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20 Nov 2003 : Column 1222W—continued

Packaging

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) percentage and (b) volume of material was recycled by each EU country under the terms of the EU Packaging Directive in the last year for which figures are available. [139201]

Mr. Morley: Member states are required to notify the Commission of their packaging data 18 months after the respective year ends. Member states are still in the process of notifying the Commission of their 2001 data. The most complete data set therefore refers to the year 2000, as detailed in the table.

Country	Total in the waste stream (tonnes) 2000	Recycling (percentage of waste arising) 2000	Amount of packaging waste recycled (tonnes)
Austria	1,170,000	69	807,300
Belgium	1,496,290	63	942,663
Denmark	852,258	56	477,265
Finland	442,500	50	221,250
France	12,499,000	42	5,249,580
Germany	15,130,700	78	11,801,946
Netherlands	2,903,000	59	1,712,770
Spain	6,628,035	40	2,651,214
Sweden	976,800	58	566,544
Luxembourg	79,701	45	35,865
Portugal	1,248,259	31	386,960
UK	9,179,981	40	3,671,992
Italy	11,168,200	38	4,243,916
Ireland	(16)—	(16)—	(16)—

⁽¹⁶⁾ Still to notify the Commission.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate she has made of the total volume of packaging used by the fast food industry in each of the last 10 years when

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serving their customers, broken down by (a) cardboard and paper, (b) plastics, (c) biodegradable materials and (d) other materials; [139199]

(2) what assessment her Department has made of the potential for the use of biodegradable packaging within the fast food industry. [139200]

Mr. Morley: I will write to the hon. Member with this information in due course.

Fallen Stock

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on the fallen stock scheme. [140167]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Department has received correspondence and enquiries about the conditions for joining the Scheme and asking when it will start. Progress is being made with putting in place the conditions for launching the Scheme and details will be made available shortly.

Farming

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the costs of administration for farmers in real terms in each of the last four years. [137250]

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Mr. Bradshaw: There is no estimate made of the total costs of administration for farmers. We estimate the cost in terms of farmers' time spent in completing statistical survey forms that was as follows (at the current prices in each of the years):

Year	£000
1999	949
2000	(17)1,432
2001	(18)561
2002	736

⁽¹⁷⁾ Includes full June Agricultural and Horticultural Census as required by the European Union

⁽¹⁸⁾ Many surveys postponed or scaled down due to Foot and Mouth Disease

Fisheries

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what major fish stocks which are closed to UK vessels remain open to other countries' vessels; and what the quota levels of each are. [138095]

Mr. Bradshaw: Two fisheries—Western blue whiting and North Sea herring—have so far been closed in 2003 to the UK fleet as a whole. These fisheries remain open to those other member states which still have uncaught quota for them. Details of their quotas and landings, as shown by the Commission's FIDES database at 11 November, are set out in the following table.

	Western blue whiting			North sea herring
Member state	Current quota	Landings	Closure effective	Current quota	Landings	Closure effective
Germany	18,955	11,712	—	39,087	38,314	—
Denmark	2,218	586	—	63,405	28,590	—
Spain	104	44	—	—	—	—
France	11,944	9,354	—	19,154	16,933	—
Ireland	17,165	14,069	—	—	—	—
Netherlands	31,263	31,659	4 June 2003	45,935	43,689	—
Sweden	0	25	—	4,070	503	—
UK	25,032	21,273	2 April 2003	58,438	57,510	9 September 2003
EEC	107,281	94,722	—	224,458	185,536	—

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has briefed United Kingdom MEPs on the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on her strategy to decouple cod from other whitefish species. [138923]

Mr. Bradshaw: I attach great importance to finding and negotiating approaches which will promote the recovery of cod stocks whilst allowing fishermen the chance to exploit stocks which are abundant in themselves but caught in the same areas. To be negotiable, such approaches do need to be demonstrably workable. I will certainly ensure that MEPs are briefed on the UK's aims in this respect.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the European Commission's announcement on 11 November that it has opened formal infringement procedures against the United Kingdom in respect of alleged failure to enforce fisheries rules. [138924]

Mr. Bradshaw: The European Commission has commenced formal proceedings against the United Kingdom under Article 226 of the EC Treaty and Article 26(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2371/2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the common fisheries policy. The Commission considers that:

(i) the United Kingdom has not provided its competent authorities with the sufficient means to perform their tasks of inspection and control, as laid down in Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy;

(ii) the United Kingdom has not ensured in a sufficient and effective way the compliance with the Community rules in force concerning control measures, notably inspection and monitoring of all fishing activities within its territory and within the maritime waters subject to it sovereignty or jurisdiction;

(iii) insufficient and ineffective control has been observed in particular with respect to those obligations related to the use of the VMS (vessel monitoring

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systems) by vessels operating in the UK waters, to the recording of the exact amount of catches in the logbook, to the submission of sales notes, to the submission and recording of landing declarations, to the submission of transport documents and to the establishment of a validation system comprising in particular cross-checks and verification of data in order to ensure respect of the obligations laid down in Articles 3,6,8,9,10, 13, 14 and 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93;

(iv) the United Kingdom has not taken the appropriate measures against the natural or legal persons who do not comply with the rules in force of the common fisheries policy, including proceedings capable of effectively depriving those responsible of the economic benefit of the infringements or of producing results proportionate to the seriousness of such infringements, effectively discouraging further offences of the same kind, and is of the view that the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 1 (2), Article 2 (1) in connection with the Article 3 (6), Article 6 (3), Article 8 (1), Article 13 (1—3), Article 14 (1 and 2) and Article 19 (1—3), and Article 31 (1 and 2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93.

We have two months in which to respond and to demonstrate compliance with its obligations under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93. If the Commission is not satisfied with our response it may take preventative measures as provided for in Article 26(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2371/2002 and issue a reasoned opinion under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. Beyond that the Commission may refer the issues to the European Court of Justice.

Effective enforcement is integral to the success of the common fisheries policy and to efforts to conserve fish stocks. We are taking the Commission's criticisms very seriously and are currently consulting with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland authorities. We expect to submit a positive response to the Commission early in the New Year.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consultations with the industry she has had on the issue of decoupling cod from other whitefish species. [138925]

Mr. Bradshaw: I and departmental officials are engaged in ongoing discussions with fishermen, about decoupling and other issues associated with fish stock conservation, in the run-up to the key Council of Ministers meeting in December.

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