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Television Licences

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by her Department. [48340]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The Department does not hold centrally a record of its television licences. Records are, though, held centrally for televisions in the Department's London buildings. For these my Department holds three television licences each of which are priced at £104.00 per annum, totalling £312.00.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by

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her Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose. [48341]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 April 2002]: DEFRA Ministers and their private offices operate solely from Nobel House, Smith Square, London. There are currently no subscriptions to any digital services into the building. All cable services are currently provided as analogue.

Warden Bay, Kent

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures her Department has taken to protect the cliffs at Warden Bay, Kent, from disintegration; and what plans she has to use concrete structures to protect the cliffs at Warden Bay. [48551]

Mr. Morley: This Department provides funding for capital flood and coastal defence works which meet set criteria but operational responsibility rests with the local operating authorities, normally the Environment Agency and local councils, who decide which projects to promote and their timing. I understand that Swale Borough Council is currently undertaking a scoping study at Warden Bay but at present has no plans for works to protect the cliffs there.

Departmental Policy

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department will ensure that the interests of the food and farming industries are taken into account across the range of Government policy. [46739]

Mr. Morley: DEFRA's Ministerial team and officials already take full account of the interests of the food and farming industries in developing and delivering Government policy, in liaison and co-operation with others in Government. The creation of DEFRA signalled our intention to deal with and balance the needs of these industries, the wider rural economy and communities, and the urban and rural environment in the round. The Prime Minister and Secretary of State's seminar on 26 March with leaders of farming, food, rural, environmental and consumer bodies exemplified this approach. The seminar served to initiate a comprehensive process of engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. This process will help inform the construction of a new strategy for sustainable food and farming to be launched this autumn.

Consultants

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many management consultants have been used by her Department since its creation; and how much they have cost. [34354]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 7 February 2002]: The information can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total cost to her Department was of the use of external consultants in each of the last four years. [35024]

Mr. Morley: DEFRA came into being on 8 June 2001. The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Job No: CW0126 Folios: 000-000Operator: Operator Number 3. Date: 11/04/02rjk

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what has been the value of all payments made under each project heading to (a) Arthur Andersen, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) Deloitte and Touche and (d) PricewaterhouseCoopers in each financial year since 1996–97. [44032]

Mr. Morley: DEFRA came into being on 8 June 2001. The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many contracts were let by her Department and agencies for which she is responsible to (a) PWC Consulting or PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Ernst & Young, (c) Deloitte & Touche, (d) KPMG and (e) Andersen for consultancy services for the financial years (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000, (iv) 2000–01 and (v) 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, indicating the remuneration in each case. [33845]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Christopher Leslie) on 14 February, Official Report, column 564W.

Accountancy Contracts

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the contracts agreed by her Department with the five largest accountancy firms since May 1997; and what was the total value of contracts with each. [42104]

Mr. Morley: DEFRA came into being on 8 June 2001. The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Stakeholders

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list her Department's stakeholders, as referred to in "Waiting for the Essentials of Life". [46731]

Mr. Morley: DEFRA has many stakeholders, indeed our work embraces issues that have a direct affect on the lives of everyone in Britain and many overseas too. In producing "Working for the Essentials of Life" we wanted to produce a statement of our work that was accessible to many people. The document was circulated to over 4,800 businesses, public interest, community, representational and other groups who constitute DEFRA's organisational stakeholders. I have deposited a list of these in the Library of the House.

Beef Exports

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what

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representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the French Government to remove its illegal ban on beef produced in the United Kingdom. [48302]

Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has repeatedly raised this issue with her French counterparts at Agriculture Councils. The Prime Minister also raised the issue at the highest level at the recent EU summit in Barcelona.

Action to enforce the Judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) lies with the Commission which wrote to the French Government on 20 March seeking observations on France's failure to comply with the ruling. This is the first stage in a process which may lead to a further ECJ case against France.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the PSA target for the level of UK beef exports in 2001 will be met in 2002. [47907]

Mr. Morley: The target will not be met for several reasons including that progress towards re-establishing beef export markets has been severely hindered by the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic and the continuing illegal French import ban. The conditions of the Date-based Export Scheme have also discouraged potential exporters which is why we are pressing for a relaxation of the Scheme requirements to permit establishments to be dedicated to export on certain days rather than full time.

Job No: CW0126 Folios: 000-000Operator: Operator Number 3. Date: 11/04/02rjk

Climate Change

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many of the parties involved in the Kyoto agreement on climate change have ratified the protocol; and when the remaining parties will complete the ratification process.[47048]

Mr. Meacher: As at 19 March 2002, 50 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change had ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

The UK and other EU Member States intend to complete ratification of the Protocol by early June in time for entry into force by the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

It is not possible at this stage to say for certain which other Parties will ratify the Protocol and when they will complete the necessary procedures. However, for the Protocol to enter into force, 55 countries accounting for at least 55 per cent. of greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised countries in 1990, must ratify. To secure this, both Japan and Russia need to ratify as well as the EU.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government will ratify the Kyoto protocol on climate change. [47046]

Mr. Meacher: The UK intends to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in time for it to enter into force by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in September. A European Community decision to ratify Kyoto was adopted on 4 March. This paved the way for the UK and the other EU Member States to complete their own

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ratification procedures. On 7 March, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made a statement to the House setting in motion the process of UK ratification. Once the Parliamentary process is complete, the Foreign Secretary will be in a position to sign the ratification instrument. For legal and presentational reasons, the European Community and each of its Member States have agreed to deposit their instruments of ratification with the UN Depository simultaneously. Since entry into force of the Protocol will occur only 90 days after the prescribed number of ratification instruments have been deposited, the aim is to do this by early June at the latest.

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