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20 Nov 2003 : Column 1195W—continued
Air Quality (Heathrow)
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research her Department has commissioned into air quality in the Heathrow area; and if she will publish the findings. [138843]
Mr. Bradshaw: Defra has commissioned Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Ltd to model air quality in the Heathrow area. The report is expected April 2004. The Department also assesses air quality at a national level and in the Greater London area and publishes the results on its air quality website, the Air Quality Archive. Both these levels of assessment include Heathrow.
National air quality monitoring data are available at www.airquality.co.uk. The latest published national air quality modelling report "UK air quality modelling for annual reporting 2001 on ambient air quality assessment under Council Directives 96/62/EC and 1999/30/EC" is available at www.airquality.co.uk/archive/reports; as too is the latest research report modelling London's air quality "Modelling air quality for London using ADMS-Urban".
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American Ships (Decommissioning)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what date Able UK applied to her Department for (a) a dredging licence and (b) a licence to build a protective bund for a proposed dry dock in respect of the planned decommissioning of United States vessels. [137143]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 November 2003]: The information is as follows:
(a) Defra regulates the disposal of dredged material at sea rather than dredging per se. The Department received an application for disposal of dredged material on 20 October 2003.
(b) Able UK applied for a FEPA licence to build a coffer dam at the mouth of the TERRC basin on 26 September 2003.
A FEPA licence had been applied for successfully before but had lapsed.
Atlantic Ocean
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what data her Department has collated on the salinity of the seawater of the North East Atlantic Ocean over the last 20 year period; and if she will publish the data. [140087]
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the deep sea salinity levels of gulf stream waters off the coast of the UK were in each of the past 10 years. [140409]
Mr. Morley: I will write to the hon. Member, and my hon. Friend with this information shortly.
Atrazine (Maize)
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the results were of the Farm Scale Evaluation trials in respect of conventional maize crops in the 17 per cent. of cases where atrazine was not used as a herbicide. [140153]
Mr. Morley: The results of the farm-scale evaluations published on 16 October 2003 were based on the range of contemporary practice used by the participating farmers for conventional maize. The published papers did not present separate results for each conventional practice that this encompassed. Such analysis may be possible based on the data collected and I understand the research team are currently considering this. If any further information becomes available it will be published in the normal way.
Badgers
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action has been taken to prevent recolonisation of badger setts after clearance of TB-infected badgers in Krebs reactive areas. [140297]
Mr. Bradshaw: All trapped setts are subject to the same procedures, irrespective of the TB status of the badgers taken from them, and no action is taken to prevent re-colonisation of any setts in reactive areas.
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Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what procedures are carried out in respect of badger setts from which TB-infected badgers have been removed. [140298]
Mr. Bradshaw: All procedures are standardised and do not vary between setts from which TB infected badgers and non-infected badgers are taken.
Within the Randomised Badger Culling Trial, no specific action is taken against setts from which badgers have been removed. Following the removal of traps, at the conclusion of trapping operations, techniques such as sticking holes (placing sticks across them) may, occasionally, be used to assist subsequent surveys assess post-cull badger activity.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what radius was adopted to describe the area designated for badger culls in (a) the Krebs proactive and reactive culling protocols and (b) culling protocols adopted prior to 1988. [140310]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Krebs proactive and reactive culling areas were chosen from localities in Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire and Wiltshire with the highest incidence of TB in cattle; each of the ten proactive and ten reactive areas measures approximately 10,000 hectares (100 sq km). Whilst culling is carried out across an entire proactive area, in reactive areas culling takes place only on and around farms which have had a TB breakdown.
The culling protocols adopted prior to 1986 were the Gassing Strategy (1975–1982) and the Clean Ring Strategy (1982–5). In the Gassing Strategy the area of badger removal extended up to 1 km from farms with confirmed TB breakdowns. The mean area of badger removal in Clean Ring Strategy areas was about 9 sq. km.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research the Department has commissioned on the use of anaesthesia in badger setts prior to lethal gassing. [140312]
Mr. Bradshaw: No research has been commissioned in this area.
Gassing of badgers has been discounted as a culling option because it is considered to be inhumane.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many badgers have been subject to post-mortem examination for TB in England in the past 10 years; how many were TB reactors; and what proportion of TB lesions found were considered to be of a type which would render badgers capable of transmitting bovine TB. [140313]
Mr. Bradshaw: Excluding badgers taken in the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) or in the seven counties road trafic accident survey, 14,387 badger carcases have been examined of which 2,995 (20.5 per cent.) were considered to be positive. The Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISO) recommended that, pending completion of the RBCT, interim reports on numbers and locations of badgers culled and TB prevalences should not be published in
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order to avoid encouraging illegal action against badgers, deterring participation in the trial and to protect the trial's statistical validity.
Of the badgers considered to be infected, only those with lesions detected in the lungs, pleura, kidneys and intestines are considered to be likely to be shedding M.bovis and so infectious. 447 (15.1 per cent. had lesions in these tissues.
Barn Owls
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from the Highways Agency on implementing the recommendations in its Biodiversity Action plan on steps to halt the decline in the barn owl population. [139765]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Highways Agency Biodiversity Action Plan (HABAP), published in 2002, includes a specific Species Action Plan (SAP) for Barn Owls. The stated aim of the SAP is
- "to reduce the level of incidental mortality on new and existing roads whilst ensuring favourable management of barn owl foraging and nesting habitat."
The Highways Agency has commissioned its own study on the barn owl and is currently reviewing the findings of its own commissions and those of others. The outcome of this review will contribute to the publication of advice on implementation of appropriate actions in accordance with the SAP.
The Government have set new targets to protect and enhance biodiversity as part of The Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. The Framework and associated targets cover all central Government Departments and their Executive Agencies, including the Highways Agency. Departments will report annually on progress.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to implement changes in agricultural policy to improve the (a) quantity and (b) quality of barn owl habitats away from major roads. [139766]
Mr. Bradshaw: Through our agri-environment schemes we have encouraged farmers to provide many thousands of hectares of grassland habitat, including for example over 20,000 hectares of cereal field margins. These less-intensively managed areas are good habitats for small mammals and provide barn owls with somewhere other than roadside verges to hunt their prey.
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