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CAP (Support Payments)

Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farms in the Scottish Borders receive (a) available support payments and (b) livestock support payments from CAP schemes in excess of £200,000 per year. [66047]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 2 July 2002]: The payment of Common Agricultural Policy subsidies to farmers is a devolved matter and hence information in relation to such payments to farms in the Scottish Borders is a matter for the Scottish Executive.

Kyoto Protocol

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress the UK has made with regard to the Kyoto Protocol. [66642]

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Mr. Meacher: The UK completed ratification of the Kyoto Protocol with all other EU member states on 31 May. In order for the Kyoto Protocol to enter into force, it must be ratified by at least 55 countries, including developed countries accounting for at least 55 per cent. of this industrialised group's emissions in 1990. We hope it will enter into force as soon as possible although in practice this is now unlikely before early 2003. The UK remains committed to the Kyoto Protocol as the framework for taking forward global action to tackle climate change. Our target under Kyoto is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008–12. UK emissions were returned to 1990 levels by 2000 and we are well on course to meet our Kyoto target.

EU Directive 1999/74/EC

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what economic assessment she has made of recent proposals to bring forward implementation of EU Directive 1999/74/EC. [66349]

Mr. Morley: A full regulatory impact assessment concerning implementation of council directive 1999/74/EC into domestic legislation has already been laid before the House. A partial regulatory impact assessment will form part of the forthcoming consultation on the proposal to ban enriched cages from 2012.

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions and representations she has had regarding implementation of EU Directive 1999/74/EC. [66350]

Mr. Morley: Since the public consultation on implementation of EU Directive 1999/74/EC into English legislation, Ministers and officials have regularly met with stakeholders to discuss the way forward and will continue to do so.

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what economic assessment she has made of her proposals regarding the establishment of nitrate vulnerable zones in England; and what estimates she has made of the cost of the implementation of an (a) 100 per cent., (b) 80 per cent. and (c) 55 per cent. nitrate vulnerable zone in England. [66351]

Mr. Meacher: A partial regulatory impact assessment (RIA) was published in the consultation document "How should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?" in December 2001. This estimated the net annual cost to the agricultural industry of applying action programme measures as £32 million for the whole country approach and £23 million for the discrete area nitrate vulnerable zone approach.

As the Secretary of State announced on 27 June, the Government have decided to pursue the discrete area nitrate vulnerable zone approach. Since the consultation we have refined the map to identify more precisely the land draining into each nitrate-polluted or eutrophic water. We also published a revised regulatory impact assessment, which reworked the implementation costs for

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the refined NVZ area and also took into account comments made in response to the consultation. The revised estimate is £20 million per year.

Foot and Mouth

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent changes have been made to the European Union's policy on vaccination-to-live relating to foot and mouth; and what research she has recently commissioned on tests to differentiate between vaccinated and infected animals. [66149]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 2 July 2002]: No recent changes have been made to the European Union's policy on vaccination in relation to foot and mouth disease.

DEFRA are currently in the process of approving a project to develop a test using non-structural proteins to distinguish between vaccinated and infected animals, and are examining its feasibility for use on a herd basis to detect exposed animals. Following on from this, a study will be undertaken to examine what would be an appropriate sampling regime to detect infection in vaccinated herds exposed to infection. However, at present, the test is not internationally recognised as a validated test.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on her Department's involvement with the European Parliament's foot and mouth investigation; [65030]

(2) what liaison there has been with representatives of the EU during the Parliament's investigation into the foot and mouth outbreak in the United Kingdom. [65008]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 27 June 2002]: DEFRA Ministers and officials have already met the European Parliament Temporary Committee into Foot and Mouth Disease. Nick Brown and Jim Scudamore met the Committee on 25 and 26 March and Lord Whitty and myself met the Committee on 8 April. The Secretary of State plans to meet the Committee on 12 September 2002.

The DEFRA Inquiry Liaison Unit has maintained contact with and supported the Secretariat of the European Parliament Temporary Committee throughout.

Energy

Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the estimated (a) level and (b) cost of energy use in her Department and associated agencies was in each year since 1997; what proportion of energy was generated from renewable sources; and if she will make a statement. [65949]

Alun Michael: For details of the breakdown of costs of energy purchases for each English Government Department for the years 1997–98 to 1999–2000, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 268W. However, for convenience the data, without the footnotes, and supplemented by the respective level of energy consumption, are reproduced herein.

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The Government are keen to encourage the use of renewable energy on its estate and a significant step forward was made with the agreement, in May 2001, of the following renewable energy target across Government:

"All Departments will ensure that, by 31 March 2003, at least 5 per cent. of their electricity comes from renewable sources that are exempt from the climate change levy, or from self-generation, provided this does not entail excessive cost. This will rise to at least 10 per cent. supply from such sources by 31 March 2008, but will be reviewed after 31 March 2003 to take account of market conditions following the introduction of renewables obligation.


The review of 2003 will include consideration of increasing or bringing forward the target."

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Progress by individual Departments is partly dependent upon the expiry date for their current energy contracts. However, all central Government Departments in England report that they are in the process of considering how they will go about purchasing renewable energy or are considering self-generation options.

Details of renewable energy purchases can be found in the Green Ministers Reports, copies of which are in the Library of the House, or through http://www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/greening/minister/grmin.htm. However, for convenience the relevant data are reproduced in the tables.

Energy costs and details of renewable energy purchases for 2000–01 and 2001–02 will be published in the next Green Ministers Report in autumn 2002.

Energy consumption and expenditure by Government Departments1997–98 to 1999–2000

	1997–98		1998–99		1999–2000
	Energy use (GWh)	Expenditure (£)	Energy use (GWh)	Expenditure (£)	Energy use (GWh)	Expenditure (£)
MAFF	39.1	1,196,306	42.1	1,270,719	39.7	1,155,485
MAFF Labs	86.8	2,010,656	84.9	1,877,991	93.5	1,880,441
Cabinet Office	21.7	693,234	20.2	717,622	21.0	767,895
DCMS	3.1	121.916	2.4	106,634	2.0	122,991
HM Customs and Excise	84.3	2,414,356	84.8	2,370,071	89.4	2,431,032
DfEE	31.3	1,347,403	29.1	1,056,810	29.5	1,111,660
Employment Service	171	4,848,133	177	4,946,793	190	4,960,622
DETR	116	4,099,099	113	3,993,520	109	3,473,024
H&SE	19.2	668,883	18.7	582,679	18.6	570,336
QE2 Conf. Centre	10.4	347,200	12.8	324,614	11.8	305,739
FCO	37.7	990,362	34.8	921,380	31.7	1,033,203
DoH	18.3	738,355	21.6	786,383	21.8	758,908
Home Office	65.4	1,792,543	69.0	1,911,139	80.5	2,378,335
HM Prison Service	1,410	23,868,557	1,120	20,016,907	1,260	22,310,050
Inland Revenue	245	8,192,613	275	8,138,451	269	8,772,679
DfID	6.2	225,513	6.5	209,602	6.9	183,574
Lord Chancellors Department	182	5,258,187	187	5,282,774	167	5,021,175
DSS	519	13,805,000	468	11,474,213	472	11,327,417
DTI	51.6	2,312,915	51.5	1,847,819	55.7	2,117,249
HM Treasury	17,0	336,547	16.3	316,314	20.3	337,396

Note:

In a few cases figures were revised from one report to another. The figures here are the latest published. The energy consumption figures are as purchased; therefore they are unadjusted for weather and floor area changes. The energy use figures in the table consist of a mix of electricity and heating fuels which have very different unit prices. Total expenditure will, therefore, depend on the total mix of fuels as well as individual prices.

Purchases of electricity from renewable sources 1998–99 and 1999–2000

		1999–2000
Department	1998–99	Renewable sources that are exempt from the Climate Change Levy (percentage of electricity)	Other "green" electricity sources (percentage)	Total (percentage)
CO	25 per cent. of No. 10 and 70 Whitehall electricity	3.5	0	3.5
C&E	5 per cent. of total monitored electricity	26	0	26
DETR	0 per cent.	10	0	20
DFEE	10 per cent. of electricity	10	(9)10	20
DH	0 per cent.	0	NHS PASA: (9)42	NHS PASA: 42
DSS	31 sites have all electricity supplied from renewable sources, totalling 15.2 per cent. of all DSS electricity consumption	15.2	(9)0.38	15.58
DTI	26 per cent. HQ consumption from renewable sources	13.3	(9)2	15.3
HO	0 per cent.	3	0	3
MAFF	0 per cent.	3	0	3
MOD	0 per cent.	less than 1	(9)less than 1	less than 1

⁽⁹⁾ Percentage of electricity is from other "green" sources.

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