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20 Jan 2003 : Column 99W—continued

Departmental Staff

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the distribution of her Department's wholetime equivalent staff was, including the staff in agencies and other bodies reporting to her, in each Government office region and nation of the UK (a) in 1996 and (b) at the most recent available period. [90474]

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Alexander) on 15 January, Official Report, column 609W.

Documentation

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answers of 16 December 2002, Official Report, column 576W and the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 18 December 2002, Official Report, column 801W, if she will make a statement on the reason underlying the number of copies of the document (a) printed and (b) distributed; and what the cost of its production and distribution was. [89765]

Mr. Meacher: We arranged for 5,000 copies of the consultation document to be printed because we believed this would be a sufficient number to allow distribution to all stakeholders with an interest in the issues set out in the document. The 5,000 figure also allowed for the Department to retain sufficient copies which could be distributed to members of the public who made direct requests for copies.

1,400 copies were handed out at the Urban Summit, where the consultation was launched. Over 2,000 copies were initially sent out to local authorities, police, businesses, trade associations, Government Departments

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and a variety of other agencies and bodies. We sent a copy to all bodies known to have a direct interest in the outcome of the proposals set out in the consultation. The majority of the remaining copies have since been sent out to people who made direct approaches to the Policy Team in the Department and the Department's publications section.

The total cost of production of the Defra consultation document was £12,000. Initial distribution was handled by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister when it published its own document, "Living Places—Cleaner, Safer, Greener". The initial distribution cost for the two documents was £5,241.50.

Drainage Boards

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list (a) the local drainage boards for England and Wales and (b) the budget of each board for (i) 2000–01, (ii) 2001–02, (iii) 2002–03, (iv) 2003–04 and (v) 2004–05. [89623]

Margaret Beckett: A list of drainage boards wholly or partly in England, together with income and expenditure figures for the years 2000–01 and 2001–02, have today been placed in the Libraries of the House. Information for later years is not yet available, as this is submitted on an annual basis. Flood defence is a fully devolved responsibility and the information related to boards in Wales should be sought from the National Assembly.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the future of local drainage boards. [89624]

Margaret Beckett: The current institutional arrangements for flood and coastal defence are currently being considered in the Flood and Coastal Defence Funding Review. While, along with ministerial colleagues, I am currently considering the conclusions of the review, I would expect to see a continuing role for internal drainage boards as, whatever future arrangements evolve, the Environment Agency could not take on all the essentially local work done by the Boards. It will, however, be necessary to ensure that, under future arrangements, the Boards are structured in such a way that they can deliver their responsibilities and duties effectively.

Early Retirement

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what sums she has allocated in the current financial year and in each of the next three years for (a) the costing and training and (b) early retirements expected to arise from her Department's leadership review. [91050]

Margaret Beckett [holding answer 16 January 2003]: £7 million has been allocated over the next three years for the leadership development programme. £429 thousand has been set aside for the current financial year. The profile of expenditure for individual years has yet to be agreed within the Department. The leadership review will combine development and some assessment. Most people who go through the Development Centres will continue to work in Defra, making use of a leadership development programme which will follow up training

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and development needs identified at the centres. For some, it is expected that the results will encourage them to seek early retirement. To meet that eventuality, £3 million, £7 million and £7 million have been earmarked over the next three financial years respectively. There are no staff reduction targets or estimates of the numbers likely to leave Defra following participation in the leadership development programme.

Environment Agency

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the (a) duration of and (b) reasons for the recent suspension of public access to the Environment Agency's website. [89617]

Margaret Beckett: The Environment Agency's website suffered problems in its service between 1–6 January. This was primarily because of the excessive load during that period and in spite of previous testing to ensure that flood incident loads could be met. A number of technical changes have now been carried out to improve the site's performance.

While this reduction in service was regrettable, the agency's website is not the primary means of providing flood warning. The main flood warning systems operated effectively, including the agency's Floodline telephone service, automatic voice warning systems, news media information and direct manual warnings in flood warned areas.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what reports she has received from the Environment Agency in pursuance of its duty under High Level Target 5b. [89746]

Margaret Beckett: The Agency has provided a draft report under this target for 2001–02 but information in it is still being validated between the Agency and the Local Government Association.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much public money (a) was and (b) is planned to be allocated to the Environment Agency for each year from 2000–01 to 2005–06 in respect of (i) flood protection and flood management and (ii) coastal defence. [90630]

Margaret Beckett [holding answer 14 January 2003]: The two sources of public funding to support the Environment Agency's work in England in managing the risk of flooding from main rivers and the sea are levies on local authorities as agreed by Flood Defence Committees and grant for specific capital projects and contributions to national initiatives provided by Defra. The former are reimbursed to a large extent by funding to local authorities from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Figures for public monies allocated in the current and two past years are:

£ million

	2000–01(13)	2001–02(13)	2002–03(14)
Defra capital grant for specific projects and contributions to national initiatives	41.9	61.5	70.0
Local authority levies	214.6	233.6	247.8
Total	256.5	295.1	317.8

I regret an analysis of the above by (a) flood protection and flood management and (b) coastal defence could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

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For future years, provision is:

£ million

	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06
Defra capital grant for specific projects to all operating authorities and contributions to Agency national initiatives(13)	126	129	154
ODPM funding to support local authority levies to the Agency and their own spend on management of flood and coastal erosion risk	295	332	382

⁽¹³⁾ For all flood and coastal defence operating authorities—the Environment Agency, local authorities and Internal Drainage Boards.

I cannot be more specific about these years as Defra capital allocations and local authority levies are still being decided for 2003–04 and have not been considered at all yet for the later years.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria are used by the Environment Agency to decide which flood defence assets to inspect in accordance with High Level Target 4. [89742]

Margaret Beckett: High Level Target 4 relates to the development of the National Flood and Coastal Defence Database and does not require the inspection of any flood defence assets.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) flood defence assets, (b) main rivers and (c) critical ordinary watercourses were inspected by the Environment Agency during (i) 2001–02, and (ii) 2002–03, in accordance with High Level Target 5a. [89744]

Margaret Beckett: The Agency has provided a draft report under this target for 2001–02, but information in it is still being validated between the Agency and the Local Government Association.

The report for 2002–03 is not due until April 2003.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she has received the Environment Agency's report on flood warning service standards, due in September 2002. [89611]

Margaret Beckett: High Level Target 2 requires the Environment Agency to report to Defra annually in April on achievement of their flood warning service standards. The latest report to Defra, covering April 2001 to March 2002, was published in May 2002 and I am therefore not expecting a further report until April 2003.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what objectives she has set the Environment Agency to improve its performance in meeting its two hour flood warning target. [89740]

20 Jan 2003 : Column 103W

Margaret Beckett: All High Level Targets are to be reviewed this year, including those relating to flood warning under target 2.

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