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Regional Economies

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to strengthen regional economies in the UK. [134870]

Jacqui Smith: The Department jointly owns, along with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Treasury, a public service agreement to make sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions and, over the long term, reduce the persistent gap in growth rates between the regions. The

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joint team taking this work forward has been reviewing the key drivers of economic growth in the regions and the market failures which result in under-performance in some of them, and examining the regional impact of current policies in the three departments and across Government. A coherent and effective package of policy proposals will then be developed to be taken forward as part of the next spending review and beyond.

In addition, strengthening regional economies and improving the economic performance of the regions forms one of the key areas identified in DTI's five-year strategy, launched in September 2003. Regional thinking will play a bigger role in DTI policy formation, so that national and regional strategies reinforce and complement each other. As part of this, DTI will consider regional impacts throughout its business planning process. The Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have a pivotal role to play as strategic drivers of regional economic development. Funding for the RDAs under the Single Pot is set to rise: it will be worth £2 billion a year in 2005–06—up from £1.8 billion in 2003–04.

Shipbuilding/Offshore Industries

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) new starters and (b) people returning to the industry (i) have been trained and (ii) are being trained for the (A) ship building, (B) ship repair and (C) offshore industries under schemes supported by One NorthEast. [133392]

Jacqui Smith: Available figures ¹ show that, over the last 12 months, 76 new trainees/apprentices joined ship building and offshore companies in the North East of England.

ONE NorthEast, the Learning and Skills Council, COGENT (the Sector Skills Council for the Oil and Gas Extraction, Chemicals Manufacturing and Petroleum Industries) and SEMTA (the Sector Skills Council for the Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) are working closely together on skills issues, including the development of a comprehensive Energy Cluster Skills Action Plan covering the offshore, marine, defence and renewables sectors. The Action Plan will identify sector skills gaps and propose solutions on issues including crafts levels, graduate skills and employee retention. An initial draft will be available in the next few weeks.

¹ The figures do not identify whether these places were created under the schemes supported directly by ONE NorthEast. Statistics are not broken down between new starters and those returning to the industry, nor are reliable statistics currently available separately for the ship building, ship repair and offshore industries.

Trade

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the trade relationship between Britain and (a) New Zealand and (b) Australia. [135512]

Ms Hewitt: Britain has a healthy bilateral trade relationship with (a) New Zealand and (b) Australia. From January to July 2003, bilateral trade in goods between the UK and New Zealand was worth £0.55 billion representing a 9 per cent. increase over the

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same period of last year, and bilateral trade in goods between the UK and Australia was worth £2.3 billion representing a 1.8 per cent. increase over the same period of last year.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Institution for the Multilateral Protection of pan-African Commercial Transactions on UK companies investing in Africa; and if she will make a statement. [134447]

Ms Hewitt: My Department has not made an assessment of the impact of the Institution for the Multilateral Protection of pan-African Commercial Transactions (IMPACT) on direct investment in Africa. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development confirmed that such an assessment would be most appropriately carried out by the World Bank, who provided a US $5 million IDA loan for the establishment of the Africa Trade Insurance Agency (as IMPACT is also known) in 2001, and as such the initiative would be subject to EDA procedures for assessment and review.

Waiapi Indians

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment her Department has made of the (a) impact on and (b) cost to UK companies of the 2002 judicial ruling to allow the Waiapi Indians of Amazonia to surface mine in their land; and if she will make a statement. [133641]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: None, since no representations have been made to the Department on this issue.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Call Centre Work

Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department plans to outsource call centre work to premises outside the United Kingdom. [132104]

Alun Michael: The Department has no plans to outsource call centre work to premises outside the UK, nor through OJEU procurement process at present.

Chicken Farming

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regulations govern the (a) quantity and (b) type of therapeutic and non-therapeutic drugs given to chickens; and if she will make a statement on their use. [134704]

Mr. Bradshaw: The regulation of medicines given to chickens, and all other animals, is governed by European legislation. Directive 2001/82/EC requires all veterinary medicines, including therapeutic antimicrobials, to be assessed against statutory criteria of safety, quality and efficacy before they are authorised for use. Safety in this context includes the health and welfare of the treated animal, the operator, the environment and the safety of consumers of any food products from the treated animals. All therapeutic antimicrobials are classified as Prescription Only

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Medicines (POM) and can be administered only on the basis of a prescription issued by a veterinary surgeon. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), an executive agency of Defra, is responsible for the authorisation of therapeutic veterinary medicinal products in the UK.

The authorisation and use of non-therapeutic products administered to farm animals in their feed is subject to controls set down by the European Union (Council Directive 70/524/EC as amended). Under these rules, such products cannot be authorised for use unless they satisfy statutory criteria designed to ensure that, at the level permitted in feedstuffs, they will not adversely affect human or animal health or the environment. Additionally, they may only be used in accordance with the terms set out in an annex to the Directive, which specifies the species in which they may be used, authorised dosage rates and the withdrawal periods that must be applied before animals can be slaughtered for human consumption. Non-therapeutic products administered to farm animals in their feed are authorised centrally in the EU.

Flooding

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the threshold score will be for securing funding from her Department for sea defence and flood alleviation schemes in the next period for which a threshold is set. [136153]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 3 November 2003]: In general, in order to be approved for grant aid, proposed schemes must satisfy the Department's economic, environmental and technical criteria and achieve a minimum threshold priority score which is set annually at around this time for the following financial year. Changes to the threshold do not affect schemes which have already been approved.

The threshold for projects to start in 2003–04 is 22 (out of a maximum possible score of 44). The Department is still analysing operating authority returns detailing their funding requirements for 2004–05 but I hope to be in a position to announce the threshold score for 2004–05 shortly.

Genetically Modified Crops

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the regulatory framework which will need to be put in place for the introduction of GM crops. [135760]

Mr. Morley: There is already a comprehensive regulatory framework for the control of GM crops, with several regulatory approvals being needed before a given crop could be introduced for commercial cultivation.

Under European Directive 2001/18/EC each particular GM crop must be judged on its own merits according to scientific evidence of any risks it may pose to human health or the environment. A person or company wishing to market such a GM crop must supply a detailed dossier of information and a detailed environmental risk assessment on that GM crop. This

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information is open to scrutiny by all 15 member states and their expert advisers and the European Commission and its expert advisers, and an EU-wide public consultation must be held. No GM crop may be grown commercially unless and until EU member states have agreed collectively that it is safe.

In addition, each GM crop will need approval under EU seeds legislation before it can be grown commercially. Also, any GM crop intended for use with a particular herbicide or pesticide will need approval under EU pesticides legislation. And any GM crop intended to be used as a food will need approval under EU novel foods legislation. Furthermore, from spring 2004 all GM crops and any products derived from them will become subject to comprehensive new EU GM traceability and labelling legislation, which significantly extends the provisions for traceability and labelling already required by Directive 2001/18.

In addition to these regulatory frameworks we will be considering the terms on which GM and non-GM crops might co-exist in the light of a report on this issue expected shortly from the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission.

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what published research she has assessed on the (a) persistence and (b) invasiveness of (i) GM herbicide tolerant and (ii) other crops in disturbed habitats where herbicides and fertilisers are used; and what research she has commissioned on this subject. [136063]

Mr. Morley: When assessing the potential impact of the release of a GM crop in England the Department is advised by an independent statutory expert body, the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE). In considering each case, ACRE will take account of all available relevant information on the implications of the proposed release.

A large body of research has been published on the persistence and invasiveness of GM (and non-GM) crops and weeds in disturbed, improved and tilled land. This includes Government-commissioned work and work conducted independently of Government. The body of literature was recently reviewed by the GM Science Review Panel as part of the GM Dialogue, and their final report is available at www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk. Section 6.2 of that report specifically refers to the potential persistence and invasiveness of GM crops. This report has been made available to ACRE.

Details of all Defra-commissioned GMO related research work are available on our website at www. defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/research. This includes details of completed projects and links to download or order any published reports. Several of these include a consideration of persistence and invasiveness, including:

'Environmental Risks of Herbicide-Tolerant Oilseed Rape' (March 1999);

'Investigation of Feral Oilseed Rape Populations' (February 1999);

'Monitoring largescale releases of genetically modified crops, incorporating report on project EPG 1/5/30: monitoring releases of genetically modified crop plants' (December 2002);

'Consequences for agriculture of the introduction of GM crops' (October 2003).

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A further project investigating aspects of persistence of oilseed rape is currently underway entitled 'Factors affecting cross-pollination in oilseed rape varieties, particularly of low male fertility, growing under typical UK conditions' and due to be completed in 2006.

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) published about the biochemical implications of introducing genes coding for enzymes under the control of host gene regulation systems; and what the implications are of this in respect of the host GM plant. [136169]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 3 November 2003]: The Department has not commissioned research into the biochemical implications of introducing genes coding for enzymes under the control of host regulatory elements because it is not relevant to the risk assessment of current GM crop releases. However, there has been a large volume of research commissioned elsewhere, which would inform decision making if this issue became relevant to proposed releases in the future.

The biochemical implications of using regulatory elements will vary in each specific case, and where relevant, would be taken into account by our expert advisers alongside other factors. In general, the use of regulatory elements native to plants will result in lower levels of transgene expression than those derived from bacteria and viruses as used in current GM crops (e.g. 35S cauliflower mosaic virus promoter).

There is a possibility that introducing copies of regulatory elements that are already present in the host plant could result in partial or complete silencing of native genes under the control of these elements. In recent years, there has been a substantial body of high quality research on 'gene silencing', an issue which is addressed in Chapter 3 of the GM Science Review, published in July 2003 (http://www.gmsciencedebate. org.uk/).

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) published about the (i) behaviour and (ii) fate in the environment of toxins used in the production of GM insect resistant crops. [136190]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 3 November 2003]: In July 2001 the Department commissioned research into the "Environmental Impact of Bt Exudates from Roots of Genetically Modified Plants". We expect it to be published early in the new year on the Defra website. Other publications regarding the issues on the behaviour and fate in the environment of toxins (Bt) used in the production of GM insect resistant crops have been considered recently in the GM Science Review, which was published in July 2003. No GM insect resistant crops have been grown or trialed in the UK apart from two small scale research trials involving potato and strawberry plants in the mid-1990s.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the legal processes relating to the EU directive on the GM contamination threshold for conventional seeds. [135273]

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Mr. Morley: The European Commission has decided that the appropriate mechanism for establishing statutory thresholds for the adventitious presence of approved GMOs in conventional seeds would be as follows:

1. The thresholds would be set, by species, in the Regulatory Committee established under the Directive on the deliberate release into the environment ofGMOs(2001/18/EC);

2. These same thresholds would then be inserted into the seeds marketing Directives by agreement in the Standing Committee on Seeds.

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