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CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Church Repairs (VAT)

Miss McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners whether a Church of England cathedral entering into bankruptcy can reclaim VAT paid on church repairs. [152995]

Sir Stuart Bell: Under the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme—whose extension until March 2006 the Church of England and other UK faith groups welcome—listed churches and cathedrals can recover the equivalent of 12.5 per cent. on the cost of repairs carried out to those buildings after April 2001, in effect reducing the VAT burden to 5 per cent. The grant scheme makes no special provision in respect of bankruptcy.

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On the question of the interaction of the bankruptcy laws and the law relating to charitable corporations such as cathedrals, I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for the City of York (Mr. Bayley) on 2 February 2004.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine TB

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her best estimate is of the staff time costs in replacing stolen, lost and damaged traps used in the operational Krebs triplets areas. [153925]

Mr. Bradshaw: It is not possible to quantify the staff input into individual components of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial.

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For the average number of field staff employed in operations associated with the culling trial, and total cost of the Wildlife Unit by financial year, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 January 2004, Official Report, column 1366W.

Fallen Stock

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to farmers in Lancashire for disposal of fallen cattle stock will be. [153442]

Mr. Bradshaw: No assessment has been made of costs to Lancashire farmers. However, we recognise that many livestock farmers will face increased costs as a result of the ban on on-farm burial of fallen stock. That is why the Government and the farming industry are working together to set up a voluntary low cost national scheme which will assist farmers in meeting those costs.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how long the subsidy for the removal of fallen stock will last. [153443]

Mr. Bradshaw: Defra and the devolved Administrations will subsidise the National Fallen Stock Scheme on a digressive basis for its first three years of operation only. Thereafter, the scheme will be expected to be self-financing.

Fish (Toxic Chemicals)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what tests are carried out and with what regularity for the accumulation of toxic chemicals in (a) fresh water fish, (b) saltwater fish and (c) shellfish landed in England. [153112]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not carry out regular testing for the accumulation of toxic chemicals in landed fish and shellfish. However, the Food Standards Agency carries out periodic surveys of species of fish and shellfish used as food, taken from retail sources, markets or from producers. Analysis for contaminants such as organic chemicals and metals is undertaken as the need arises.

The Environment Agency and CEFAS ¹ carry out monitoring under the National Maritime Monitoring Programme (NMMP) of marine fish and shellfish for a number of hazardous substances. These include regular monitoring for lead, mercury, cadmium, organochlorines and pesticide residues, and special surveys on particular substances of concern where information is needed. In addition the Agency monitors shellfish waters and shellfish in accordance with the requirements of the Shellfish Waters Directive (79/923) for a similar range of hazardous substances, PCBs and faecal coliform levels. The Environment Agency does not routinely monitor freshwater fish for toxic chemicals but it does commission reports in response to identified areas of particular concern.

¹ Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science.

Fisheries

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment

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has been made of the effect on younger fish in a fishery where the stocks are significantly below the optimum economic carrying capacity of a relatively high proportion of large cod, where all other factors are constant. [150919]

Mr. Bradshaw: The effect of this factor is likely to be very small, because the proportion of large cod in the North Sea cod stock is actually very low, and large cod do not usually compete with small cod for the same species or size of food organisms, so that releasing adult food does not necessarily benefit small fish.

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what escape behaviour (a) haddock and (b) whiting exhibit to avoid towing gear. [150090]

Mr. Bradshaw: Most fish (including haddock and whiting) tend to be herded to the mouth of the net. Once at or near to the mouth of the trawl the fish turn and swim in the same direction as the trawl for a period of time.

When a fish becomes tired it usually will fall back into the trawl cod end. In falling back into the trawl, haddock tend to rise upwards as well as backwards. Whiting also tend to rise up when falling back but not as far as haddock.

Many fish will also swim for a period inside the cod end. Both whiting and haddock will actively try and escape through large meshes or escape panels if they are fitted in or near to the cod end and if the fish have the energy to do so.

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the ground gear specifications are for a GOV trawl. [150121]

Mr. Bradshaw: The GOV trawl is a general purpose trawl with a high headline of 5–6 metres. The design, specification and operation of the GOV trawl are agreed internationally and co-ordinated by International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the relationship is between the size of herring stocks and the health of cod fisheries in the North Sea, with reference to (a) the fishing effort directed at and (b) stock levels of sand eels. [150476]

Mr. Bradshaw: The North Sea herring stock collapsed because of the very high rate of fishing by the unregulated herring fishery in the 1960s, but recovered quite rapidly when the fishery was closed. The herring collapsed well before the principal increase in sandeel fishing effort. The main factor in the decline of the cod stock since the 1970s is the high fishing rate on cod, coupled with reduced cod recruitment since the 1980s. This occurred during a period when sandeel abundance fluctuated but did not decline.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the safety implications arising from the designation of the restricted fishing area in the North Sea in respect of vessels being required to dump haddock catch when they enter the area to avoid bad weather. [152168]

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Mr. Bradshaw: The cod protection area established at the December 2003 Council does not cover waters within 12 miles of the coast and thus excludes the areas in which vessels in bad weather are mostly likely to seek refuge; any vessels with a special haddock permit that do seek refuge in the offshore cod protection area will be required to cease their fishing activities until they have left the area again, but they will not be required to dump their haddock catch.

Poultry Imports

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many EU countries refuse to import infected chicken, broken down by disease; what plans the UK has to ban the import of infected chickens; and what measures she is taking to ensure that no infected chickens are imported into the UK. [153122]

Mr. Bradshaw: Under EU law neither chickens nor chicken meat infected with any disease to which poultry is susceptible may be imported into any member state. All chickens and chicken meat imported into the EU must undergo veterinary checks at an approved Border Inspection Post before import is allowed, to ensure that the import requirements have been complied with.

In view of the outbreaks of Avian Influenza in several South Asian countries, the Government have, as an additional precaution, specifically banned import from all the affected countries of all live birds, unprocessed poultry meat (other than poultry meat from Thailand certified as produced from animals slaughtered before 1 January 2004), and other bird products capable of transmitting the avian influenza virus.

Ridgeway

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost of introducing a single Traffic Restriction Order (TRO) for all those parts of the whole Ridgeway where she and the relevant local authorities have agreed that such a TRO would be appropriate; and what estimate she has made of the total cost were each local authority to impose a separate TRO for its own section of the Ridgeway. [154378]

Alun Michael: The costs of Traffic Regulation Orders vary considerably depending on the number and type of objections and whether public inquiries are held. The costs of introducing a single Traffic Regulation Order, as opposed to individual Traffic Regulation Orders on the Ridgeway, cannot be estimated with any certainty. In any event, we think it right that responsibility for such Orders rests generally with local authorities.

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