. Since we do not know how those currencies would have fluctuated had the euro not been introduced, we cannot tell what the value of the ecu or any CAP payments linked to it would have been.

Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the importance of discussion of European Union enlargement to the mid-term review of Agenda 2000 on Common Agricultural Policy reform; and if she will make a statement. [37921]

Mr. Morley: Her Majesty's Government believe that CAP reform is necessary, that preparation of enlargement should proceed in parallel with discussion of reform but that enlargement should not determine that reform.

Appointments

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people have been appointed by her to official bodies and NDPBs coming under the aegis of her Department in the last three years; and who they were. [33348]

Mr. Morley: Information about the numbers and remuneration of ministerial appointments to public bodies, including the names of chairpersons, is included in the annual Cabinet Office publication, "Public Bodies". Copies are available in the Libraries of the House and also published on the Cabinet Office's website at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/quango. The next edition of "Public Bodies", which will include information on appointments as at 31 March 2001, will be published shortly.

The names of all members appointed to public bodies are published annually in the departmental report. Departmental reports for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are available in the Libraries of the House. The 2001 report is also available on line at www.defra.gov.uk. Publication of the 2002 report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is expected in late spring 2002.

A number of public bodies, which were the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), transferred to DEFRA in June 2001 as a result of the machinery of Government changes. Names of members appointed to these bodies before the changes were published in the DETR annual departmental reports, available in the Libraries of the House. The DETR reports for 1999, 2000 and April 2001 are also available on line at www.dtlr.gov.uk.

Mr. Forth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the appointments made by her Department since 1 May 1997

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of chairmen of (a) non-departmental public bodies, (b) commissions, (c) inquiries, (d) agencies and (e) task forces; and if she will list their (i) term of office, (ii) salary and (iii) known political affiliation (A) past and (B) present. [33884]

Mr. Morley: The information requested on chairmen of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be placed in the Library of the House.

The Commissions to which the Department appoints chairmen are listed among the NDPBs in the table which has been placed in the Library of the House. They are the Meat and Livestock Commission (executive NDPB), the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the Sustainable Development Commission (advisory NDPBs). The public body, the Commons Commissioners, is an NDPB tribunal.

The agencies to which the Department appoints chairmen are listed among the NDPBs in the aforementioned table. They are the Countryside Agency and the Environment Agency (executive NDPBs).

The Department appointed the chairmen of the following Public Inquiry:









Information on the number, remit, and membership of task forces, ad hoc advisory groups and reviews has been published by the Cabinet Office on a regular basis. The first report was published on 11 January 2000 and gives information on the period between 1 May 1997 to 31 October 1999. A second report was published on 27 July 2000 and covered the period 1 November 1999 to 30 April 2000. The most recent report: "Task Forces, Ad Hoc Advisory Groups and Reviews" was issued in October 2001, and covers the period of the financial year 2000–01. Copies of these reports have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Meat Imports

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many port health officials were employed to check personal imports of meat and meat products on 1 January (a) 2002, (b) 2001, (c) 2000 and (d) 1999. [36585]

Mr. Morley: Responsibility for checks on imports of meat and meat products at points of entry are the responsibility of the local or port health authority and it is for the appropriate local authority to deploy staff according to the volume and nature of products imported. Most of the staff also undertake a range of other duties so the number checking imports can vary from day to day. The total number of local authority staff employed at Border Inspection Posts as at November 2001 was 196, comprising 97 Environmental Health Officers, 48 Official

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Veterinary Surgeons and 51 support staff. Figures for other years and staff not working at Border Inspection Posts are not available.

HM Customs officers also carry out checks for illegally imported meat and other animal products in passengers' baggage. In addition State Veterinary Service staff are also empowered to deal with illegally imported animal products when they are found.

Fishermen's Association Ltd.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she next intends to meet the Fishermen's Association Ltd. regarding its concerns on enforcement of fisheries policy; and if she will make a statement. [36548]

Mr. Morley: We have no current plans to meet the Fishermen's Association Ltd.

Combined Heat and Power

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that the Government's CHP target is reflected in her Department's aims and objectives. [37705]

Mr. Meacher: The Government target of 10,000 MWe of installed CHP by 2010 will make a significant contribution to DEFRA's objectives to promote sustainable management and prudent use of natural resources domestically and internationally. The CHP target will also contribute to DEFRA's future public service agreement targets.

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on how applicants qualify for inclusion in the Government's quality assessment procedure for CHP; and whether this procedure requires periodic re-assessment. [37710]

Mr. Meacher: The Combined Heat and Power Quality Assurance programme (CHPQA) provides a practical, determinate method for assessing CHP schemes. Operators are required to self-assess their scheme, based on actual performance data, which are subject to validation and verification. A CHPQA certificate is then issued detailing the parameters qualifying as "Good Quality" CHP. All CHPQA certificates are valid to 31 December of the year of issue, whereupon applicants must submit a fresh self-assessment based on the previous year's data.

Dioxins

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 12 November 2001, Official Report, column 598W, on dioxins, what assessment she has made of where the dioxins emitted to air from an incinerator end up and how long they are likely to remain in the environment. [34575]

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Mr. Meacher: Low levels of dioxins can be detected in all environmental media and, in the UK, the mean levels are currently approximately:


The critical factor for all of these is the concentration in air, which itself is controlled by emissions from primary sources and by complex exchanges/recycling of dioxins with water, soil and vegetation. Dioxin emissions to air from municipal solid waste incinerators contribute less than 1 per cent. of total dioxin emissions, so they currently make only a minor contribution to environmental concentrations.

Dioxins are persistent in the environment and commonly have half-lives in soils and sediments in the order of years, although these will vary between the different compounds and media.

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