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6 Oct 2003 : Column 1173W—continued

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the sites of special scientific interest in the ownership of his Department and its agencies. [129342]

Mr. Caplin: A list of sites will be placed in the Library of the House.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Abattoirs

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many approved abattoirs operated within England for each year from 1991. [129266]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.

Abattoirs producing meat for sale for human consumption must be licensed in order to operate. The number of licensed abattoirs in England from 1991 to date is shown in the table.

Year	Red meat abattoirs	White meat abattoirs
1991	593	98
1992	542	93
1993	434	98
1994	424	137
1995	402	144
1996	384	144
1997	375	131
1998	360	131
1999	339	119
2000	316	111
2001	300	117
2002	297	109
August 2003	286	109

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Abstractions

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what factors underlay the proposal of the Environment Agency to reduce the number of abstractions in the south east; what assessment she has made of the effect on water supplies in the south east as a result of this proposal; and if she will make a statement. [130471]

Mr. Morley: Proposals to reduce abstraction in the south east are aimed at improving the environment at important wildlife sites that are presently being damaged or are threatened with being damaged by abstraction.

Water companies have been given the proposed list of sites and have been asked to identify the solutions that they would have to implement to make these environmental improvements.

The Office of Water Services and the Environment Agency are scrutinising the companies' plans and I have asked them to report to me in November. From their reports I will identify the environmental improvement schemes that should be included in companies' final business plans for 2005–10, due in April 2004. Throughout this process, security of water supply to customers is paramount and the timing of any changes to abstraction will be arranged so that there is no risk to public water supply.

Aggregates Levy

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding has been paid to the sustainability fund in each region of the UK from the aggregates levy since the levy was introduced. [127213]

Mr. Morley: The following amounts have been allocated and spent under the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund:

£ million

Region of the UK	Aggregate levy sustainability fund allocation	Aggregate levy sustainability fund spend
England	58.6	20
Wales	3.4	2
Scotland	6	2
Northern Ireland	1.9	Figure unavailable

Note:

The reason for the Northern Ireland spend figure being unavailable, is due to the fact that their fund was never ring fenced. Therefore there is uncertainty about the exact amount spent on the Fund.

Agricultural Assistance

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate what percentage of agricultural assistance goes to (a) the largest and (b) the smallest 10 per cent. of farms in the United Kingdom. [131375]

Mr. Bradshaw: Data from the Farm Business Survey have been used to assess the level of agricultural assistance going to farms of different sizes. The sample for the Farm Business Survey covers only those farm businesses that are over a minimum size threshold,

6 Oct 2003 : Column 1175W

representing around 70,000 out of a total of around 180,000 holdings in England. Within the sample there were 1,570 farm businesses in the survey in receipt of subsidy payments in 2001–02.

Agricultural assistance has been defined as all crop and livestock subsidy payments and agri-environment scheme payments. Farm size is defined in European Size Units, an economic measure of farm size in terms of the value added to variable inputs. The analysis shows that around a third of these subsidy payments are received by the largest 10 per cent. of farms and around 2 per cent. is received by the smallest 10 per cent. of farms covered by the FBS in England. Estimates for the other UK countries are a matter for the Devolved Authorities.

Air Pollution

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's policy to reduce air pollution by 2005. [131088]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government's policies on improving air quality are set out in detail in the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, published in January 2000 and its Addendum published in February 2003. The Strategy sets standards for the pollutants of main concern and target dates for their achievement between 2003 and 2010. It also explains the measures that are in place to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants from all sectors. Copies are available via the Department's website at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality.

We are on course or have already met the targets for five of the nine pollutants in England, namely benzene, 1,3-butadiene, carbon monoxide, lead and sulphur dioxide. Significant progress has been made towards meeting the air quality objectives for nitrogen dioxide, particles, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and ozone. This is as a result of the measures that have been implemented to reduce emissions of these pollutants, and their precursors, particularly from road transport and industry.

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the level of air pollution was in the UK in 2002; and what the levels were in other EU countries. [131089]

Mr. Bradshaw : The Air Quality Headline Indicator for Sustainable development published on 8 May 2003 summarised UK air pollution in 2002. The statistical release is available at www.defra.gov.uk/news/2003/030508a.htm.

In urban areas in 2002, air pollution was recorded as moderate or higher on 20 days on average per monitoring site, compared with 25 days in 2001, and 59 days in 1993. There has been a long term decline in the number of air pollution days, largely because of a reduction in particles and sulphur dioxide, but fluctuations from one year to the next can occur because of differences in weather conditions.

In rural areas, the figure for 2002 was 30 days on average per site, compared with 34 in 2001. The number of days has fluctuated between 21 days in 1987 and 50 days in 1990. The series can be volatile from one year

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to the next, and there is no clear trend. This reflects the variability in levels of ozone, the main cause of pollution in rural areas.

Comprehensive information on all UK air quality monitoring data is available on the Air Quality Archive at www.airquality.co.uk.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) collates and publishes air pollution information for all European Union member states. Its AirBase database is at http://etc-acc.eionet.eu.int/databases/airbase.html. Air pollution data for 2002 are not yet available.

The EEA's report "Europe's Environment, the third assessment report", published in May 2003, includes a summary of air pollution trends in Europe from1990 to 2000. The report is at http://reports.eea.eu.int/environmental assessment report 2003 10/en

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on levels of air pollution in Romford, in each year since 1997. [131277]

Mr. Bradshaw: Defra does not conduct any air quality monitoring in Romford. The levels have been assessed using air quality information for the closest three national automatic monitoring stations at Thurrock, Southend-on-Sea and London Bexley. These sites are generally representative of public exposure. The sites monitor nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone. The number of days of (a) moderate, (b) high and (c) very high air pollution recorded in each year since 1997 are given in the table. The levels of particulate matter and ozone are the main drivers for the number of days of moderate and above air pollution.

	Number of days
	Moderate	High	Very high	Total
1997	53	9	1	63
1998	33	1	0	34
1999	60	4	0	64
2000	36	0	0	36
2001	57	1	2	60
2002	47	5	1	53

Animal Welfare

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to seek amendments to draft EU legislation on the welfare of livestock during travel to allow the United Kingdom to continue its effective ban on the export for food of horses, ponies and donkeys. [129234]

Margaret Beckett [holding answer 11 September 2003]: I am currently considering the best way to protect British ponies in the light of domestic and European Legislation.

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