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Cliffe Airport

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of an airport at Cliffe for sites designated under (a) the EU Birds Directive and (b) the EU Habitats Directive; and if she will make a statement. [108435]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 April 2003]: No assessment of this type has been made. If the option of an airport at Cliffe were supported in the Government's proposed Air Transport White Paper and a planning application were brought forward, there would be a need for a full assessment as required under article 6 of

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the Habitats Directive. This is because of the proximity of the site to the Thames Estuary and Marshes Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar sites.

Dolphins

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's policy is on implementing the EU Habitats Directive to protect dolphins in the English Channel; and if he will make a statement. [108169]

Mr. Morley: The EC Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC is implemented in territorial waters around the English coast by the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations SI 1994/2716. Under Article 12 of this Directive member states are obliged to prohibit all forms of deliberate capture or killing and deliberate disturbance of dolphins and all other cetaceans. This provision is implemented by regulation 39 of SI 1994/2716. My Department will shortly issue a consultation document extending this protection to those offshore waters over which the United Kingdom exercises sovereignty. My Department carries out monitoring of the bycatch of cetaceans by UK vessels in English Channel in line with the obligations of Article 12(1)(d) of the Habitats Directive.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dolphin carcases have been washed up from the English Channel since the beginning of January 2003; how many carcases were recorded in the same time period in 2002; and if she will make a statement. [108193]

Mr. Morley: From 1 January to 31 March 2003, a total of 249 dolphins have been reported as stranded on the south coast (Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, West and East Sussex). These comprised 129 common dolphins and 120 unidentified dolphins. No dolphins have been reported as stranded from 1 to 9 April 2003.

During the period from 1 January to 31 March 2002, in the same area 110 dolphin strandings were reported: 66 common dolphins and 44 unidentified dolphins.

It should be noted that these figures include stranded dead cetaceans, live strandings, carcasses seen floating at sea, reported cetacean by-catch and cases of unconfirmed or suspected cetacean by-catch. The data were obtained under the Defra-funded Cetacean and Turtle Strandings Scheme, carried out by the Natural History Museum in partnership with the Institute of Zoology and Scottish Agricultural College.

Drainage Boards

Diana Organ: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the local government Ombudsmen will extend their remit to cover internal drainage boards; and when cases concerning internal drainage boards may be submitted to local government Ombudsmen for consideration. [107691]

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Mr. Morley: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 12 March, we believe that there would be advantage in bringing internal drainage boards under the jurisdiction of the local government ombudsman. We will be discussing this with the ombudsman's office and making further announcements about this in due course.

Landfill Tax Credit Scheme

Mr. O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what plans (a) have been made and (b) are in progress to determine the future funding mechanism for local schemes promoting sustainable waste issues following the end of the landfill tax credit scheme; [106459]

(2) when she intends to announce the format of the successor scheme for landfill tax credit scheme categories (a) C and (b) CC; [106469]

(3) if she will make a statement on the design of the scheme that will replace categories C and CC of the landfill tax credit scheme. [106461]

Mr. Meacher: In the pre-Budget Report the Chancellor announced changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme which would leave approximately one third (£47 million) to be made available for spending on local community environmental projects, via a scheme similar to the existing one. The remaining two thirds will be converted into a public expenditure programme for sustainable waste management. The public expenditure programme will enable us to take forward the package of strategic measures recommended by the Strategy Unit in their report, 'Waste Not, Want Not'. The design of this scheme, including replacement of catergories C, CC of the LTCS, will be announced alongside the Government's official response to the Strategy Unit's report, which is planned for around the time of the budget.

Over-30-months Scheme

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of (a) the risk to human health and (b) costs of (i) direct incineration and (ii) rendering followed by incineration of carcases under the over-30-months scheme. [107814]

Alun Michael: To assess the risk of over-30-months (slaughter) scheme (OTMS) operations the Environment Agency commissioned a number of studies from independent expert consultants to establish the risk from BSE to human health via different environmental pathways, based on the precautionary principle. These reports covered both the incineration of carcass material and the incineration of rendered products. They were produced in consultation with the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) and published in 1997. They showed that the risks are negligible compared to other risks in daily life and endorsed SEAC's advice to Government in 1996 that the current and proposed methods of dealing with animal waste material from the slaughter of cattle are safe.

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The cost of rendering and subsequent incineration of rendered products is less expensive than that of the direct incineration of cattle carcasses. However there are some benefits to the direct incineration of carcases in terms of quicker re-imbursement of compensation sums to the Exchequer from the EU. Both methods of disposal are used under OTMS and each represent good value for money.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what policy the Government has in respect of the increased production of poppies, which can be processed into drugs, in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [107747]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK is co-ordinating international anti-narcotics assistance to Afghanistan. With the endorsement of the Afghan Government and in consultation with other international stakeholders (especially the UN), the UK has developed a long-term strategy. This identifies four key areas where assistance should be targeted: improving Afghan law enforcement capability; rural reconstruction to generate alternative livelihoods for opium poppy farmers; capacity-building for Afghan drug control institutions; and establishing prevention/treatment programmes to tackle addiction.

Departmental Advertising (Expenditure)

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's total spending was on advertising and promotional campaigns between April 2002 and March 2003; and what the cost of each campaign was, broken down by costs relating to (a) television, (b) radio and (c) print media. [106433]

Mr. Rammell: Most expenditure by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on publicity materials is not allocated to specific promotional campaigns. Rather it is deployed in support of the FCO's efforts to promote greater understanding and awareness of the UK to overseas audiences, to project the UK's strengths and increase trade, inward investment, tourism, and the influence of UK foreign policy. An exception is the FCO's consular publicity campaigns, which are aimed at encouraging UK travellers to be better prepared before going overseas. These accounted for £908,294 in the period April 2002-March 2003, of which £32,459 was spent on advertising.

Other separately identifiable expenditure on publicity materials and advertising between April 2002 and March 2003 totalled £8,670,615. Of this, £570,211 comprised advertising for recruitment purposes.

There was additional expenditure in the UK and overseas that, under FCO accounting procedures, cannot be separately identified as advertising or promotional campaigns; to attempt to disaggregate this would incur disproportionate cost.

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This expenditure is not compiled according to their relation to television, radio or print media. Moreover, it includes expenditure on events, research and production of promotional materials with no particular relation to any of these media. Therefore such a breakdown could not be compiled without incurring disproportionate cost.

All figures are subject to final auditing to take account of any end year adjustments. The figures provided represent the expenditure of the FCO and not of Wilton Park, our only agency, or our 10 NDPBs; these details are not held centrally and could not therefore be compiled without incurring disproportionate cost.

The Government are committed to using only cost effective channels to deliver the publicity necessary to support policy implementation. Paid advertising is only resorted to after careful consideration of the cost-benefits.

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