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Written Ministerial Statements

Tuesday 15 July 2003

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

UK Climate Impacts Programme

The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): Today, the DEFRA-funded UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) is publishing its report Climate change and local communities—how prepared are you? The report informs local authorities of the key implications of climate change for their business functions and offers them guidance to help them adapt. It has been produced for local authorities by UKCIP in partnership with the Local Government Association and the Improvement and Development Agency. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Animal Health and Welfare Strategy

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): I have arranged for copies of the Government's Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain to be made available in the Libraries of both Houses. Produced jointly by DEFRA, the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly, the outline strategy is being circulated for public consultation, with a deadline for comments of 31 October.

Copies are also available on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh

Darwin Initiative

The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): I am pleased to announce to the House awards under a new funding scheme forming part of DEFRA's Darwin Initiative.

The Darwin Initiative is an annual small grants programme which uses UK expertise working with local partners to help countries rich in biodiversity but poor in resources to conserve and use their biodiversity sustainably. Launched at the Rio summit in 1992, the initiative has committed more than £30 million to over 300 projects in around 100 countries. More than 100 projects are currently running. The Prime Minister announced an increase in the Darwin Initiative budget in his speech on WSSD in September. The budget increased from £3 million to £4 million in 2003–04 and will rise to £5 million in 2004–05, and £7 million a year from 2005–06. Three new Darwin Initiative schemes have been launched as part of Phase II of the Initiative: Darwin Initiative scholarships, pre-project awards and post-project funding. Together these will help to help embed the core aims of capacity building, partnership and legacy. I announced the Scholarship awards at the annual Darwin lecture on 21 May.

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The awards of pre-project funding are as follows: (Annex B)

Organisation	Project Title	Country	Award £
The Society for Environmental Exploration	Capacity building for sustainable management in the Nicaraguan Pacific Region	Nicaragua	1,790
Macauley Land Use Research Institute	Community conservation action plan for the threatened long-tailed chinchilla in Chile	Chile	1,792
Foundation forInternational Environmental Law andDevelopment	Conservation and sustainable use of Agriculture Biodiversity in Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1,425
The GlobalDiversityFoundation	Conservation status of botanical resources in protected areas of Sabah, Malaysia	Sabah,Malaysia	1,600
University ofSouthampton	Control of Alien Species: the Red-Bellied Beautiful Squirrel in Argentina	Argentina	1,205
University ofWales, Bangor	In Situ conservation of Indigenous tree species in Southern Cameroon	Cameroon	1,520
British Trust for Ornithology	Meeting biodiversity and socio-ecnomic targets in Ugandan agricultural development	Uganda	2,650
Plymouth Marine Laboratory	Namibia Marine Biodiversity Baseline	Namibia	2,400
Centre forEcology andHydrology	Selection, propagation, multiplication and distribution of indigenous tree species	Sierra Leone	1,705
University ofOxford	Sustainable Management of Forest Medicinal Plants by Peruvian Indigenous Communities	Peru	3,000
Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research	The macroinvertebrates of riverine wetlands in Ghana	Ghana	2,861
Tree Council	Tomsk Forestry and Biodiversity Action Planning	Russia	2,188
The Natural History Museum	Training the next generation of Papua New Guinea's conservation biologists	Papua New Guinea	3,000
Game Conservancy Trust	Sustainable management of burrowing mammals on the Tibetan Plateau	China	3,000
Cranfield University	Functional roles of soil microbial diversity in logged ecosystems in Malaysia	Malaysia	2,900
			33,037

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British-Irish Council Report of Climate Change

The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): On 24 July 2003, on behalf of the British-Irish Council (BIG) Environment Group, my Department is publishing the report scenarios of climate change for islands within the BIC region. The report builds on the climate change scenarios for the UK published by my Department last year and provides new detail on how climate is likely to change for the islands of the BIC region—Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Western Isles, Orkney Islands, and Shetland Islands. There is now considerable interest in climate change impacts and adaptation in the island administrations following awareness-raising workshops at the end of last year, and the scenarios will provide a sound basis for further work in this area. These new scenarios represent a concrete example of how BIC can foster co-operation between the UK, Ireland and the island administrations on environmental issues of common interest like climate change.

Copies of the report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses on the day of the launch.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Forensic Science Northern Ireland

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. John Spellar): I have today published the Forensic Science Northern Ireland Annual Report and Accounts 2002–03. The annual report sets out the performance of the agency against key targets. Copies of the report have today been laid in the House of Commons.

Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Angela Smith): I have today arranged for the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Corporate Plan 2003–06 and Business Plan 2003–04 document to be placed in the House Libraries. This document will also be made available on the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland website at http://www.osni.gov.uk/

Northern Ireland Assembly Elections (Registered Parties and Candidates) Reimbursement Scheme

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy): I am announcing today the publication of the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections (Registered Parties and Candidates) Reimbursement Scheme 2003 in accordance with section 3 of the Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections and Periods of Suspension) Act 2003. The scheme has been finalised following the submission to me of a number of recommendations by the Electoral Commission. I am pleased to say that all the recommendations meet the provisions of the Act.

I have the authority under Section 3 of the Act to make payments, in the form of a scheme, to registered political parties, in connection with their campaign expenditure and candidates, in connection with their election expenses. These parties and candidates would have contested the Northern Ireland Assembly election due on 29 May 2003 but postponed by the Act.

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I will be writing to the Northern Ireland political parties today to inform them that I have published a scheme. The Electoral Commission will also write to the parties to give them full details of the scheme including clear explanatory notes.

Although I will be responsible for making payments to parties and candidates following recommendations made by the Electoral Commission, it will be the Commission who will have day-to-day responsibility for operating the scheme. The Commission will only recommend that a payment be made once it is satisfied that a party or candidate would have contested the May election and that the expenditure or expenses being claimed are in accordance with the requirements of the scheme. Claims will only be considered if they are sent to the Commission by 30 September 2003 at the latest and accompanied by the declarations required by the scheme and evidence to support the value of the claim. The Commission will also have the authority to verify all claims by asking for further information, explanations or inspections of documents or goods and property.

I am very grateful to the Commission for its help in putting the scheme together.

I have placed copies of the scheme in both Libraries.

Accounts (2001–02) Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Jane Kennedy): I have published today the Accounts of the Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards for the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

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