---

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff were employed by her Department on (a) 2 May 1997 and (b) 31 May 2002. [60921]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 13 June 2002, Official Report, column 1402W.

Warm Front Scheme

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in reducing fuel poverty through the Warm Front Scheme; how many households have been assisted in (a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01; how much the average cost was in (i) 1999–2000 and (ii) 2000–01 of assisting each household via the Warm Front Scheme in terms of (A) actual cost of the measures carried out and (B) the average cost of the administration which enabled households to receive the measures; what the measures, the planned expenditure is on warm front in (1) 2002–03 and (2) 2003–04; and what the percentage change has been in expenditure in each region of the UK since 1999–2000. [60668]

Mr. Meacher: The new Home Energy Efficiency Scheme, launched in June 2000 is marketed as Warm Front.

The table provides details for the previous HEES, which provided insulation measures only (column two), Warm Front from launch of the scheme in June 2000 to March 2001 (column three) and April 2001 to March 2002 (column four).

	April 1999 to March 2000	June 2000 to March 2001	April 2001 to March 2002
Number of households assisted who receive either insulation, heating or both	339,000	106,800	254,600
Average value per household (£)	176	322	464
Value of measures (£)	59,670,000	34,360,000	140,600,000

1 Jul 2002 : Column 49W

The reduction in the number of households assisted by Warm Front reflects the introduction of the package approach of measures combining insulation and heating under the scheme. There was also a slow start for gas heating due to the national shortage of trained heating engineers. Measures installed may include cavity wall, loft insulation, draught proofing, individual gas wall heaters or electric storage heaters and either gas or electric central heating systems.

These figures do not identify the scheme managers' administration costs. Information regarding administration costs is commercially sensitive and could be used in future tender rounds to unfairly distort the competition process.

The budget for Warm Front, an England only scheme, for the financial years 2000 to 2004 is over £600 million. The information on the percentage change of expenditure for each region in the UK is not held in the format requested for individual households and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information on the measures installed at individual property in 2000–01 has previously been provided on 15 January 2002, Official Report, column 261W. A copy of the data referred to in that answer is available on CD-Rom in the Library.

1 Jul 2002 : Column 50W

We will carry out a review of Warm Front during this financial year to look at how effective its delivery has been, the issues faced, solutions found, examples of best practice and future priorities. This will include consideration of the impact of the scheme on reducing the number of vulnerable fuel poor households.

Bees

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) notifications and (b) confirmations of specified diseases under the Bee Diseases Control Order 1982 there were in each region in each of the last 10 years. [63521]

Mr. Morley: There are three notifiable diseases specified under the Bee Diseases Control Order 1982—American foulbrood; European foulbrood; and Varroosis (varroa). All new suspected cases have to be reported, and in England investigations are carried out by the National Bee Unit (NBU). The numbers of notifications and confirmations of these diseases are set out in the table below by NBU region. Data for American and European foulbrood before 1994 is not available.

Numbers of varroa samples received

Region	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Varroa positive samples
Northern	0	0	0	2	19	34	105	141	230
North East	1	10	30	103	124	162	132	47	25
Western	1	28	75	81	197	198	93	34	9
Eastern	17	55	31	200	252	68	17	12	7
South West	124	166	114	87	57	25	7	3	4
Southern	33	176	207	283	152	53	13	15	5
South East	128	165	142	179	116	35	11	9	6
Wales	1	0	11	53	54	94	61	47	15
Totals	305	600	610	988	971	669	439	308	301
Varroa negatives
Region	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Northern	221	345	288	273	309	213	158	92	42
North East	588	734	837	415	611	237	32	5	1
Western	594	752	609	617	607	221	40	10	3
Eastern	530	530	288	254	168	19	2	3	1
South West	593	279	158	86	66	17	3	1	0
Southern	933	837	518	214	110	23	2	3	0
South East	604	508	286	120	35	8	6	2	1
Wales	329	341	310	492	284	160	43	18	21
Totals	4392	4326	3294	2471	2190	898	286	134	69
Total no samples received	4697	4926	3904	3459	3161	1567	725	442	370

⁽³³⁾ 2002 data to 20 June

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent (a) representations she has received from and (b) discussions she has had with the beekeeping industry; and if she will make a statement. [63522]

Mr. Morley: My officials meet annually with representatives of the UK beekeeping sector. The most recent meeting was held on 8 November 2001, when a range of issues affecting the sector were discussed, including measures to control bee diseases. The Central Science Laboratory's National Bee Unit (NBU) also meets beekeepers regularly.

Most recently, the Department has received a number of written representations from beekeepers about financial burdens placed on Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI) Ltd. We welcome BDI's role in encouraging beekeepers in

1 Jul 2002 : Column 51W

England to play their part in the identification of notifiable diseases. However, the issue of payments by insurance companies is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and affiliated bodies. My officials have passed these representations to these organisations as appropriate.

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent by her Department on bee (a) husbandry and (b) disease prevention by category in each of the last 10 years. [63524]

Mr. Morley: The Department assists the beekeeping sector in England by funding a range of measures to protect bee health. Under these measures, the national bee unit provides a free diagnostic and inspection service to the beekeeping sector as well as training and education to help beekeepers become more self reliant through improved bee husbandry. The Department also supports the beekeeping sector through strategic research into bee pests and diseases.

It is not possible to differentiate expenditure between bee husbandry and disease control. All fieldwork undertaken by the national bee unit is for the purpose of disease prevention and control. Departmental expenditure on R&D for the period 1992–93 to 2001–02 is set out in the table. Prior to 1994 the regional offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food were responsible for bee disease control. In 1994 this work was centralised within the national bee unit and aggregated figures are not available for earlier years.

£

	Expenditure under memorandum of understanding with Central Science Laboratory National Bee Unit	R&D Expenditure	Total Expenditure
1992–93	—	61,000	61,000
1993–94	—	140,000	140,000
1994–95	1,511,000	314,000	1,825,000
1995–96	1,534,000	259,000	1,793,000
1996–97	1,300,000	203,000	1,503,000
1997–98	1,300,000	215,000	1,515,000
1998–99	1,300,000	248,000	1,548,000
1999–2000	1,300,000	241,000	1,541,000
2000–01	1,300,000	226,000	1,526,000
2001–02	1,300,000	187,000	1,487,000

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many registered beekeepers there were in each region in each of the last 10 years. [63578]

Mr. Morley: There is no compulsory registration of beekeepers in England. The database held by the Central Science Laboratory's National Bee Unit, which is used to maintain records of statutory inspections, holds details of some 25,000 beekeepers.

1 Jul 2002 : Column 52W

---