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European Economic Convergence

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his statement of 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 411, on economic and monetary union, what discussions he has had with the Deputy Prime Minister concerning his intention to build on and extend the reforms already announced in respect of planning and supply in the housing market. [121436]

John Healey: The Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister are in regular and frequent contact on a wide range of issues including the proposals announced in the statement of 9 June concerning planning and supply.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has commissioned into the link between the growth in house prices and consumption in countries in the eurozone. [121526]

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Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to the EMU study 'Housing, consumption and EMU' published alongside the assessment of the five economic tests on 9 June 2003.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 4 June 2003, Official Report, column 429W, if he has made an assessment of why companies have not taken advantage of these tax incentives. [119208]

John Healey: At the recent Evian Summit the G8 agreed to ask the IMF and World bank to intensify their efforts to secure the full participation of all creditors, and to explore further options to deal with the issue of creditor litigation. The Government are absolutely committed to the rapid and full implementation of the HIPC initiative and will continue to use future meetings of the IMF and the World bank to push for greater efforts on debt relief.

In the UK, tax relief is available to commercial creditors on bad debts owed by overseas states, including HIPCs, and the sovereign debt legislation provides certainty that debts owed by sovereign states could meet the conditions for bad debt relief.

The Government encourage all commercial creditors to make full use of all the reliefs available to them under this legislation and play their full part in the HIPC process.

Inflation

Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for the proposed move to HICP of the trend in the gap between the RPIX measure of inflation and the HICP measure of inflation. [121566]

John Healey: I refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 412, in which he said that the advantage of the internationally recognised index of consumer prices—HICP—is that it is a better measure, will improve the quality of our target, is in line with best international practice and is used by every other G7 nation but Japan, and by our neighbours in Europe. The Chancellor also said (Official Report, column 414) that, subject to confirmation at the time of the Pre-Budget Report, he intends to change the inflation target at that time.

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of changing the measurement used for the Monetary Policy Committee's inflation target on (a) the effectiveness of future monetary policy and (b) the credibility of monetary policy. [121441]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 412 in which he said that the HICP was a better measure of inflation for setting monetary policy, would improve the quality of our target, and was in line with best international practice.

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Inland Revenue (Scottish Charities)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will instruct the Inland Revenue to investigate the compliance with Scottish charity law of (a) Solutions RMC Ltd. and (b) Breast Cancer Research Scotland. [121202]

John Healey: In Scotland, responsibility for the supervision and regulation of charities is exercised by the Scottish Charities Office, on behalf of the Lord Advocate. The Inland Revenue has no responsibility for the conduct of charities, other than in respect of their tax affairs.

Sniffer Dogs

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many hours a week sniffer-dogs are used to identify illegal meat imports at (a) ports and (b) airports. [121628]

John Healey: The information requested is not available; Exemption 4 (Law Enforcement and legal proceedings) of the Open Government Code applies to all such information about Customs anti-smuggling activities.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Pollution

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action will be taken by the Environment Agency in respect of the air quality problems suffered in Castle Point over the last five months. [121541]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency will continue its investigations into the cause of recent air quality problems and when completed, will decide on action in accordance with it's enforcement and prosecution policy.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what plans she has for improved air quality monitoring for Castle Point and the surrounding areas; [121542]

(2) what contingency plans she has put in place to deal with future air quality problems in Castle Point and surrounding areas. [121543]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency confirm that there are improved procedures in place at the Pitsea landfill site to monitor and respond to odours produced by the site. Odour checks are carried out by the site operator twice daily, with off site checks carried out weekly. More comprehensive surveys are undertaken bi-monthly. The site's odour action plan has been revised in the light of recent events to provide a better response to any odours identified.

Bushmeat

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the quantity of bushmeat that has arrived in the United Kingdom from African countries in each of the last three years. [120587]

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Mr. Bradshaw: The Veterinary Laboratories Agency published a risk assessment report on 25 March 2003. This estimated the amount of illegal meat of any type imported annually, on average, to be 7,500 tonnes, with 90 per cent. certainty that the amount of illegal meat imported will range from 2,800 tonnes to 17,500 tonnes per year. Table 6–6 indicates that bushmeat contributes on average 6 per cent. of the estimated total flow of illegal meat. Table 6–1, which shows the contribution by world region to the total estimate of illegal flow of meat into GB, indicates that about 23 per cent. of the total comes from African countries. Most—but not all—bushmeat comes from African countries.

Copies of the report have been placed in the House Libraries.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for International Development on controlling the commercial exploitation of bushmeat. [121080]

Mr. Morley: We are in regular contact at Ministerial and official level with the Department for International Development. Most recently, I met the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Leeds, Central (Hilary Benn), on 10 June to discuss a range of issues, including action to deal with the trade in bushmeat.

Compensation Claims

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Rural Payments Agency and British Cattle Movement Service claims remain outstanding; what steps are being taken to clear these claims up; and if she will make a statement. [120536]

Alun Michael: All claims under CAP Bovine Schemes in England are paid by the Rural Payments Agency. All involve cross checking of claim details with records maintained by the British Cattle Movement Service on the Cattle Tracing System.

As at 20 June there were 41,762 advance payments outstanding compared with a scheme total of 242,817 for 2003. At the same date there were 191,358 balance payments outstanding.

Outstanding advance payments will be paid with the balance payment as a single payment.

Although the Regulations require payments to be made by 30 June, the UK and several other member states have made representations to the European Commission for extra time in which to complete the process because the introductions this year of a system of aggregated penalties has necessitated extensive redevelopment of the computer system needed to process claims and make the payments.

Every effort is being made to clear the outstanding payments as quickly as possible. Up-to-date information is posted on the RPA's website www.rpa.gov.uk and information is provided to the press from time to time.

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