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Vehicle Excise Duty

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate the cost of vehicle excise duty evasion in England, broken down by local authority, in each year since 1997. [121524]

Mr. Jamieson: The estimated revenue loss from vehicle excise duty evasion in each year since 1997 in England is as follows:

Vehicle excise duty evasion£ million

	Amount
1997–98	162.5
1998–99	172.5
1999–2000	162.2
2000–01	169.0
2001–02	170.5
2002–03	172.1

A breakdown of the revenue loss from evasion by local authority area could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. These are cash amounts and are not indexed.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Abandoned Cars

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will commission research on the technology that would enable abandoned cars to be used in steel production. [122583]

Mr. Morley: Recent data obtained by the Department estimate that 93 per cent. by weight of the ferrous metal components of end of life vehicles is recovered for re-use or recycled to the steel industry. Abandoned vehicles are managed in the same way.

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she will bring forward for the disposal of abandoned cars. [122584]

Mr. Morley: Waste collection authorities are required under section 3(1) of the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 to remove a vehicle which is abandoned in their area on any land in the open air or on any other land forming part of a highway. Section 4 of the 1978 Act enables waste disposal authorities to dispose of vehicles in their custody which have been removed because they were abandoned. Such vehicles are normally disposed of through either dismantlers or scrap yards.

The dismantling and recycling of End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) must be carried out in compliance with the conditions of a waste management licence or under a registered exemption from licensing and in a manner which does not pollute the environment and harm human health.

The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive requires that all ELVs, including those abandoned vehicles which are ELVs, are depolluted and dismantled to specified

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environmental standards by appropriately-permitted facilities. The permits will replace registered exemptions (unless a site is only carrying out recovery operations on de-polluted vehicles). Regulations to transpose this aspect of the Directive will be laid before Parliament shortly following a joint consultation with DTI which closed on 6 June about implementing parts of the Directive.

The Directive requires that member states shall set up a system according to which the presentation of a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) is a condition for deregistration of the vehicle. When the Directive is transposed into National law, it is expected that CoDs will only be issued by Authorised Treatment Facilities meeting specified site, storage and operating standards.

Appointments

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the people appointed to ad hoc posts within her Department bearing the titles of advocate, tsar, adviser, champion and comparable titles since May 1997; what their job title is or was; what their role is or was; whether they were or are being paid; what the total cost of each such person was in each financial year, including expenses and benefits; what the expected cost of each such person is in 2003–04; to whom they are accountable; and if she will make a statement. [112459]

Alun Michael: Defra came into being in June 2001 and the following information relates to the period since then.

The Secretary of State has two Special Advisers: Sheila Watson and Nicci Collins.

The Department employs an Environmental Adviser, who reports to the Director for Environment Protection Strategy. This post was held by Peter Madden until 2002 and is now held by Stephen Hale.

The above are paid appointments. Under exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, details of individual salaries are not disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned. All of these appointees are or were accountable to Ministers for their decisions and actions.

Ewen Cameron, who is also Chair of the Countryside Agency, is the Rural Advocate, arguing the case on countryside issues and for rural people at the highest levels in Government and outside. While this role has no formal line of accountability Sir Ewen works closely with the Minister of State for Rural Affairs on a range of issues of rural proofing and also has access to the Secretary of State and other senior members of Government.

Dr Chris Fay holds the title Emissions Trading Champion. Reporting to the Director for Climate, Energy and Environmental Risk, he assisted the Government in recruiting participants to the UK's voluntary Emissions Trading Scheme launched in April 2002, and plays a role in communicating with business on emissions trading issues.

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Lord Haskins acted as Rural Recovery Co-ordinator during the latter part of the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 2001. His role was to help local authorities and other agencies plan for the economic recovery of Cumbria, and to consider what lessons were also applicable to other areas affected by the outbreak. Lord Haskins began work on 14 August 2001 and reported to me in October 2001.

These roles are or were all unpaid.

Departmental Staff (Derbyshire)

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people are employed by her Department in (a) West Derbyshire and (b) Derbyshire. [124013]

Alun Michael: (a) There are three staff employed by Defra in West Derbyshire, in the State Veterinary Service Area Office at Bakewell.

(b) Neither Defra nor any of its Agencies has offices in Derbyshire other than those in Bakewell.

Departmental Underspending

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the underspend was of her Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03, broken down by budget head; and what percentage of the total budget this represented. [123814]

Alun Michael: For details of the 2001–02 underspend, I refer the hon. Member to Schedule 1 (page 23) of the Department's 2001–02 Resource Accounts, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the house.

Actual 2002–03 outturn figures are not yet available.

Flooding

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many homes in England and Wales are at risk of (a) river and (b) coastal flooding. [122725]

Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency's indicative floodplain maps published in November 2002 suggest that there are (a) about 938,000 properties at risk of river flooding and (b) about 908,000 at risk of coastal/tidal flooding in England and Wales. These properties are situated within the indicative floodplains and the majority of them are protected by flood defence structures. Approximately nine per cent. of these are commercial properties.

Over-30-months Scheme

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Rural Payments Agency has made any payment in cases where an animal has been presented for the Over-30-Months Scheme with a worn or defective ear tag. [123320]

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Alun Michael: While over six million animals have entered the Over-30-Month Scheme since it started in 1996, the Rural Payments Agency is not aware of any instances where payment has been made on a tag that was worn to the extent that it was partly illegible. If an instance came to light the Agency would look to instigate recovery action in respect of any moneys paid.

Tags which are so worn that they are partly illegible, have been ineligible for the OTMS since the onset of the scheme in 1996. This has been stressed in numerous Trader Notices issued over the years and is also set out in Part B of the OTMS Producer's Handbook.

Pesticides

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what system is in place to enable the assessment of the impact on the environment from the interaction of pesticides individually approved for use. [123830]

Alun Michael: Possible synergistic effects of pesticides on the environment are addressed by looking at the toxicity of pesticide products that contain more than one active ingredient.

The Pesticides Safety Directorate has also examined the possible effects on the environment of the interaction of pesticides on a more general level. In 1995 a literature review was undertaken on the possible ecotoxicological implications for the Directorate's wildlife risk assessment of the possible synergistic effects of pesticides.

As a follow-up to the literature review, and in response to reported wildlife incidents, the Directorate has commissioned research into the synergistic effects of insecticides and fungicides on honeybees. The research is due to be completed later this year when the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides will consider it.

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