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Common Agricultural Policy

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. [126292]

Margaret Beckett: In the last month I, my ministerial colleagues and officials from my Department have attended a number of meetings and events at which CAP reform has been discussed with representatives from farming, environmental, consumer and landowner organisations, as well as Ministers from other countries. We have also received correspondence and telephone calls from hon. Members and members of the public about CAP reform.

Farming Practices

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she   will take to encourage farmers to adopt more environmentally sustainable farming practices. [126296]

Mr. Morley: The Government are committed to   encouraging more environmentally sustainable farming. I refer my hon. Friend to the statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, made on 26 June 2003, regarding the progress made in this area in the reform of the CAP. Our existing agri-environment schemes (ESA and CSS) have made a significant impact since first introduced, but we want to do more. In addition to reviewing the current schemes, we are currently piloting an 'Entry Level' Scheme that will be available to all farmers across the country from 2005.

Farming Fraud

Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what further measures have been taken by the Rural Payments Agency to prevent fraud by farmers, following the Government reply to the recommendations made by the Committee of Public Accounts in its 51st Report of Session 2001–02. [126297]

Alun Michael: The Rural Payments Agency is introducing up to date, integrated computer systems to improve the control of CAP scheme administration. Key elements are a single business identifier and a Rural Land Register to ensure subsidy is only paid on eligible land and to registered customers entitled to receive it.

Flood Risk

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people live in areas with a high risk of flooding. [125577]

Mr. Morley: There is no estimate for the number of people at high risk of flooding throughout the UK.
 
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The UK wide estimate, based on information currently available, is that there are about 2.1 million properties within flood plains. Of these approximately 1.8 million are in England and Wales and the majority of these are protected by flood defence structures.

GM Crops

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of contamination by GM crops on surrounding plant life; what estimate she has made of the radius from sites that could be contaminated by GM crops; and if she will make a statement. [125957]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 15 July 2003]: Each application for consent for the release a GM crop into the environment must have a full and thorough risk assessment made of its potential impacts. This assessment is scrutinised by the Government's statutory Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) and is made on a case-by-case basis according to the characteristics of the particular crop. It includes a consideration of the likelihood and consequences if a GM crop were to spread through cross-pollination (with other crop plants or wild relatives) or through seed movement.

ACRE have considered all the GM crops that have been grown in the UK and consent has only been granted where appropriate measures have been taken to avoid adverse effects on the surrounding environment. In the case of the crops in the farm-scale evaluations, the GM crops were kept separate from commercial crops. The separation distances were based on advice from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany published in August 2000 and are not intended to eliminate any cross pollination with equivalent crops at greater distance, but rather to limit it severely. ACRE advised that the actual occurrence of cross-pollination with other crop plants, or wild relatives in the case of oil seed rape, would present no undue risk to human health or the environment. The potential of such cross-pollination is one of the factors being examined in the Farm Scale Evaluation.

Illegal Logging

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when and where the EU action plan on illegal logging will be discussed by the Council of Ministers. [126010]

Mr. Morley: This is a decision for the Presidency of the EU. At Environment Council on 13 June, the UK urged the Presidency to facilitate a full and early discussion of the Action Plan. Since that time, preliminary discussions by officials have been held in Brussels at the EU Working Group on Forestry on 9   July and at the EU Development Co-operation Working Group on 11 July.

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the UK Government will press for new legislation to ban the import of illegally sourced timber as part of the EU action plan to tackle the illegal timber trade; and if she will make a statement. [126009]

 
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Mr. Morley: The UK Government wishes to see an end to the import of illegally logged timber into the EU and does not rule out support for such legislation. Equally, the Government recognises the need to ensure that any new legislation is proportionate, enforceable and compatible with WTO regulations. Consequently, in addition to offering broad support to the Commission's recently published Action Plan to tackle illegal logging and its associated trade, the UK will press for the Commission to undertake an immediate assessment of the feasibility and impacts of additional legislative options, including a ban on illegally sourced timber.

Private Sewers (Wales)

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect of the consultation on private sewers on owners in Wales. [126027]

Mr. Hain: I have been asked to reply.

This is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for    Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from (a) the Welsh Assembly, (b) Welsh local authorities and (c) other Welsh organisations on the consultation on private sewers. [126028]

Mr. Morley: The public consultation paper seeking views on private sewers was published on 1 July this year jointly by the Department and the Welsh Assembly Government. The consultation period extends until 26 September. We have not received any representations on the consultation on private sewers from Welsh local authorities or other Welsh organisations.

Radioactive Water

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what quantities of radioactive water (a) have been removed and (b) remain to be moved from Sellafield building B30 as part of the post-operational clean-out (POCO) process; to where this water has been discharged; and whether the POCO activities at B30 have been reported as part of the UK submissions to the OSPAR Ministerial in Bremen in June. [124826]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 July 2003]: About 2,000 cubic metres of water a day are currently flushed through the B30 ponds. The water is treated at the SIXEP plant in Sellafield to remove particulate and principally radioactive caesium and strontium. The resulting low-level radioactive liquid waste is discharged to sea. These discharges were included in the Strategy for Radioactive Discharges 2001–2020, published in July 2002, which was the UK's national report to OSPAR.

Rights of Way Mapping Process

Mrs. Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by how much the Rights of Way mapping process is over budget; and which other budgets are being used to fund it. [124896]

 
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Alun Michael: The Countryside Agency expects to spend £14.23 million in the current financial year on implementing Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, mainly on mapping open country and registered common land. This compares with an estimate of £11.93 million when the Corporate Plan was prepared. Estimates cannot be exact because the work is largely demand-driven, generated by comments and appeals on the maps.

Over the past two years the Agency has been fully aware of the need to manage these pressures within its increasing budget which is over £98 million this year and I discuss these issues regularly with the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Chief Executive and members of the Agency's Board.

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