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Part-time Employees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of the staff of her Department are part-time employees. [47171]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 April 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr. Leslie) on 10 April 2002, Official Report, column 50W.

Chemical Weapons

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement about the number of chemical weapons dumped at sea and the potential risk they pose. [48889]

Dr. Moonie: I have been asked to reply.

Detailed inventories of chemical weapons and other munitions disposed of to dumpsites at sea are no longer available, as many records were destroyed after the disposals as a matter of routine custom and practice. Where records of the disposals do remain in existence, they have been released to the Public Record Office. Information on the locations of sea disposals of chemical weapons has also been placed in the Library of the House. As to the potential risk posed by chemical weapons, the long-held consensus of international scientific opinion is that munitions on the seabed present no significant risk to safety, human health or the marine environment, provided they remain undisturbed.

Laying Hens (Welfare)

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to lay the order for the laying hens welfare code; and if she will make a statement. [48836]

Mr. Morley: The laying hens welfare code will be laid before Parliament at the same time as the English regulations to implement the Welfare of Laying hens Directive 99/74/EC.

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Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department intends to make proposals for the introduction of the Laying Hens Welfare Code which go beyond those stated in the 1999 EU Directive on Welfare of Laying Hens 1999/74/EC; and if she will make a statement. [48837]

Mr. Morley: A new Welfare Code for Laying Hens will be published to accompany English regulations to implement the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive 99/74/EC. It is intended that the Directive will be implemented in England without being added to in any way. The Code focuses on the welfare outcome for the birds.

Matthew Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to carry out a full public consultation on changes to the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive. [50344]

Mr. Morley: A full public consultation on domestic Regulations to implement Council Directive 99/74/EC has already taken place. Any further proposed changes to the Regulations or Directive will be subject to another public consultation exercise.

Development (Special Urgency Provisions)

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often in the last three years, and for what purpose, her Department has applied the special urgency provisions in paragraph 22 of circular 18/84 (Development by Government Departments). [48946]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 15 April 2002]: The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (and before 8 June 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) has not applied the special urgency provisions in paragraph 22 of Circular 18/84 (Development by Government Departments) over the last three years.

Floods

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what sources of EU funding are available for flood relief and prevention measures from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund; what the total is of such funds for which the UK is eligible in 2001–02; and what the total is of such funds which her Department has (a) applied for and (b) been allocated in 2001–02. [48984]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 15 April 2002]: No significant financial assistance is made available by the European Union to assist member states in the provision of flood and coastal defences.

Pet Passports

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on when she intends to allow the use of pet passports for the USA and Canada; and how the scheme will operate. [48803]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 16 April 2002]: In January 2001, the Pet Travel Scheme was extended to rabies-free islands, including Hawaii. Mainland USA and

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Canada have not been included in the scheme as it was concluded that doing so would increase the risk of importing rabies.

However, the Government undertook to review the position of these countries. We have received a further assessment on the risk of importing rabies and a report on other zoonotic diseases which could be introduced to the UK if the scheme was extended to the USA and Canada. Both reports are being reviewed and evaluated. I hope to make an announcement on the conclusions of these reports shortly.

The import of dogs and cats from the USA and Canada, along with other third countries, would become subject to EU rules if agreement is reached on a proposal from the Commission for a regulation on the animal-health requirements applicable to non-commercial movement of pet animals. This proposal will be discussed at the meeting of Agriculture Ministers on 22 and 23 April.

The Government will need to take account of this proposal before reaching final decisions.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Insolvency Service

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her Department's answer of 24 January 2002, Official Report, column 632W, on the Insolvency Service, what progress the Insolvency Service has made in centralising its administrative functions in areas of (a) lower growth and (b) high unemployment. [42224]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency Service will continue to seek to make best use of its existing estate and, wherever possible, to reduce its costs. The movement of work from areas and offices where there are pressures on accommodation or difficulties with recruitment or retention of staff to other offices is carried out where appropriate and the service has piloted a successful scheme to enable flexible, remote working by staff in its London office. The redevelopment of the service's IT systems over the next few years will increase the capability and capacity for such remote working and enable further savings in accommodation costs to be made.

Overtime Payments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her policy is on overtime payments for staff in her Department. [49122]

Ms Hewitt: The Department is clear that overtime should be an exception. If regular overtime is required, management should consider how the work can be accomplished in ways other than by continued overtime.

Where overtime is necessary, all staff below the senior civil service are entitled to receive payment, or time off in lieu, or both, for work carried out in addition to weekly conditioned hours (41 in London and 42 hours outside London).

Staff in the senior civil service are not entitled to receive payment for overtime.

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For all staff working part-time, payments are made for additional hours worked up to the weekly conditioned hours. Payments for hours worked beyond net conditioned hours are available as above.

Small Businesses

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many smaller enterprises have benefited from the regional venture capital funds on an annual basis in each of the regions since the inception of the scheme. [49860]

Nigel Griffiths: The first regional venture capital funds only became operational in January 2002 so the information requested is not yet available.

Claims Direct

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Claims Direct franchisees paid for their franchises with loans supported by her Department; how many such Claims Direct franchisees with such loans have become bankrupt; and if she will make a statement. [48745]

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme has assisted eight Claims Direct franchisees to set up their business. To date no claims have been made under the guarantee.

Ministerial Training

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by her Department on training by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for Ministers and officials in each of the last five years. [48879]

Ms Hewitt: The majority of the Department's training budget is allocated to individual directorates. Each directorate has responsibility for managing, monitoring and evaluating attendance at training events in line with the departmental business and training plans. Disproportionate costs would be incurred to collate the data centrally for the purposes of answering this question.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by her Department on training in leadership skills for Ministers and officials in each of the last five years [48880]

Ms Hewitt: The Department centrally funds some leadership training. These figures, available for the last three years, are detailed in the table.

	£
1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002	(1)592,064
1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001	380,449
1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000	276,444

⁽¹⁾ Provisional

However, the majority of the Department's training budget is allocated to individual directorates. Each directorate has responsibility for managing, monitoring and evaluating attendance at training events in line with the departmental business and training plans. Disproportionate costs would be incurred to collate the data centrally for the purposes of answering this question.

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The Department also encourages the use of in-house mentors, coaches and job shadowing as a means of developing staff. Although recognised in terms of staff costs, this does not have a direct cash cost.

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