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Departmental Relocation

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to relocate parts of her Department to the West Country. [110998]

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to my reply given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West (Joyce Quin) on 8 May 2003, Official Report, columns 786–87W.

Fisheries

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK fishing vessels there were (a) under 10 metres and (b) over 10 metres, in each year since 1973; what proportion were blue water vessels; and what proportion were foreign-owned. [112498]

Mr. Morley: The information requested, where readily available, is given in the following tables. The blue water fleet has been taken as those UK fishing vessels greater than 10 metres overall length.

Vessel data for 1 January 1973 to 1 January 1990 are available only in terms of under and over 40 foot in length (12.2 metres) and relate to the active rather than the registered UK fishing fleet. The statistics for these years also understate the overall size of the fleet: the

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registered fleet exceeded the active fleet by about 3,000 vessels in 1991 when the earlier statistical series was replaced.

The Department does not collect statistics on foreign ownership of fishing vessels. The table includes estimates from 1997 onwards of the number of vessels that are considered to be partly or wholly owned by foreign interests, based on advice from local port offices of the Fisheries Departments in the UK.

		Number of active UK fishing vessels				Proportion of over 10 mvessels that were foreignowned
Details as at1 January	40 ft and under	Over 40ft	Total	Number	Percentage over 10 m
1973	3,961	2,366	6,327	n/a	n/a
1974	4,073	2,505	6,578	n/a	n/a
1975	4,356	2,560	6,916	n/a	n/a
1976	4,158	2,533	6,691	n/a	n/a
1977	4,307	2,433	6,740	n/a	n/a
1978	4,601	2,352	6,953	n/a	n/a
1979	4,732	2,335	7,067	n/a	n/a
1980	4,878	2,364	7,242	n/a	n/a
1981	4,512	2,383	6,895	n/a	n/a
1982	4,970	2,381	7,351	n/a	n/a
1983	4,485	2,312	6,797	n/a	n/a
1984	4,767	2,207	6,974	n/a	n/a
1985	5,433	2,151	7,584	n/a	n/a
1986	5,868	2,052	7,920	n/a	n/a
1987	6,305	1,861	8,166	n/a	n/a
1988	6,251	1,953	8,204	n/a	n/a
1989	6,128	2,004	8,132	n/a	n/a
1990	6,326	1,957	8,283	n/a	n/a

		Number of registered UKfishing vessels				Proportion of over 10 m vessels that were foreign owned(14)
Details as at1 January	10 m and under	Over 10 m	Total	Number	Percentage over 10 m
1991	7,364	3,825	11,189	n/a	n/a
1992	7,538	3,873	11,411	n/a	n/a
1993	7,831	3,730	11,561	n/a	n/a
1994	8,128	3,564	11,692	n/a	n/a
1995	7,607	3,220	10,827	n/a	n/a
1996	6,757	2,963	9,720	n/a	n/a
1997	6,091	2,576	8,667	162	6.3
1998	6,022	2,436	8,458	152	6.2
1999	6,027	2,244	8,271	141	6.3
2000	5,916	2,123	8,039	124	5.8
2001	5,769	2,049	7,818	116	5.7
2002	5,713	2,008	7,721	119	5.9
2003 (provisional)	5,847	1,808	7,655	121	6.7

¹ The distribution of ownership at 1 January was as follows:

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Anglo Spanish	107	107	97	84	73	76	74
Anglo Dutch	40	35	36	33	37	37	38
Other	15	10	8	7	6	6	9

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on areas of linkage made during the CFP derogation negotiations between obtaining the support of other member states and the United Kingdom supporting measures in other areas. [112502]

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Mr. Morley: The outcome on the package of fishery measures at the Council of Ministers in December 2002 was negotiated by the UK with reference only to the fisheries matters that were under consideration.

Forestry Commission

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made in dedicating Forestry Commission land for permanent public access. [112361]

Mr. Morley: The Forestry Commission has not yet dedicated any of its land as the dedication regulations are not yet in place. These regulations are expected to be finalised by the autumn.

Milk Quota

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the economic impact on the dairy industry of a delay in deciding the base year for milk quota; and if she will make a statement; [112206]

(2) when she expects to reach a decision with her European partners on the base year for milk quota; and if she will make a statement. [112207]

Mr. Morley: Under the current CAP reform proposals, published on 22 January, eligibility for the dairy premium, which is planned as compensation for the price cuts, would be based on quota held on 31 March 2004. We, and some other member states, have expressed concern that the current proposal to base eligibility on quota held at a date in the future has already given rise to speculation on the quota market. We have suggested that it should instead be based on quota held on 31 March 2003, and confined to active producers as at 31 March 2004.

No formal assessment has been made of the economic impact on the dairy industry, including the effects of quota speculation, of any delay in coming to a decision on the eligibility criteria for the premium. This would in any case be very difficult to determine, as its effect would vary enormously according to producers' individual circumstances.

The earliest that a formal agreement will be reached on the dairy premium, along with the rest of the CAP reform package, will be the meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers on 11 and 12 June 2003.

Solvent Waste

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure 100 per cent. of the solvent waste stream from the dry-cleaning industry is recycled. [112390]

Alun Michael: None. The nature of dry cleaning operations makes it difficult to capture 100 per cent. of the various solvent waste streams for recycling. The Solvent Emissions Directive (1999/13/EC) which aims at reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents from certain activities and installations, including dry cleaning operations, does not include specific requirements to ensure that a certain

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amount of the solvent waste stream should be recycled. Instead it controls releases from the operation of the dry cleaning process as a whole by controlling the maximum amount of solvent that can be emitted per unit mass of cleaned garments, that is emissions of waste gases and fugitive emissions to air, soil and water and solvents contained in any products.

We intend to consult separately on proposals to include requirements on the operators to ensure that waste contaminated with solvents are recycled or disposed of by waste licensed contracts. This will be in line with existing waste management regimes. There are incentives within these proposals to encourage recovery of any residual solvent contained within the waste from dry cleaning operations.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces (Domestic Violence)

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to apply the proposals in the "Justice for All" White Paper to domestic violence in the armed forces. [113036]

Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence is given to understand that the Domestic Violence Unit at the Home Office is to issue a consultation paper arising from the "Justice for All" White Paper as part of a cross cutting review and I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence will participate in the consultation process. Any subsequent changes to laws applying to incidents of domestic violence would apply to the service community in the same way as to other sections of the population.

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has given to the armed forces on the reporting of domestic violence; and what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the content of such guidance. [113037]

Dr. Moonie: The Ministry of Defence's latest guidance on the reporting of incidents of domestic violence within the Armed Forces was published in a "Defence Council Instruction" on 1 February 2002 and is being incorporated into appropriate single-service regulations. The policy takes account of Home Office directives on the subject and with the underlying principle that domestic violence by Service personnel is not to be tolerated under any circumstances. MOD Ministers have not had cause to discuss this policy with other ministerial colleagues.

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