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22 Jan 2003 : Column 336W—continued

Livestock Disposal

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what calculation she has made of the costs of the EU directive on disposal of dead stock for (a) the Government and (b) farmers; [92075]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 20 January 2003]: Since April 2002, we have been involved in discussions with livestock and disposal industry stakeholders over future arrangements and funding options for disposal of fallen stock. The farming unions and the Master of the Foxhounds Association have been involved in these discussions.

I met with representatives from the farming unions and the knacker and rendering industry on 3 December 2002 to discuss a joint proposal for a National Fallen

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Stock disposal scheme. The Government are prepared to make available the funding which it currently puts annually into collection and disposal of stock for the purposes of TSE testing into a National Scheme (nearly £30 million). However the industry must be responsible for additional funding and running of the Scheme (estimated to be around £20 million).

The livestock industry must now consider whether it wants to proceed with a National Scheme on this basis.

The Government expects farmers to comply with the new EU Directive. Those that do not can expect to be prosecuted.

Deer

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many deer were shot by the Forestry Commission in Somerset in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02. [91172]

Mr. Morley: The subject of the question relates to matters undertaken by Forest Enterprise. I asked its Chief Executive, Dr. Bob Mclntosh, to arrange a written response which I have attached.

Letter from Dr. Bob McIntosh to Mr. Liddell-Grainger, dated January 2003:




Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who is responsible for calculating the deer figures in the UK; and what they were at the most recent date. [91173]

Mr. Morley: No statutory body routinely collects information on overall wild deer numbers in England and Wales, or in Northern Ireland. The Deer Commission for Scotland conducts wild deer censuses in different areas every year and has estimated that wild deer in Scotland might currently number 600,000, although no completely reliable figure is available.

Stephen Harris et al. (1995) estimated the following pre-breeding population sizes for deer in Great Britain.

EnglandScotlandWalesTotal GB
Red deer12,500347,000<50360,000
Fallow deer95,000<4,000<1,000100,000
Roe deer150,000350,00050500,000
Sika deer2,5009,000011,500
Muntjac deer40,000<50<25040,000
Chinese water deer65000650

Source:

From: Harris, S., Morris P., Wray S. and Yalden D. 1995. "A Review of British Mammals: population estimates and conservation status of British mammals other than cetaceans". JNCC, Peterborough.

Drainage Boards

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which (a) local

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authorities and (b) drainage boards have still to produce a publicly available policy statement setting out plans for delivering the Government's policy aims and objectives for flood and coastal defence. [89641]

Margaret Beckett: When information on policy statements received was last compared with the Environment Agency in September 2002, statements had yet to be received from the following bodies:


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It should be noted that many of these councils do not have watercourses presenting significant flood risk.

Energy Efficiency

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities adopted measures to improve the thermal insulation of buildings under their Home Energy Conservation Act obligations in fewer than 0.25 per cent. of their buildings over the last year. [90805]

Mr. Morley: The Home Energy Conservation Act does not require Energy Conservation Authorities to report on specific energy efficiency measures or the numbers of buildings in which measures have been installed. They are required to report on the overall progress they have made in implementing measures they have identified as being practicable, cost-effective and likely to result in significant improvement in the energy efficiency of the residential accommodation in their area.

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