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Employment Relations Act

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff

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in her Department have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999. [108338]

Alun Michael: Defra has contractual arrangements in place which are generally more generous than those provided for by the Act. Such arrangements apply to all staff irrespective of grade or working pattern and form part of Defra's wider commitment to have arrangements in place which allow staff to create an appropriate work/life balance. The Department does not keep a separate record of the number of staff who have had time off work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

Letter from Peter Greig-Smith to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked me to reply on behalf of CEFAS to your question concerning how many staff have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

The information is not collated centrally within the Agency and could only be collected at disproportionate cost from individual personnel records.

The Secretary of State has also asked me to reply to your question regarding how many staff have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

There have been no requests for parental leave under the provisions of this Directive.

Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mr. John Bercow, dated 11 April 2003:

I have been asked to respond directly to your two recent Parliamentary Questions concerning the Employment Relations Act 1999 and the Parental Leave Directive.

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department have taken time off work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

Reply: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has policies in place which allow for special leave for staff to attend to domestic incidents. Responsibility for authorising and monitoring such leave is devolved to individual management units and can only be collated at disproportionate cost.

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

Reply: The RPA is fully committed to helping employees achieve a better balance between home and work through family friendly policies Accordingly, the RPA has policies in place to allow for Parental leave but the information required is not held centrally and cannot be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.

Letter from Steven Edwards to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question on how many staff in her Department have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

For the period 1/4/02 to 31/3/03 approval was given in 43 cases for staff to attend to domestic incidents. There were a further 13 cases of paternity leave which is also provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999. (Figures for earlier years are not held.) The VLA has contractual arrangements in place which are generally more generous than those provided for by the Act. Such arrangements apply to all staff irrespective of Pay Band or working pattern and form part of the VLA's wider commitment to have arrangements in place which allow staff to create an appropriate work/life balance.

30 Apr 2003 : Column 381W

Letter from Mike Roberts to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked me to reply, with respect to the Central Science Laboratory, to your question concerning how many staff have taken time off work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

CSL offers both paid and unpaid special leave to staff faced with urgent domestic crises. No claims for unpaid leave have been received since the introduction of this entitlement.

A number of applications have been made for paid special leave in these circumstances and the overwhelming majority have been granted. However, the details of these claims for paid leave are not held centrally and the information could only be collected at disproportionate cost.

Nuclear Waste

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cubic metres of low-grade nuclear waste from decommissioned power stations have recently been identified by the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee. [109621]

Mr. Meacher: The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee's (RWMAC's) Advice to Ministers on the Management of Low Activity Solid Radioactive Wastes Within the United Kingdom was published in March 2003. What the Committee pointed out is that as nuclear site decommissioning plans, including those on which nuclear power stations have operated, progress, and radioactive contamination is identified and characterised, substantial volumes of building rubble and soil with levels of contamination at the bottom of the low level waste activity range—of the order of that of the very low level wastes produced by small users—are being identified. Initial estimates of volumes are set out in Annex 4 of the RWMAC report and amount in total to more than 3,300,000 cubic metres, of which more than 3,000,000 cubic metres is attributed to the Sellafield site. The Committee believe that a substantial proportion of this very low activity waste from nuclear site decommissioning and clean-up activities has not been included in past inventories, although they acknowledge that, at this stage, estimates are very approximate.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition of nuclear waste was used as the criterion for inclusion in the Government inventory of nuclear waste. [109622]

Mr. Meacher: The latest 2001 United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory describes four categories of waste—high level wastes, intermediate level wastes, low level wastes and very low level wastes. The definitions of these categories correspond with those given in the 1995 White Paper, "Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy: Final Conclusions" (Cm2919). The inventory records total UK stocks and projected future arisings under the first three of these categories, based on latest estimates provided by those responsible for the wastes. The fourth, the very low level wastes category, which is intended to apply in particular to wastes produced by "small users" of radioactivity—such as hospitals, universities, research laboratories

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and non-nuclear industries—contains very little radioactivity, and no central records of arisings are compiled or contained in the inventory.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what method is to be used to dispose of the low-level nuclear waste recently identified by the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee. [109623]

Mr. Meacher: This is a matter for those responsible for the waste to propose, and to secure, regulatory agreement. All disposals of radioactive waste must be the subject of application to, and authorisation by, the environment agencies—the Environment Agency in England and Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in Scotland—operating under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 and in accord with current UK Government and Devolved Administration radioactive waste management policy.

Organic Farmers

Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many organic farmers have been registered in North Yorkshire in each year since 1997. [109010]

Mr. Meacher: According to our latest records there are currently 71 organic farms registered in North Yorkshire. Information for earlier years, broken down by county, is not available.

Parental Leave

Mr. Bercow : To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive. [108358]

Alun Michael: Departmental figures for parental leave show that four people took leave in 2002 followed by a further two in 2003 to date. Defra came into being in 2001 for which no figures are available.

The Department is committed to having arrangements in place which allow staff to create an appropriate work/life balance and the unpaid parental leave entitlements sit alongside a range of alternative working patterns and contractual entitlements many of which offer some form of paid absence. They are offered to staff irrespective of grade or working pattern.

Letter from Peter Greig-Smith to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked me to reply on behalf of CEFAS to your question concerning how many staff have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

The Information is not collated centrally within the Agency and could only be collected at disproportionate cost from individual personnel records.

The Secretary of State has also asked me to reply to your question regarding how many staff have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

There have been no requests for parental leave under the provisions of this Directive.

30 Apr 2003 : Column 383W

Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mr. John Bercow, dated 11 April 2003:

I have been asked to respond directly to your two recent Parliamentary Questions concerning the Employment Relations Act 1999 and the Parental Leave Directive.

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999.

Reply: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has policies in place which allow for special leave for staff to attend to domestic incidents. Responsibility for authorising and monitoring such leave is devolved to individual management units and can only be collated at disproportionate cost.

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

Reply: The RPA is fully committed to helping employees achieve a better balance between home and work through family friendly policies Accordingly, the RPA has policies in place to allow for Parental leave but the information required is not held centrally and cannot be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.

Letter from Steven Edwards to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question on how many staff in her Department have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

There has been only limited take-up of this facility in the VLA. Figures for parental leave show that one person took leave in the period 1/4/02 to 31/3/03. Figures for earlier years are not held.

TheVLA is committed to having arrangements in place which allow staff to create an appropriate work/life balance and the unpaid parental leave entitlements sit alongside a range of alternative working patterns and contractual entitlements many of which offer some form of paid absence. They are offered to staff irrespective of Pay Band or working pattern.

Letter from Professor Mike Roberts to Mr. John Bercow, dated April 2003:

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked me to reply, with respect to the Central Science Laboratory, to your question concerning how many staff have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive.

CSL allows staff to apply for unpaid Parental Leave. These claims are recorded centrally and records show that since the Parental Leave rights were announced in 1999, a total of 12 requests for unpaid Parental Leave have been received and all have been granted. The periods of leave range from 3 to 20 days.

CSL is committed to the continued use of family-friendly working practices and views Parental Leave as merely one aspect of an organisational approach to flexible working that includes flexible working hours, part-time working, job-share, special leave, annual leave, tackling 'long hours' cultures, etc.

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