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Rights of Way
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many appeals against derogations on maps under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 have (a) been lodged and (b) succeeded. [123405]
Alun Michael: Up to the week beginning 16 June the Planning Inspectorate received 188 appeals in respect of Region 1, the south east of England and 721 appeals in respect of Region 2, the upper north west. So far three appeal decisions have been issued, two of which were successful.
In addition, 24 appeals have so far been received for Region 3, the central southern region.
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These figures relate to England. Information on appeals in Wales is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many representations she has received on the mapping of land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. [123407]
Alun Michael: Between 2001 to the end of June 2003, we received around 600 representations on aspects of the implementation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 including mapping.
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Rural Payments Agency
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Rural Payments Agency claims were outstanding (a) on 1 January, (b) 1 April and (c) on the latest date for which figures are available; and what sums were outstanding in each case. [122522]
Alun Michael: The number of Rural Payments Agency claims outstanding on 1 January, 1 April and 26 June 2003 are as shown in the table.
| Scheme | 1 January | 1 April | Claims outstanding as at 26 June 2003 | Value of outstanding claims as at 26 June 2003 (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arable area payments scheme 2002 main payments | 0 | 106 | 55 | 577,120.20 |
| AAPS 2002 non-food | 0 | 309 | 20 | 61,820.51 |
| Sheep annual premium scheme | 0 | 83 | 74 | 450,760 |
| Dairy subsidy schemes | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Non IACS schemes | 37 | 80 | (5)8 | 8,227 |
| Trader schemes | 0 | 0 | 114 | (6)— |
| ERDP | 0 | 0 | 7,858 | (6)— |
| Slaughter premium scheme (SPS) | (3)74,167 | (3)56,673 | (4)138,606 | 6,885,946 |
| Beef special premium scheme (BSPS) | (3)35,278 | (3)25,414 | (4)57,230 | 24,093,540 |
| Suckler cow premium scheme (SCPS) | (3)16,257 | (3)9,816 | (4)12,407 | 33,993,594 |
| Extensification payment scheme (EPS) | n/a | (3)22,467 | (4)16,783 | 30 million (estimate) |
(3) claims with an outstanding advance payment representing 80 per cent. of the payment due which could have been made from 16 October 2002.
(4) claims with an outstanding balance and or advance payment.
(5) 2003–04 financial year
(6) Values not available
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the value of compensation payments to farmers as a result of late payments by the Rural Payments Agency was in each year since it was created. [122842]
Alun Michael: Since the Rural Payments Agency was created on 16 October 2001, payments of compensation because of late payments has been made under the Bovine Schemes and the Arable Area Payments Scheme (AAPS).
In 2003–04 £383,013.36 was paid to 3,439 bovine producers whose 2001 subsidy claims were paid in full after the statutory payment deadline of 30 June 2002. The delays had been caused by the need to crosscheck all subsidy information against the Cattle Tracing System database as required by EU legislation.
Under the AAPS producers have been compensated for a number of reasons included late payments. The total amount of compensation payments in each year since 16 October 2001 is:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2001/02 | 11,945.79 |
| 2002–03 | 35,804.70 |
| 2003–04 | 9,666.70 |
Satellites
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many satellites are (a) owned and (b) leased either in whole or part by her Department, giving (i) the purpose of their use, (ii) their initial cost and annual running costs and (iii) from whom they were purchased or leased in each case. [117337]
Alun Michael: This Department does not own or lease any satellites, but Defra does have a significant interest in a payload instrument (AATSR—Advanced-Along Track Scanning Radiometer) on board the European Space Agency's satellite ENVISAT, which was launched in March 2002. Defra represented the UK as the lead agency in the AATSR project, with some components of the instrument being supplied by the Australian Government, and an in-kind contribution from the Natural Environment Research Council.
(i) The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) instrument is the third in the ATSR series. It is designed to measure sea surface temperature to a high level of accuracy, in order to enable the detection of trends in climate.
(ii) The capital cost of the design and build of the instrument was £11 million. In 2002–03 operational costs incurred amounted to £400,000; now that the
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instrument is successfully commissioned, future annual running costs are expected to be approximately half this amount.
(iii) The instrument was manufactured by Astrium (formerly Matra Marconi/British Aerospace) and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). Project management and technical management advice was provided by Leicester University and Vega Space Systems up to the launch date. There will be continued advice (but to a lesser degree) as part of the operational in-flight support. In-flight operation and maintenance is provided by RAL with data validation undertaken by Leicester University.
Staff Costs
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff the Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which the Department is responsible had in each year since 1997; and what the cost of those staff was in each of those years. [122263]
Alun Michael: Data on staffing levels in the civil service are collected from departments and agencies twice yearly, in April and October. Headline figures are published under National Statistics guidelines via a press notice. Those for October 2002 were published on 27 February 2003.
A copy of the press notice, accompanying media brief and supporting tables is available on the worldwide web at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics. Copies of these documents are also placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
More detailed information on the civil service is published annually in 'Civil Service Statistics', copies of which are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. The last edition, based on April 2001 data, was published in June 2002. The next edition, based on April 2002 data, is due to be published at the end of July 2003.
The Cabinet Office publishes information on non-departmental public bodies in its annual publication 'Public Bodies'. The information includes details of the number of staff employed by each NDPB at 31 March each year. "Public Bodies 2002" was published in January 2003. Copies of "Public Bodies" published each year since 1997 are available in the Libraries of both Houses.
Information on staff costs for Defra and its agencies is available in the Defra departmental report and the agencies' annual reports. Information on staff costs for non-departmental public bodies is available in each body's published accounts.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Afghanistan
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what
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discussions he has had with the Defence Secretary regarding the role of provincial reconstruction teams for Afghanistan. [123661]
Hilary Benn: The concept of Provincial Reconstruction Teams was agreed at ministerial level earlier this year, with the Ministry of Defence being asked to take overall responsibility for delivering the agreed objectives of the PRT. These objectives were set out in the statement to Parliament made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 8 May 2003; Official Report, column 38WS.
HIV/AIDS
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what measures the Government are taking with their international partners to reduce the price of anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment imported to poor countries. [123048]
Hilary Benn: The UK Government are working to improve access to new and existing medicines, for poor people in developing countries, including for HIV/AIDS. The factors recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that can improve poor peoples' access to medicines are: affordable pricing, sustainable financing, reliable health and supply systems and the rational selection and use of existing drugs.
Clare Short chaired a High Level Working Group on Increasing Access to Essential Medicines in the Developing World, which examined these issues in detail. The Working Group made a series of recommendations for action which are being taken forward by a number of stakeholders.
We need to work with others to tackle the issues affecting access, if we are to make progress. The recent G8 Summit at Evian also secured commitment to action on access to medicines. The G8 Health Action Plan is in line with the Working Group's recommendations and provides a good basis for future collaborative action with a range of stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry. We are devoting significant effort to taking this forward, particularly at country level.
The Government have also supported efforts within the European Union to put in place an EU Regulation that will prevent the diversion or 'leakage' of cheaper products from developing countries back to the EU. This is to encourage companies to offer their medicines (including anti-retrovirals) at significantly lower prices to developing countries.
With regard to generic production in particular, the UK is trying to find a solution to the outstanding issue from the Doha Declaration on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health, i.e. how countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector can make effective use of compulsory licensing procedures within the TRIPS Agreement.
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what the
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Government's policy is on the appointment of an EU AIDS Ambassador to help co-ordinate the fight against the disease. [123049]
Hilary Benn: We are unaware of any plans to appoint an EU AIDS Ambassador. We welcome the opportunity of increased spending on HIV/AIDS from European Commission financial instruments, including the new budget line to fight poverty-related diseases and the EC contribution to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. We continue to call for EC spending to be more poverty-focused and to be better co-ordinated.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what discussions his Department has had with the Governments of Sub-Saharan Africa regarding the need for agricultural institutions to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [123646]
Hilary Benn: DFID has held extensive discussions with African Governments over this issue; these have covered involvement in poverty reduction strategy working groups and the design and implementation of programmes to combat HIV/AIDS, as well as donor co-ordination groups and negotiations connected with the design and implementation of agricultural sector support programmes. DFID has also financed relevant research programmes that involve African institutions and supported analytical work on the links between HIV/AIDS and recent food insecurity in southern Africa.
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