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American Ships (Decommissioning)
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the polychlorinated biphenyls in the US ships intended for decommissioning by Able UK have been analysed to determine whether the waste meets the necessary standards for (a) incineration and (b) landfill. [143442]
Mr. Morley: Not yet. Dismantling work on the ships is currently prevented while matters concerning their future are addressed.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to prevent further US vessels crossing the Atlantic for dismantling in Hartlepool. [143663]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 11 December 2003]: The remaining nine vessels in the contract, will remain in the US pending the resolution of US legal action which prevents them leaving the US before April 2004.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether planning permission for the construction of the dry dock at Able
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UK was within its period of validity when the American ghost ships were given permission to come to the UK. [143808]
Mr. Morley: Whether a grant of planning permission is effective for the development concerned is a matter in the first place for the relevant local planning authority and ultimately the courts.
Animal Welfare
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received asking her to ban the slaughter of animals without pre-stunning; and if she will make a statement. [141953]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 4 December 2003]: Following the recommendation in the Farm Animal Welfare Council report on the welfare of red meat animals at slaughter, a number of organisations concerned with animal welfare, and individuals, have called for a ban on slaughter of animals without prior stunning in this country.
Jewish and Muslim groups have suggested that the practice be maintained. We hope to issue our response for consultation early next year.
Mr. Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the UK Government's representatives are pursuing the policy of an eight-hour journey limit for slaughter animals in EU Council working group meetings; and if she will make a statement. [143844]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government is seeking a finite journey limit for the transport of animals destined for slaughter and further fattening, in accordance with our policy of replacing the long distance transport of animals for slaughter with a trade in meat. Journey limits cannot be considered in isolation and must be part of an overall package of agreed measures that provide a significant improvement in animal welfare throughout the EU and beyond.
Cattle Testing
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for pre-movement testing of cattle for exposure to m.bovis. [144438]
Mr. Bradshaw: All farmers have been sent a leaflet "Golden rules for a healthy herd", which advises purchasers to check the disease status of cattle prior to purchase.
In February 2003, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced a review of our bovine tuberculosis strategy. Early in the new year we will be publishing a consultation document which will represent the outcome of the first stage of that review. The consultation document will include proposals for short-term measures for reducing the risk of geographic spread of bovine TB from high to low incidence areas, including consideration of proposals for the pre and/or post movement of cattle.
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Cod By-catches
Sir Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent research she has commissioned into cod by-catches in nephrops fisheries; and if she will make a statement. [143719]
Mr. Bradshaw: Defra and the other Fisheries Departments in the UK have sufficient data on the catches of vessels which take both nephrops and cod to be able to demonstrate that curtailing nephrops catches brings minimal benefit to cod stocks. We shall continue to draw to the attention of the European Commission the evidence we have on this.
Common Agricultural Policy
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received concerning the Common Agricultural Policy reform options of (a) individual historic payments and (b) regional average payments. [143609]
Mr. Bradshaw: We received over 800 responses to our consultation letter on CAP reform implementation. Most respondents presented arguments in favour of the individual historic, flat rate or hybrid models of allocating entitlements under the new Single Payment Scheme. We will follow our standing practice for public consultations in placing a list of the respondents in the House Library; making copies of individual responses available in the main Defra library (other than those where the respondent has specifically requested the letter or email be withheld); and providing a summary of views on the Department's website. Ministerial colleagues and officials have also had meetings with a range of stakeholders on this issue.
Crop Areas
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether compensation will be paid by her Department to farmers affected by the over-estimation of the wheat area for this year's harvest; and if she will issue a formal apology to farmers. [143587]
Mr. Bradshaw: I regret that the error was made. Defra figures are only one of a number of sources of information available to the market and individual buyers and sellers have to use their own commercial judgment. Although there was an initial increase of approximately £5 per tonne immediately following publication of corrected figures, this had reduced by about half within a few days with the price back on trend. This reflects the UK's position as a price taker rather than a price maker in an international commodity market. UK production is only about 13 per cent. of EU production, and EU production is just over 20 per cent. of world production. On average, however, wheat prices this year are now some £50 per tonne higher than at the same period last year. They have risen steadily throughout the marketing season in response to serious reductions in supply elsewhere in Europe as a result of heat and drought in the summer. This has also coincided with a tighter global market which has seen world wheat prices at their highest levels in recent years. There was no
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discernable effect on prices when the provisional agricultural census results were published in the middle of September.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are being taken by the Department to ensure that the estimation of crop areas is accurate; and what assessment has been made of the causes of the error in estimation this year. [143588]
Mr. Bradshaw: The error in the estimation of crop areas this year was caused by unintentional double counting of holdings during the process of combining IACS crop areas with June Census returns. The computer program that extracts the necessary data from the IACS returns has now been rewritten to ensure that this error will not be repeated. In addition, the existing procedures for checking results will be strengthened and a risk assessment process will be instituted to ensure that potential problems are identified. Figures derived from surveys are always subject to some uncertainty, particularly when provisional results are issued, but every attempt is made to minimise this.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are in place to ensure that errors in estimation of the wheat area harvest are detected. [143589]
Mr. Bradshaw: The error in the estimation of crop areas this year was caused by unintentional double counting of holdings during the process of combining IACS crop areas with June Census returns. The computer program that extracts the necessary data from the IACS returns has now been rewritten to ensure that this error will not be repeated. In addition, the existing procedures for checking results will be strengthened and a risk assessment process will be instituted to ensure that potential problems are identified. Figures derived from surveys are always subject to some uncertainty, particularly when provisional results are issued, but every attempt is made to minimise this.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department takes to ensure the correct estimate of each year's wheat harvest is made. [143668]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 11 December 2003]: Estimating the size of the annual wheat harvest depends on information from a number of different sources gathered over time. A provisional estimate of planted area is normally published in September based on a combination of census and IACS data. Provisional yield information in the form of a production estimate is normally published in October. Updated figures are normally published in November and January respectively.
A number of checks are in place to verify the information coming in from farmers, the processes and the credibility of the aggregate results. Unfortunately, the internal error in the calculation of this year's planted area figures was only discovered by Defra statisticians after the area results had been published, and a corrected Statistical Notice was therefore published on 1 December.
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