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12 Feb 2003 : Column 841Wcontinued
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 200102, 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
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.
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]
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.
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]
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Mr. Morley: None. There are currently no requirements for farmers to obtain a licence to bury fallen stock on their farms.
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 thatsubject to satisfactory further consultation with the livestock industrywe 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 2024WS.
A supporting document explaining our decision has been placed in the Library and published on the Defra website.
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]
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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 16 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.
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
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.
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