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20 Nov 2003 : Column 1204W—continued
Climate Change
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the potential effects of climate change on British agriculture. [137270]
Mr. Bradshaw: Since 1987 MAFF and now Defra has commissioned over £6 million of ongoing research focused on (i) identifying the impacts of potential climate change on UK agriculture; and (ii) helping farmers to develop adaptation strategies to manage the impacts of climate change. A report which summarises this research was published in early 2003 and is available on UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) website: http://www.ukcip.org.uk/Agriculture/agriculture.htm.
Furthermore, in 2000 we commissioned a report 'Climate Change and Agriculture in the UK' aimed at raising awareness of climate change within the farming community. Where sufficient evidence was available, this report summarised possible adaptation strategies to cope with expected changes; where the knowledge base was less robust, the report set out the potential impacts on UK agriculture. This report is available on the Defra website: http://defraweb/environ/climate/climatechange/index.htm
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will increase climate change agreement targets for companies not involved in the EU Emissions Trading scheme. [139148]
Mr. Bradshaw: The EU Emissions Trading Scheme will come into force on 1 January 2005. Operators in the Climate Change Agreements within sectors covered by the scheme will be given the opportunity to apply to opt out of the first phase of the scheme between 2005 and 2007. Those operators exercising this opt out will be subject, along with all other operators not covered by the EU ETS, to the provisions of the Climate Change Agreements for a review of targets in 2004 and 2008 to ensure that they continue to represent the potential for cost effective energy savings taking account of any changes in technical or market conditions.
Combined Heat and Power
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase combined heat and power generation. [139606]
Mr. Bradshaw: The measures to support CHP announced in the Energy White Paper, taken together with measures we have previously introduced and detailed in the draft CHP Strategy, will significantly help CHP. These will be brought together in the final Government Strategy for CHP to 2010, which we will publish before the end of March 2004.
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Dairy Farming
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures the Government has put in place in enable dairy farmers to add value to their products. [137892]
Mr. Bradshaw: Support is available through the England Rural Development Programme for farmers wishing to add value to their produce. The Processing and Marketing Grant can provide up to 30 per cent. of eligible costs towards projects to improve the processing and marketing infrastructure of mainstream agricultural products. The Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES) provides assistance of up to 50 per cent. to farmers to diversify their businesses, which might involve on-farm processing and retailing of their produce. Help can also be given through RES to market added value, quality, agricultural products.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government has sought to amend EC Regulation 2597/97 in accordance with the Milk Task Force recommendations of December 2001. [137896]
Mr. Bradshaw: We wrote to interested parties on changing the rules on the fat content of drinking milk in Council Regulation (EC) No. 2597/97 in February 2002, as part of our follow-up to the Milk Task Force and to prepare for possible Commission proposals to amend the regulations. The response we received was mixed. Whilst there was some support for liberalising the rules, there was also concern that it might undermine the well established categories of drinking milk to the detriment of consumers and dairy processors. The Commission in their report on these rules, which was published earlier this year, also found no consensus in favour of changes. It has therefore proposed no changes for the time being, but will initiate a review in 2007, with a view to harmonising rules across the enlarged Community in 2009 when the existing derogations from the rules for Finland, Sweden and several accession countries will expire.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government supports decoupling of the dairy sector in 2005. [138026]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government believes that by breaking the link between farm subsidies and production, decoupling will reconnect farmers to their markets, reduce damaging environmental impacts and reduce bureaucracy. Our economic assessment also indicates that decoupling should have a beneficial impact on farm incomes. We are therefore minded to
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decouple dairy direct payments in 2005. We will make a final decision once we have the results of our ongoing consultation on the dairy elements of the reform package, which closes on 3 February.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets the Government has set for (a) levels of production and (b) the number of producers in dairy farming. [138027]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government has not set targets for levels of milk production or for the number of producers in dairy farming.
Darwin Mounds
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of measures to protect the Darwin Mounds. [139832]
Mr. Bradshaw: We have proposed the designation of the Darwin Mounds as a Special Area of Conservation under the Habitats Directive. EC measures to protect the Darwin Mounds from damaging fishing activities came into effect on 20 August 2003. The area where restrictions are in place is closely monitored by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. No breaches of the restrictions have been identified.
Dog Identification Scheme
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the tattooing of dogs for identification purposes. [138574]
Mr. Morley: The Government have considered the option of introducing a dog identification scheme, but have no current plans to do so. Defra promotes responsible dog ownership through byelaws, education and publicity.
Tattooing is an option for owners, but is not an option for statutory identification schemes such as pet passports where microchips are used.
Egg Industry
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what volume in tonnes of (a) shelled eggs and (b) whole egg powder was imported into the United Kingdom in the last 10 years for which figures are available; and from which countries. [138076]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table shows UK imports of (a) shell eggs and (b) whole egg powder between 1993 and 2002.
Source:
HM Customs and Excise
Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities and Food) Consultancy Trade and IT, ESD, DEFRA
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