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19 Jun 2003 : Column 358W—continued

Fly-tipping

18. Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her policy to combat fly-tipping. [120205]

Mr. Morley: The Government are committed to dealing with the serious and growing problem of fly-tipping.

The Anti-social Behaviour Bill, currently before Parliament, includes measures that will help the Environment Agency and local authorities to trace and prosecute those responsible for fly-tipping.

The Government are also considering other measures, details of which will be published later in 2003 and brought forward at the next legislative opportunity.

GM Crops

19. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the progress of the GM Public Debate. [120206]

Mr. Morley: The debate has already been a success in terms of generating discussion about GM. The initial regional launch events were well attended and further public meetings are now being organised. People can also participate via the debate website.

Waste Strategy

20. Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are planned (a) to discourage incineration of waste and (b) to encourage maximum recycling and recover. [120207]

Mr. Morley: The Government's Waste Strategy 2000 set national targets for the recycling or composting of at least 25 per cent. of household waste by 2005, 30 per cent. by 2010 and 33 per cent. by 2015. To underpin these national targets we have set challenging statutory recycling and composting targets for all local authorities in England.

We encourage recycling above incineration, but incineration with energy recovery is more sustainable than landfill. We have no plans at present to discourage the use of this option, albeit that it is one option of waste management.

19 Jun 2003 : Column 359W

Bridleways

21. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received regarding the use of bridleways by (a) motorcycles and (b) four-wheel drive vehicles. [120208]

Alun Michael: I have received considerable representation about damage and nuisance from motorcycles and from four-wheel drive vehicles in a number of locations, but these have not been specific to bridleways. Many of the representations have focused on the damage done for instance on the Ridgeway or within Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Agricultural Shows

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the agricultural shows which will be attended by Ministers this season; and if she will make a statement on her policy with regard to ministerial visits to shows. [120197]

Alun Michael: A provisional list of the agricultural shows which Ministers hope to attend this season is given in the table. Attendance can be affected by a variety of factors including business in the House.

The Secretary of State and Ministers appreciate the value of attending agricultural shows and visit as many shows as their diaries allow. As it is not possible to visit all shows seeking ministerial support a rolling programme is adopted to ensure all regions of the country are visited each year.

Name	Event
Secretary of State
Lord Whitty	Royal Show
	Devon County Show
	Royal Cornwall Show
	East of England Show
	Royal Show
	Royal Lancashire Show
	Dairy Event
Mr. Morley	Royal Show
	Great Yorkshire Show
	CLA Game Fair
Mr. Michael	Royal Show
	New Forest & Hants County Show
	Royal International Horse Show, Hickstead
	British Equine Event, Stoneleigh
Mr. Bradshaw	Royal Show

Agricultural Subsidies

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to abolish export subsidies for agricultural produce. [119188]

Mr. Bradshaw: The World Trade Organisation Doha Declaration commits all member countries to negotiations aimed at reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies. The Government fully support this commitment.

19 Jun 2003 : Column 360W

Foodstuffs

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent by British consumers on foodstuffs in each of the last ten years, broken down by type of foodstuff. [119158]

Mr. Bradshaw: Estimates of the amounts spent by consumers in the UK are provided by the Office for National Statistics. A table showing consumer expenditure estimates broken by type of foodstuff is as follows.

Consumer expenditure estimates of foodstuffs, 1992–2003Units: £ billion

	Total food and non-alcoholic beverages (household expenditure)	Bread and cereals	Meat	Fish	Milk, cheese and eggs	Oils and fats
1992	45.7	6.6	10.0	1.7	6.2	1.1
1993	47.2	6.7	10.7	1.7	6.4	1.1
1994	47.9	6.7	10.5	1.7	6.5	1.1
1995	49.8	7.0	10.7	1.8	6.7	1.1
1996	53.0	7.5	11.6	2.0	6.9	1.2
1997	53.8	7.7	11.8	1.9	6.9	1.2
1998	55.2	7.9	11.7	2.0	7.0	1.2
1999	56.6	8.0	11.9	2.1	7.2	1.2
2000	57.7	8.1	12.3	2.2	7.5	1.2
2001	60.3	9.0	12.2	2.3	7.7	1.2
2002	61.7	9.4	12.6	2.4	7.6	1.1

Consumer expenditure estimates of foodstuffs, 1992–2002Units: £ billion

	Fruit	Vegetables	Sugar and sweet products	Food products n.e.c.	Coffee, tea arid cocoa	Mineral water and soft drinks
1992	2.9	6.1	5.1	1.1	1.5	3.5
1993	2.9	6,2	5.3	1.1	1.5	3.6
1994	3.0	6.5	5.5	1.1	1.5	3.7
1995	3.1	7.2	5.6	1.1	1.5	3.9
1996	3.3	7.7	5.9	1.2	1.6	4.1
1997	3.6	7.6	6.1	1.3	1.6	4.3
1998	3.8	7.9	6.4	1.3	1.6	4.4
1999	3.9	8.2	6.5	1.3	1.7	4.6
2000	3.9	8.2	6.4	1.3	1.7	4.9
2001	4.0	8.5	6.5	1.4	1.9	5,7
2002	4.3	8.4	6.6	1.4	1.8	6.1

Source:

Office for National Statistics—Consumer Trends

IACS Payments

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people in (a) the Bury St. Edmunds constituency, (b) Suffolk, (c) Norfolk, (d) Essex and (e) Cambridgeshire are awaiting IACS payments; and what the average waiting time for payment was in the last year for which figures are available. [120410]

Alun Michael: Data are not held at constituency level so there is no specific information available for the Bury St. Edmunds constituency. However, there are currently no payments outstanding for Suffolk, there are also no payments outstanding for Cambridgeshire. There is one payment outstanding in Norfolk and one in Essex under the 2002 Arable Area Payments Scheme (AAPS), both for reasons beyond the RPA's control. For 2002 main AAPS payments, the regulatory payment window ran from 16 November 2002 to 31 January 2003.

19 Jun 2003 : Column 361W

85.88 per cent. of claims by number were paid by 8 December 2002, and 98.25 per cent. by 31 January 2003.

Race Relations

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in her Department and non-departmental public bodies on implementing the requirements of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000; and if she will publish the results of the monitoring required by the Act. [117623]

Alun Michael: One of the key values of the Department is to treat everyone fairly and to encourage, value and recognise everyone's views and contributions. This applies to the public and our external customers as well as to our staff.

Defra's draft Race Equality Scheme, published last year, covered core Defra and the two smallest Agencies, the Pesticides Safety Directorate and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. The remaining four Defra Agencies (the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, the Central Science Laboratory, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Rural Payments Agency) have each produced specific schemes and associated action plans.

The draft Defra Scheme was the subject of a public consultation exercise in the autumn last year and has been revised in the light of comments received. A revised Race Equality Scheme will be published in the summer together with a report on progress of action, including the results of monitoring.

The Departments non-departmental public bodies are expected to follow the lead of the core Department. I will write to my hon. Friend separately to provide information on the action that they are taking to respond to the general duty.

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