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17 Mar 2004 : Column 269W

Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 17 March 2004

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Combined Heat and Power

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when combined heat and power was last discussed at the Sustainable Energy Policy Network; and if she will make a statement; [160222]

Mr. Morley: Within government Defra takes the lead for policy on combined heat and power (CHP) and CHP is regularly discussed at the monthly meetings of the Sustainable Energy Policy Programme Board.

Since the publication of the Energy White Paper the Government have commissioned the following studies on combined heat and power:




In developing the final CHP Strategy for publication after the Easter Recess we have been considering the full range of policy options to support achievement of the CHP target of 10,000MWe by 2010.

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to use combined heat and power to cut fuel poverty. [160090]

Mr. Morley: The Community Energy programme is a three-year £50 million UK-wide grant programme promoting community heating largely through the use of CHP. One of the aims of the programme is to help 100,000 people to heat their homes affordably. We hope that it will be possible to extend the programme beyond March 2005, but this is subject to resources being available.

In the Energy White Paper we made a commitment to support field trials for micro-CHP. These trials, which are being conducted by the Carbon Trust, will help determine the fuel and carbon saving potential of micro-CHP in a range of applications. The results of the trials will help inform the development of any future support for the technology, including in fuel poor households.

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Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government's combined heat and power strategy will be published. [160091]

Mr. Morley: We intend publishing the Government's CHP Strategy to 2010 after the Easter Recess, to coincide with the first year review of the Energy White Paper.

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Government's progress in meeting its target to achieve 10GW of combined heat and power by 2010. [160092]

Mr. Morley: At the end of 2002, installed CHP capacity stood at 4,742MWe. More up to date data will become available when the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) is published in the summer by DTI. The measures to support CHP announced in the Energy White Paper, taken together with the measures we have previously introduced and detailed in the draft CHP Strategy, will significantly help CHP. We will set out the full range of support measures in the Government's Strategy for CHP to 2010, which we intend to publish after the Easter Recess.

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what policies her Department has introduced since the publication of the Energy White Paper to encourage investor confidence in the combined heat and power sector; and if she will make a statement. [160093]

Mr. Morley: Since last year's Energy White Paper we have been progressing delivery of the support measures for CHP set out therein. Before Christmas I set an ambitious target to source at least 15 per cent. of electricity for government use from Good Quality CHP by 2010. These Energy White Paper support measures, taken together with the measures we have previously introduced and detailed in the draft CHP Strategy, will significantly help CHP. We will set out the full range of support measures in the Government's Strategy for CHP to 2010, which we intend to publish after the Easter Recess.

Environmental Sustainability

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the change in costs to local authorities of the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003. [159012]

Mr. Morley: Local authorities are making significant changes in their waste management practices to meet their current Statutory Performance Standards for recycling and composting and in anticipation of legally binding requirements under the Landfill Directive to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled. It is too early to tell whether the requirements of the Household Waste Recycling Act will impose costs in excess of those being incurred to meet the aforementioned targets.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with local government on local authority performance on waste recycling. [159006]

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Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has not held any specific discussions with local government on local authority waste recycling performance recently.

I will follow up my predecessor's correspondence with local authorities whose progress towards meeting their recycling and composting targets was judged to be of most concern, once data on local authority recycling performance for 2003–04 are available, in summer 2004, and those failing to meet those targets have been identified.

There is regular discussion on local authority waste management issues, including performance, between Defra and the Local Government Association (LGA) officials.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of local authority performance on (a) waste recycling and (b) waste disposal. [159010]

Mr. Morley: In December 2003 the Audit Commission published information on local authorities waste and recycling performance as part of its Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) data for 2002–03. These data supplement local authorities own projections of their 2003–04 performance and provide an indication of local authorities movement towards their statutory performance standards. It suggests that England is within reach of its 2003–04 national target of 17 per cent.

Local authorities actual performance for 2003–04 will be known when the BVPI figures are published in December 2004.

The Waste Implementation Programme, as part of its approach to targeted support, is identifying those authorities facing barriers to improved performance and how these might be overcome.

Euratom Treaty (Inspection Visits)

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects the Euratom Treaty Article 35 verification visits to (a) Sellafield and (b) Dounreay to take place; and if she will make a statement on the arrangements for these inspection visits. [161161]

Mr. Morley: The European Commission undertook an Article 35 verification visit to Sellafield from 8–12 March. We understand the Commission is contemplating a visit to Dounreay within the next year or so, but no date has been fixed.

The arrangements for the Sellafield visit were made by the Department in co-operation with BNFL, the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency. The Scottish Executive would be responsible for the arrangements for a visit to Dounreay in co-operation with UKAEA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and FSA.

Agricultural Support(Severely Disadvantaged Areas)

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she

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has made of the change in support which will result from the introduction of single farm payment to farmers in severely disadvantaged areas. [160491]

Alun Michael: Defra will publish shortly an analysis of the economic impact on the English farming industry of the decoupling of CAP direct payment and the decision to allocate entitlement on the basis set out in the Secretary of State's Statement to the House on 12 February.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the (a) severely disadvantaged areas and (b) number of farmers in each. [160492]

Alun Michael: The severely disadvantaged areas are those areas of land within less favourable areas of the UK, which are handicapped, principally by reason of high altitude, harsh climate, short growing season, low fertility, difficult topography or remoteness. The Severely Disadvantaged Areas are defined on an England basis and are as such treated as one entity. There are approximately 7,400 agricultural holdings wholly within the SDA and another 7,300 that straddle the boundary. The SDA are defined in statutory maps and in England lie within the following constituencies:




































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Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is towards providing assistance to farmers in severely disadvantaged areas following the introduction of the single farm payment. [160493]

Alun Michael: Eligible farmers in severely disadvantaged areas will receive the single farm payment, and will continue to be eligible for other schemes such as the Hill Farm Allowance and the agri-environment schemes (which are currently being reviewed). The need for assistance to these or other areas will need to be re-examined in the context of the new EU Rural Development Regulation which will come into effect in 2007, and the changing needs of sustainable development in the uplands.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the financial cost would be of restricting single farm payment at the lower rate to farmers in the hill farm allowance area rather than to all farmers in the severely disadvantaged areas. [160494]

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Alun Michael: The aggregate subsidy available for the single farm payment in England is not affected by the definition of the English regions for allocating entitlement.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will rescind her decision to pay single farm payment at a lower rate to all farmers in severely disadvantaged areas; and if she will make a statement. [160495]

Alun Michael: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, made her decision in the best interests of the industry as a whole while recognising that there will be individual winners and losers.

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