---

12 Feb 2003 : Column 841W—continued

Electricity Charges

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what changes in unit payments for electricity have resulted from the switch by her Department to purchasing renewable energy which is exempt from the Climate Change Levy. [96489]

Mr. Morley: For the year 2001–02, the actual average price was 4.88 p/kWh for green energy purchased for the Defra Estate and 4.21 p/kWh for Defra Laboratories. Actual average price for normal electricity was 5.87 p/kWh and 4.16 p/kWh respectively. This shows that there was a reduction in the average price paid of 3.94 per cent. for the Defra Estate and an increase of 0.20 per cent. for Defra Laboratories.

12 Feb 2003 : Column 842W

Environmental Protection

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 31 January 2003, Official Report, column 1077W, on the Environment Agency, how many staff in each year were allocated to environmental protection matters; and how much of the budget in each year was allocated to environmental protection matters. [96519]

Mr. Meacher: The Environment Agency's environmental protection function covers: water quality, waste regulation, integrated pollution control, integrated pollution prevention and control, radioactive substances regulation and land quality.

The Agency took up its statutory duties on 1 April 1996. The allocation of staff and budgets to environmental protection as at the year ending 31 March was as follows:

	Budget (£ million)	Full-time equivalent staff
1997	169.6	3,923
1998	182.1	3,852
1999	194.0	4,027
2000	204.6	4,369
2001	221.2	4,540
2002	222.8	4,504
2003	234.5	4,645(planned)

The staff figures are expressed as full-time equivalents. An allocation of full-and part-time costs according to function could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

European Water Directive

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on those aspects of the EU Water Framework Directive's Common Implementation Strategy Guidance which will be piloted in the UK; [96619R]

(2) what resources will be made available to ensure that the UK pilot river basin study of the Ribble is (a) comprehensive and (b) fully compatible with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive's common implementation strategy. [96618R]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency has already confirmed that it will undertake a UK pilot river basin project on the Ribble to test out the CIS guidance on public participation. To date the Agency has committed a full-time project manager, operational staff in the North West Region and staff from its national Water Framework Directive Programme to help deliver the pilot river basin project. This work will inform and support subsequent implementation work the Agency will be required to carry out as "competent authority" for the Directive.

Fallen Stock (Burial Licences)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many licences have been issued in the last 12 months to enable farmers to bury fallen stock on their farms. [96011]

12 Feb 2003 : Column 843W

Mr. Morley: None. There are currently no requirements for farmers to obtain a licence to bury fallen stock on their farms.

Farm Animal Movement

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to end the 20-day standstill rule on movement of farm animals. [96010]

Mr. Morley: We announced in a Written Statement on 23 January that—subject to satisfactory further consultation with the livestock industry—we intend to reduce the standstill for cattle, sheep and goats to six days with effect from 4 March 2003. I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement of 23 January 2003, Official Report, columns 20–24WS.

A supporting document explaining our decision has been placed in the Library and published on the Defra website.

Flooding

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she last met the chairman and chief executive of the Environment Agency concerning flooding; and when she next plans to do so. [96125]

Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets with the Environment Agency regularly to discuss a range of issues. The last time she met Sir John Harman and Baroness Young to discuss flooding was on 15 January 2003. I also hold meetings with the Environment Agency and flooding is discussed regularly. Our last meeting was held on 9 December 2002 and I am due to meet with them again on 6 March 2003.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many calls, broken down by constituency in Somerset, were received by the Environment Agency's (a) flooding hotline and (b) website in (i) December 2002 and (ii) January 2003. [96496]

12 Feb 2003 : Column 844W

Mr. Morley: It is not possible to provide the statistics requested broken down by constituency. The table below is an indication of the number of Floodline callers accessing the Recorded Message Service Boxes (areas) for the Somerset Region. Please note the callers may not necessarily have been calling from Somerset (i.e. people checking on holiday homes or about to visit the area from outside).

As it is impossible to determine the geographical location within the UK of someone seeking information from a website, we cannot provide details of individual web users.

Area covered by individual Recorded Message Service Box			Calls to recorded message service box in
	December 2002	January 2003	Total
The Somerset Coast	62	92	154
West Somerset Streams	36	81	117
The rivers Isle and Parrett	36	108	144
The rivers Yeo, Wriggle and Cam	55	146	201
The rivers Somerset Frome, Mells, Whatley and Nunney Brooks	36	69	105
The river Tone and Tributaries	51	300	351
The rivers Axe, Brue, Congresbury Yeo and Sheppy	35	94	129
The Somerset Moors	19	49	68

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) calls the Environment Agency's flooding hotline received and (b) hits the Environment Agency's flooding website received from 25 December 2002 to 7 January 2003. [96123]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency's Floodline service received 121,663 calls, and there were 117,637 individual users on their Flood Warning website between 25 December 2002 and 6 January 2003. The 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.

Website/floodline call comparison—25 December 2002 to 7 January 20003

Date	Individual usersof agency website	Individual users of flood warning website	Totalfloodline calls	Recordedmessage service	Answeredpersonally
25 December 2002	638	302	236	230	6
26 December 2002	1,510	770	702	673	29
27 December 2002	2,324	1,128	994	899	95
28 December 2002	1,745	841	768	702	66
29 December 2002	4,192	3,000	4,101	3,735	366
30 December 2002	14,383	11,906	13,753	12,193	1,560
31 December 2002	16,646	14,581	9,957	8,891	1,066
1 January 2003	15,246	12,514	19,968	17,881	2,087
2 January 2003	32,654	23,350	32,603	28,644	3,959
3 January 2003	30,847	14,861	14,666	12,573	2,093
4 January 2003	8,795	8,795	8,507	6,915	1,592
5 January 2003	8,286	8,286	7,748	6,396	1,352
6 January 2003	16,414	12,581	5,455	4,465	990
7 January 2003	12,234	4,722	2,205	1,886	319
Total	165,914	117,637	121,663	106,083	15,580

12 Feb 2003 : Column 845W

Foot and Mouth

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the largest single amount of compensation paid out to a claimant for smoke damage to their property was as a result of foot and mouth disease disposal methods. [96228]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 6 February 2003]: The largest single amount of compensation paid out to a claimant for smoke damage as a result of foot and mouth disease disposal methods in England and Wales is £2,339.

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people have received compensation for smoke damage as a result of foot and mouth disease disposal methods in England and Wales. [96235]

Mr. Morley: There have been payments made to 15 claimants for smoke damage as a result of foot and mouth disease disposal methods in England and Wales.

---