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Big Cats

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many big cats she estimates are present in the wild in the UK. [99219]

Mr. Morley: The Department is not aware of any confirmed instances of big cats (i.e. lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, cheetah, snow leopard, clouded leopard and puma) of unknown origin being found out of captivity in England in the last 20 years.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her projection is for UK carbon dioxide emissions in each year from 2003 to 2020, (a) based on Kyoto criteria and (b) including international air travel. [99200]

Mr. Meacher: UK carbon dioxide emissions projections to the year 2020 were published in 2001 in the UK's Third National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The figures, which take account of effect of measures in the UK Climate Change Programme, are reported at five yearly intervals and are summarised in the table below. They are expressed as million tonnes of carbon per year (MtC/yr). The table includes the actual emissions data point for 2000. UK carbon dioxide emissions projections do not include emissions from international aviation which are reported separately, in accordance with international guidelines.

Year	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020
Total UK CO2
emissions (MtC/yr)	152.1	141.7	133.0	134.3	134.0

Emissions from international aviation were about 7.8 MtC/yr in 2000, and projections made on the same basis as for the Third National Communication suggest that they may rise to about 8.6 MtC/yr in 2005 and 10.2 MtC/yr in 2010. Projections beyond 2010 are increasingly uncertain but emissions in 2020 could be between 14 and 16 MtC/yr.

Refrigerators

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the length of time needed to clear the backlog of refrigerators and freezers stored by local authorities in each region, assuming a continual arrival of more such appliances at the current flow. [99228]

Mr. Meacher: The current backlog of stored refrigerators and freezers is expected to be cleared within 9–12 months. There are no regional figures.

GM Crops

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the

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occasions since June 2001 when the Government has received representations from the US authorities in favour of (a) allowing GM crops to be planted in the UK and (b) encouraging the consumption of GM food. [99207]

Mr. Meacher: The Government and representatives of the US authorities are in regular contact and exchange views on issues relating to GM crops and food. However, details of these exchanges are not recorded centrally. In general, representations made to my Department from the US authorities relate to acceptance of imports of agricultural commodities from GM crops grown in the USA, rather than direct pressure to allow GM crops to be planted in the UK or encouraging the consumption of GM food.

Carbon Neutrality

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support has been given or is planned to be given to local authorities to assist towards obtaining carbon neutral status. [99265]

Mr. Morley: In the recently published Energy White Paper the Government set out its strategy to help local authorities take a more proactive role in helping to create a low carbon economy. This includes establishing a new beacon councils theme on sustainable energy, promoting energy efficiency as areas to be considered for Public Service Agreements and reviewing guidance to Energy Conservation Authorities on complying with the requirements of the Home Energy Conservation Act.

The Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust provide support to local authorities, through their various programmes, in reducing their carbon emissions and the development of a low carbon economy in the UK.

Defra officials are working with the Carbon Trust with the aim of developing a major new programme, to encourage local authorities to take a systematic approach to assessing their greenhouse gas emissions and setting challenging improvement targets. This builds on a pilot, involving 24 local authorities in England and Wales. ''Councils for Climate Protection Programme'' was established by Defra with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and the Local Government Association and ran from September 2000 until May 2002.

Hazardous Chemicals

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the mandatory substitution of industrial chemicals that are intrinsically hazardous with those that are intrinsically less hazardous; and if she will seek to ensure that the new legislation on chemicals policy being drafted by the EU will determine that the existence of a practical and safer alternative will be sufficient grounds to refuse an authorisation to produce a chemical that has intrinsically hazardous properties. [99218]

Mr. Meacher: As the Government said in its Chemicals Strategy (Sustainable production and use of chemicals, December 1999):

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''Risk reduction strategies should always look at substitution of more hazardous chemicals by safer alternatives.'' (p34).

The position of the Government on the new EU chemicals strategy, as set out in its Position Statement of December 2002, is in line with this approach. The European Commission is yet to produce legislative proposals. When it does do, the UK will push for the availability of safer alternatives to be a major factor in determining whether an authorisation is refused for production, import or supply of hazardous chemicals meeting the criteria for authorisation.

Animal Welfare Bill

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the issue of enriched cages for egg laying hens has been part of the consultation into the proposed Animal Welfare Bill; and what the Government's policy is on this matter. [100375]

Mr. Morley: The issue of enriched cages has been subject to a separate public consultation. A decision will be announced shortly.

Invasive Plants

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to publish her report on invasive plants and if she will make a statement. [100406]

Mr. Morley: The Department, with the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, has convened a working group comprising a wide range of stakeholders, to undertake a fundamental review of policy and practice on non-native species. The report of the working group is due to be published later this month. I shall make an announcement at the time of publication.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what strategy she has adopted to deal with (a) Australian swamp stonecrop, (b) Japanese knotweed and (c) other invasive plants. [100407]

Mr. Morley: I am aware of the problems that can be caused by invasive non-native plants such as Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii). The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides measures for prohibiting spread of Japanese knotweed, and some other invasive plant species. It is an offence to plant or otherwise cause this species to grow in the wild. Waste containing Japanese knotweed is controlled under the Environment Protection Act 1990. Australian swamp stonecrop is not currently regulated.

The Environment Agency and English Nature, with the Centre for Aquatic Plant Management, produce detailed guidance for landowners and managers on how to control invasive non-native aquatic plant species. The Environment Agency also takes local measures to deal with problem plant species if flood defences are compromised. Similarly, English Nature may take local measures where conservation interests are threatened by these species.

The Department is to publish a working group report on non-native species policy later this month.

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Cetaceans

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what actions she is taking to prevent dolphin deaths in European waters; and if she will make a statement. [100070]

Mr. Morley: Defra has already committed some £140,000 for trials into the use of exclusion devices developed by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) to reduce the bycatch of cetaceans in pelagic trawl fisheries. The trial will be resumed in March in order to refine the system and further assess the grid's effectiveness in protecting dolphins and maintaining fish catch rates. If SMRU's trials are not successful, we will look at other mitigating measures and I do not rule out any approach at this stage—including arguing for EU restrictions on fishing, gear or seasonal closures.

For measures to reduce cetacean bycatch to be effective requires action on the part of all member states involved in the fisheries concerned and the Commission. This is why we raised the need for urgent action by the Commission and other member states at the January Council of Ministers' meeting. I have raised this issue with Commissioner Fischler on a number of occasions both in writing and in personal contacts. I have also recently written to the Commission to press for urgent action to widen observer coverage off the South West coast where a number of other Member States' vessels fish. I was pleased that the Commission included a commitment to take action in this area in papers produced as part of the recent reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. I am looking for positive action on this in response to our recent approaches.

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