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7 Jan 2003 : Column 9W—continued
Poverty (Definition)
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what definition of poverty will be used to measure success in the joint Public Service Agreement with the Treasury on reducing child poverty by a quarter by 2004. [86736]
Malcolm Wicks: The Public Service Agreement target technical note contains full details of how the target will be monitored. A copy has been placed in the Library.
Workplace Health and Safety
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what projections he has made of likely trends in the number of (a) work-related accidents and (b) work-related diseases in the next three years. [85418]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: The Health and Safety Executive has made no projections on the overall levels of work-related accidents and diseases. The Government and the Health and Safety Commission have committed to delivering its Public Service Agreement targets on health and safety and will do this by working with other organizations, particularly on its priorities in construction, agriculture, the health services and to tackle musculoskeletal disorders, stress, falls from height, workplace transport and slips and trips.
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ENVIRONMENT
Agri-environmental Schemes
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the development of an entry-level agri-environment scheme; and what consultation there has been on the proposed scheme. [87864]
Mr. Meacher [holding answer 18 December 2002]: Work is currently in progress to develop a pilot entry-level scheme which will be used to test the concept in four areas of the country, each with a different range of farming systems. Subject to the success of this pilot, the Government plans to make an entry-level scheme available to farmers across England from 2005.
The development of this pilot scheme was informed by the responses to a consultation exercise run as part of a wider review of agri-environment schemes, to which over 130 responses were received from a wide range of organisations and interested individuals. A working group with membership drawn from a variety of environmental and agricultural organisations has also been closely involved in developing the pilot scheme.
In the past few weeks, the first draft of the pilot scheme has been subject to a pre-pilot exercise. Through the working group members, over 100 farmers have been asked for their views on this draft. The responses are currently being analysed and will be used to revise the scheme before it is launched next spring.
The pilots themselves will also be closely monitored, and the results used to inform the design of the main scheme.
Agricultural Co-operatives
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many agricultural co-operatives are registered in England and Wales representing (a) arable farms and (b) livestock farms; and how many members of those co-operatives there are. [87296]
Mr. Morley: The information on agricultural co-operatives is not available from the June Census. Defra have plans to run a pilot in 2003 to test the possibility of collecting fuller information on how holdings are linked and working together.
Appointments
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to which bodies her Department makes appointments; how many members there are (a) in total and (b) in each body; and how many of those appointed are (i) businessmen, (ii) businessmen in SMEs and (iii) businessmen in micro-businesses. [87389]
Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 16 December 2002, Official Report, column 607W.
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CHP Plant
Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry about the contribution of CHP to Britain's future energy needs; [86196]
- (2) what discussions she has had with interested parties about extending the Energy Efficiency Commitment to offer further support to CHP. [86199]
Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on a wide range of matters that affect the business of both their Departments. CHP is among the energy issues that have been discussed at those meetings. We are considering the future of the Energy Efficiency Commitment after 2004 and, subject to the outcome of the Energy White Paper, intend to consult on our proposals next year.
Climate Change
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of farming on the Government's climate change strategy. [87267]
Mr. Meacher: The UK's climate change programme sets out the policies and measures in each sector of the economy that the Government have put in place or have planned to meet and move beyond its Kyoto Protocol target. On current projections, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture—mainly methane from enteric fermentation in livestock and nitrous oxide from agricultural soils—will be an estimated 14 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010. This is mainly due to reductions in cattle numbers from yield improvements, and reductions in synthetic fertiliser usage—although, because emissions in other sectors are also falling, agriculture's share of total UK emissions is expected to remain at the present level of around 7.5 per cent.
Action that the UK Government and the devolved Administrations are taking to reduce emissions from agriculture includes encouragement of biomass including renewable energy crops, application of the climate change levy to agricultural businesses (with some discounts for energy intensive horticultural businesses), agri-environment schemes and set-aside.
Climate Change Levy
Alan Simpson : To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library copies of (a) information supplied to her by sector associations party to climate change levy umbrella agreements under part 2 of schedule 3 of those agreements and (b) other information held by her relating to the reasons for sector or facility targets not being met. [82814]
Mr. Meacher: Information which is supplied under part 2 of schedule 3 to the umbrella agreements will relate to production and energy data for individual industrial sites or groups of sites The Secretary of State is intending to consult with sector associations about whether they have objections to its disclosure and if so to justify their objections. Officials are currently
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considering the responses to a consultation exercise on the proposed implementation of the Aarhus Convention and a draft EC Directive on Access to Environmental Information—the proposals included machinery for reviewing decisions taken by public authorities when handling requests for environmental information.
Departmental Logo
Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total cost was to the Department of the introduction of the new logo. [87306]
Alun Michael: The cost of designing the new Defra logo was #24,000. The logo is only one element of the total corporate identity, and further costs have been incurred in introducing it across the Department.
To date, these costs including the above amount total #137,510. This includes costs for project scoping, stimulus material, research, brand architecture, specifications, legal checks and briefing material which are necessary in developing and introducing a fresh identity to a large, new Government Department. On-going costs will be minimised by a phased implementation, only replacing any branded communication material when it runs out.
The re-branding exercise is necessary to establish a new identity, which will assist in explaining the role and purpose of the new Department among staff, stakeholders, other partners and the public.
Further implementation costs will be incurred in due course as guidelines are developed and used by external suppliers, other organisations and staff. The new guidelines will show how the new identity should be applied to all communication items such as letterheads, the website, publications and reports etc.
The findings of extensive research with staff, stakeholders and the public has helped Defra develop a better understanding of what our customers expect from us. This will enable us to streamline our communications and improve clarity. The final design proved popular with all groups. It will play a key role in building the new Department. As a symbol it is modern, professional and forward looking and provides a pivotal point for helping us to build a new customer focus internally.
Energy Efficiency
Alan Simpson : To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library copies of information supplied to her indicating that the proportional improvements in energy efficiency required by Climate Change Levy agreements have been maintained. [82870]
Mr. Meacher: The information supplied to the Secretary of State indicating that the proportional improvements to energy efficiency have been maintained is in the form of corrected energy consumption and production data for the baseline period. Targets are recalculated on the corrected baseline using the same principles on which the original targets were calculated. The Secretary of State is
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intending to consult with the sector associations about whether they have objections to its disclosure and if so to justify their objections.
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets she has on improving energy efficiency; and how she intends to achieve these targets. [86302]
Mr. Morley: The UK's Climate Change Programme details the policies and action we are taking to meet our target under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 12.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2008–12, and move towards our domestic goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 20 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010. Energy efficiency measures are an integral means of meeting these targets, several of which have their own targets as follows.
- The Fuel Poverty Strategy has a PSA target to reach 600,000 low income householders between 2001 and 2004. There are various measures in place that will help deliver this including the Warm Front Scheme and the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC). The EEC's will result in a reduction in carbon emissions of an estimated 400,000 tonnes a year by 2005.
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) has a 2010 target of at least 10,000 megawatts of installed Good Quality CHP capacity. Government consulted on a draft CHP Strategy to 2010 earlier this year setting out the measures thought sufficient for the target to be met.
All Government Departments have an interim target to contribute to the target of a 1 per cent. per annum on-going reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from Government Estate buildings. Longer-term targets on energy efficiency are due to be set as part of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate, the first parts of which were published in July 2002.
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