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Greyhounds

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many prosecutions there have been under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 with regard to greyhounds in each of the last 10 years. [153528]

Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.

It is not possible to identify those prosecutions under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 that relate to greyhounds because details of the circumstances of the offences are not collected centrally.

Horses

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many horses there were in the UK in each year since 2000. [156563]

Alun Michael: This information has not been collected centrally in the past but I have been working closely with the industry to achieve a national equine database which will then be able to provide such information. This opportunity arises from the implementation of the Horse Passport legislation. Currently the best estimate is provided by the British Equestrian Trade Association's National Equestrian Survey published in 1999, which estimated that there were some 900,000 privately owned horses or ponies in Great Britain.

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Large Combustion Plants Directive

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what new analysis her Department has conducted on the impact of the proposed national emission reduction plan for implementation of the large combustion plants directive on the indigenous coal production industry; and if she will make a statement. [155895]

Alun Michael: With the Department of Trade and Industry, we are continuing to assess the potential economic impact of the introduction of the Directive on the UK coal industry, and on the coal-fired electricity generating industry which is its major market, using both internal analyses and independent research. The aim of this analysis will be to understand the probable available market for indigenous coal under both implementation options and to form an understanding of the likelihood that UK coal producers will be able to fully exploit this available market.

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions her Department has had with the indigenous coal production industry on the implementation of the large combustion plants directive. [155896]

Alun Michael: Officials from both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of Trade and Industry are in continuing dialogue with the UK coal industry regarding the implementation of the Large Combustion Plants Directive. In addition, my noble Friend Lord Whitty, the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Trade and Industry (Mr. Timms) met representatives from the UK coal industry and the electricity generating industry, which is its major market, on 9 February to discuss their key concerns.

Market Towns Initiative

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many applications for funding under the Market Towns Initiative her Department has received; and what proportion has been successful; [155946]

Alun Michael: The £37 million funding identified in the Rural White Paper was to enable the Regional Development Agencies and the Countryside Agency to support market town regeneration in the regions. The initiative was therefore not established as a national funding programme, but as a means of enabling regional partnerships to target towns in their region according to regionally agreed selection criteria.

When the announcement of the funding was made, it was envisaged that 100 towns would benefit from this funding. I am pleased to report that, through the innovative methods used in each of the regions, currently 227 towns are receiving support.

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As the Initiative is being delivered through regional partnerships in different ways and we need to collate the data, I will be writing to the hon. Member with more detailed information in due course. In the meantime, set out as follows is a list of the market towns in each of the regions.





















































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