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8 Dec 2003 : Column 224W—continued

Foot and Mouth

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what conclusions have been drawn from the inquiry into lessons learnt from the foot and mouth crisis. [141442]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the statement on the foot-and-mouth inquiries, given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the House, on 6 November 2002, Official Report, column 285.

Incinerators

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many incinerators for disposal of household waste have been granted planning permission in each of the last five years; and when each will be brought into operation. [142306]

Keith Hill: I have been asked to reply.

Information collected by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on planning decisions taken by waste planning authorities in England does not distinguish the waste stream. The number of planning applications for incinerators granted planning permission by waste planning authorities for each of the last five years is as follows:


8 Dec 2003 : Column 225W

In addition, a planning application for an incinerator for the disposal of household waste was granted planning permission on appeal in October 2001.

Information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, on when these incinerators were brought, or are likely to be brought, into operation. The Environment Agency, however, advise that three new municipal waste incinerators have come into operation in England in the last five years, though these may not necessarily have emerged from the planning permissions referred to above and could have arisen from earlier decisions.

Large Combustion Plant Directive

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many submissions her Department has received in response to the consultation on the Large Combustion Plant Directive; and how many (a) favoured the national plan approach and (b) supported the emission limit value approach. [141321]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 4 December 2003]: Over 70 substantive responses were received from individuals, businesses, trade associations, environmental groups, regulators, and Government agencies. Of these about 30 favoured the implementation of the Directive by the emission limit approach; about 20 favoured the national plan approach; and about 20 did not express any views on the choice of implementation approach. In addition, some 1,550 individual letters were received from employees of the coal mining and associated industries, all of which favoured the emission limits approach.

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will establish an inquiry into (a) the effects of the emission limit value approach on UK jobs in (i) the coalmining industry, (ii) the electricity generating industry and (iii) the mining machinery manufacturing sector and (b) the environmental benefit of each approach; and if she will publish the findings before making a final decision on the preferred option. [141323]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 4 December 2003]: We intend to undertake further analysis on whether there is a significantly different impact on the coal industry from the emission limits approach, compared to the national plan approach, to implementing the revised Large Combustion Plants Directive (2001/80/EC) for plants first licensed before July 1987. The estimated costs associated with these alternative options on the Electricity Generating Industry, as well as their respective environmental effects, were set out in our consultation paper, published in June 2003.

Late Payment

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many claims for statutory interest payments have been submitted to private companies under the terms of the Late payment of Debt Act 1998; how many claims were met; and what the total value was of such payments in each year since the Act has been in operation. [141596]

8 Dec 2003 : Column 226W

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister with responsibility for small business and enterprise, my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Nigel Griffiths), on December 3, Official Report, column 102W.

Livestock Markets

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what turnover of livestock there was in livestock markets in England and Wales in each of the past five years for which records are available. [140711]

Mr. Bradshaw: Based on information supplied by the Livestock Auctioneers Association, the turnover of livestock in livestock markets in England and Wales for the years 1997 to 2002 was as follows:

Thousand head

CattleSheepPigsCalvesTotal
19972,09713,85481754017,308
19981,88713,11080048716,284
19991,89713,75460243316,686
20001,84413,74049242416,500
2001(11)
20029836,4751182077,783

(11) Data for 2001 are not available: livestock markets were closed for much of the year due to the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak


Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many livestock markets there were in 1997 in West Derbyshire; how many of them closed during the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001; how many markets (a) did not open after the outbreak and (b) have closed since; and how many livestock markets there are in each county. [141457]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 28 October 2003, Official Report, column 159W and on 12 November 2003, Official Report, column 298W to the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George).

Milk

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with supermarkets and co-operatives regarding the farm-gate price of liquid milk; and what the responses of those companies have been. [141459]

Mr. Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no formal meetings with supermarkets or co-operatives to discuss milk prices. However, Ministers frequently meet representatives from all parts of the dairy supply chain and are therefore aware of the issues. Matters affecting the whole dairy supply chain are regularly discussed at the forum chaired by my noble friend Lord Whitty.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she last met representatives of the National Farmers Union to discuss the farm-gate price of milk; and what steps she is taking to safeguard the future of the British dairy farming industry. [140727]

8 Dec 2003 : Column 227W

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 3 December 2003]: The Secretary of State has had no formal meetings with National Farmers Union to discuss farmgate milk prices. However, Ministers frequently meet with representatives from all parts of the dairy supply chain, including the National Farmers Union, and are therefore aware of the issues. Matters affecting the whole dairy sector are regularly discussed at the Dairy Supply Chain Forum chaired by my noble Friend Lord Whitty and on which the National Farmers Union is represented.

The reasons low farmgate price over the last few years are complex and cannot be reduced to a single factor. Many of these are for the industry to address itself. However, to help safeguard the future of the British dairy farming industry, the Government can and has taken action in line with its Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food to facilitate this. In particular:

Lord Whitty has been chairing meetings of a Dairy Supply Chain Forum, which has been looking at collaborative solutions to improve supply chain efficiency, as well as other issues.

8 Dec 2003 : Column 228W

Under the auspices of the Forum, the Milk Development Council has initiated an innovations workshop to look at barriers to innovation in the sector and how to overcome them.


Orchards

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many orchards there were in each year since 1997, broken down by county; and what their acreage was. [140712]

Mr. Bradshaw: The following figures show the number of main holdings in England by county/unitary authority 1997–1999 that recorded an area of commercial or non commercial orchards and the area covered by the orchards in hectares. Data for 2000–2002 is available on the Defra website at the following link:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/esg/work htm/publications/cs/farmstats web/data map links/data menu.htm

199719981999
Counties/Unitary AuthoritiesOrchardArea (Ha)Hdgs with OrchardsOrchardArea (Ha)Hdgs with OrchardsOrchardArea (Ha)Hdgs with Orchards
Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
South Teeside(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Darlington00(12)(12)00
Durham CC161816
Northumberland373719
Tyneside000000
Sunderland000000
West Cumbria410101039
East Cumbria111515191427
Halton and Warrington(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Cheshire CC252627312941
Greater Manchester South(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Greater Manchester North(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Blackburn with Darwen000000
Blackpool000000
Lancashire CC102716331027
East Merseyside(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Liverpool000000
Sefton(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Wirral(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Kingston Upon Hull, City of 000000
East Riding of Yorkshire410915713
North and North East Lincolnshire 265717
York383825
North Yorkshire CC153625481747
Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham511513513
Sheffield0000(12)(12)
Leeds3725(12)(12)
Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield383828
Derby000000
East Derbyshire95(12)(12)16
South and West Derbyshire8221124316
Nottingham000000
North Nottinghamshire521555234318
South Nottinghamshire69812513
Lester000000
Leicestershire CC and Rutland9161119914
Northamptonshire402036244823
Lincolnshire6546101457643
Herefordshire, County of 3,8574263,8334774,201512
Worcestershire1,5882751,6193031,609283
Warwickshire243492365825954
Telford and Wrekin(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Shropshire CC62501036710576
Stoke-on-Trent000000
Staffordshire CC152222231020
Birmingham000000
Solihull(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Coventry(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Dudley and Sandwell(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Walsall and Wolverhampton(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Peterborough000000
Cambridgeshire CC1,3261501,2201531,074140
Norfolk1,0611971,049191937178
Suffolk1,1661181,055120948109
Luton000000
Bedfordshire CC312033214024
Hertfordshire182623291831
Southend-on-Sea(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Thurrock(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Essex CC1,1761331,099133851119
Inner London-West000000
Inner London-East000000
Outer London-East and North East(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Outer London-South(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Outer London-West and North West(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Berkshire252032213523
Milton Keynes(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Buckinghamshire CC125371124210541
Oxfordshire142371354313338
Brighton and Hove000000
East Sussex CC6029560010959698
Surrey563853436546
West Sussex200601866715661
Portsmouth000000
Southampton(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Hampshire CC304463055426255
Isle of Wight81323181121
Medway578255082537722
Kent CC11,83172211,15874710,390700
Bristol, City of000000
North and N E Somerset, South Glos210652107217773
Gloucestershire675178681194689205
Swindon(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Wiltshire CC202324272330
Bournemouth and Poole(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Dorset CC146511875916364
Somerset1,1242871,1523161,158355
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly9012813416099157
Plymouth(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)(12)
Torbay146156136
Devon CC652336740396699453
England27,6983,99526,9604,39325,5244,389

(12) Denotes that the data has been treated to avoid disclosure of information relating to individual holdings.

Source:

June Agricultural Census


8 Dec 2003 : Column 229W

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what gains and losses in (a) actual and (b) percentage terms there have been in the size of the national orchard for every year since 1992 for which records are available. [140713]

Mr. Bradshaw: The following totals show the hectares of commercial and non commercial orchards grown on agricultural holdings in England.

AreaLoss/GainLoss/Gain
Thousand hectaresPercentage
199230.7
199330.1-0.6-2
199430.0-0.1-0.3
199526.6-3.4-11.3
199626.600
199728.4+1.8+6.8
199827.6-0.8-2.8
199926.2-1.4-5.1
200025.8-0.4-1.5
200126.0+0.2+0.8
200223.6-2.4-9.2
200323.4-0.2-0.8

(13) The figures include estimates for minor holdings

Source:

June Agricultural Census


8 Dec 2003 : Column 230W

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) growers and (b) growers' spouses were engaged in apple growing in each of the last five years. [140777]

8 Dec 2003 : Column 231W

Mr. Bradshaw: The following figures refer to holdings in England which recorded either commercial or non commercial orchards. No split is available for apple growing. Data for the total number of farmers, partners, directors and spouses (if working on the holding) combined are collected annually from the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census as a total. Figures are not available for each item.

Total Farmers, Partners, Directors and Spouses Full and Part Time on Holdings with Orchards
19987,038
19997,029
200010,033
200110,637
20029,996

Notes:

(a) The figures show farmers, partners, directors and their spouses on holdings with orchards, it is not possible to tell if they are only engaged in activities linked to fruit growing.

(b) Figures for 1998 and 1999 show main holdings only, from 2000 onwards minor holdings are also included.

(c) Due to a register improvement exercise in 2001 labour figures prior to this are not directly comparable with later results.

Source:

June Agricultural Census


Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) partners and (b) directors were engaged in apple growing in each of the last five years. [141568]

Mr. Bradshaw: The following figures refer to holdings in England which recorded either commercial or non commercial orchards. No split is available for apple growing. Data for the total number of farmers, partners, directors and spouses (if working on the holding) combined are collected annually from the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census as a total. Figures are not available for each item.

Total farmers, partners, directors and spouses—full and part time on holdings with orchards
19987,038
19997,029
200010,033
200110,637
20029,996

Notes:

1. The figures show farmers, partners, directors and their spouses on holdings with orchards, it is not possible to tell if they are only engaged in activities linked to fruit growing.

2. Figures for 1998 and 1999 show main holdings only.

3. Due to a register improvement exercise in 2001 labour figures prior to this are not directly comparable with later results.

Source:

June Agricultural Census



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