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School Repairs (Stroud)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) which schools in the Stroud constituency had at least one year when school repair capital spending was greater than £5,000 since 1997; [164169]

(2) what the total capital spending on school repairs for the Stroud constituency was for each year since 1997. [164170]

Mr. Miliband: The Department allocates capital funding to local education authorities (LEAs) and their schools. The majority of this capital support is allocated to schools and LEAs by formula, and they decide how to invest it in line with their asset management plans. The Department does not, therefore, have detailed information about all the capital investment in each school; this should be held locally.

The following table sets out the total capital support made by this Government to Gloucestershire LEA since 1996–97. This table includes devolved formula capital grants to schools and capital support for the voluntary aided sector.

	£ million
	Gloucestershire LEA capital allocations
1996–97	12.229
1997–98	7.947
1998–99	6.269
1999–2000	12.356
2000–01	24.862
2001–02	21.065
2002–03	22.917
2003–04	28.486

We have also already allocated indicative funding for future years worth approximately £34.6 million in 2004–05 and £20.1 million in 2005–06.

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Websites

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total annual cost of his Department's websites, including those of its agencies, was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [159515]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information is as follows:

DfES—2003–04:

2003–04	£
Central website(7)	1,900,000
Customer facing portals(8)	978,000
Curriculum online(9)	2,394,598

⁽⁷⁾ www.dfes.gov.uk

⁽⁸⁾ 6 sites

⁽⁹⁾ www.curriculumonline.gov.uk

Agencies—latest figures available:

Agency	Total spent (£)
Investors in People UK	160,000
QCA	380,000
CITB	315,000
ECITB	22,000
Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA)	112,585
Adult Learning Inspectorate	38,489
TTA	517,000
BECTA	1,267,100
NGfL	1,111,500
NCSL	673,000
HEFCE	67,000

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

CAP

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to commence negotiations to withdraw the UK from the Common Agricultural Policy. [163531]

Alun Michael: No. The Common Agricultural Policy is an integral part of the European Union's internal market. It would be bizarre to consider withdrawal at the point when we are achieving the reforms for which the UK has long argued. The changes will deliver a more rational CAP and we played a leading role in securing radical reforms last June. The reforms reflect our own goals for sustainable farming and will deliver better value for money to taxpayers and consumers, provide opportunities to boost farm incomes, bring benefits to the wider rural community, reduce damage to the environment and improve animal welfare.

As a result the reforms will bring benefits across the EU and to agricultural trade and development worldwide. The UK played a leading role in securing these reforms and we will continue to work within the EU for a more sustainable CAP.

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Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what help will be given to Exmoor farmers as a result of the mid-term Common Agricultural Policy reform. [161884]

Alun Michael: Exmoor farmers, like all others, will benefit from decoupling of subsidies from production.

Some representations have been made to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State that the division of England into two regions; severely Disadvantaged Areas and land outside the SDA, might disadvantage some who farm within the SDA. As a result she has expressed her willingness to consider a small modification to the scheme to create a further region of moorland within the SDA if a case can be made that commands a broad consensus.

British Cattle Movement Service

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role the British Cattle Movement Service plays in the tracing of stolen cattle. [164596]

Alun Michael: The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) acts as the Department's main contact with keepers and police forces in tracing stolen cattle.

The BCMS provides evidence from the Cattle Tracing Scheme database to help the police establish the true ownership of animals in disputed cases.

The BCMS also acts for keepers directly by marking animals reported to have been stolen and informing the local police force when any further notifications are made to them about these animals.

The BCMS works closely with agricultural departments' inspectors, the police and local trading standards officers to ensure that the theft, movement and disposal of stolen animals is made as difficult as possible.

Department-sponsored Bodies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) resource budget, (b) administration costs and (c) staff numbers were for 2003 of the (i) Agricultural Wages Committees for England, (ii) Home Grown Cereals Authority, (iii) Horticultural Development Council, (iv) Horticultural Research International, (v) Milk Development Council, (vi) United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards, (vii) Wine Standards Board, (viii) Committee of Investigation for Great Britain, (ix) Committee on Agricultural Valuation, (x) Committee on Products and Processes for Use in Public Water Supply, (xi) Consumers' Committee for Great Britain under the Agriculture Marketing Act 1958, (xii) Hill Farming Advisory Committee for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, (xiii) Pesticide Residues Committee, (xiv) Water Regulations Advisory Committee, (xv) Zoos Forum, (xvi) Veterinary Laboratories Agency and (xvii) Veterinary Medicines Directorate. [165125]

Alun Michael: This information could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.

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Departmental Costs

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what has been the total wage bill for her Department for each year since its inception; and what the projected figures for (a) total wages and (b) total staff numbers are for 2004–05. [164082]

Alun Michael: The expenditure and projected expenditure for DEFRA and its agencies is as follows:

	£000
2001–02	333,414
2002–03	380,358
2003–04	393,544
2004–05	387,291

The forecast staff numbers for 2004–05 is 13,106.

Illegal Hare Coursing

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the rural economy of illegal hare coursing; [163803]

(2) what plans she has to bring forward legislation to reduce illegal hare coursing. [163805]

Alun Michael: Hare coursing as such is not illegal at present. 'Illegal hare coursing' takes place when other offences are associated with the activity, the most common offence being that of trespass. Since it is not a defined activity, separate studies of the economic effect of 'illegal hare coursing' would not be appropriate. Nor is further legislation focused on 'illegal hare coursing' likely to reduce its scale. Enforcement requires effective police intelligence and the active support of people living in affected areas to obtain evidence of offences being committed. However, the Government considers all forms of hare coursing to be undesirable because it involves unnecessary suffering. Last session's Hunting Bill would therefore have made all hare coursing events illegal. Evidence of this offence would be easier to obtain and this would help enforcement.

Land Mapping

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs further to correspondence with the hon. Member for the Vale of York, whether all the mistakes made during the digitalisation of the mapping of land have now been corrected. [164595]

Alun Michael: The maps referred to in the correspondence have been edited and are awaiting agreement from the hon. Member's constituent.

Noble House

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what type of energy generation is used for the supply of electricity and heating to Noble House; and whether her Department has experienced problems with this method of energy generation. [164594]

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Alun Michael: The electricity supply for Nobel House is taken from the National Grid. Defra's contract is for the supply of electricity from 100 per cent. renewable sources.

Power for heating the building is delivered by standard mains gas.

Within the last 12 months, apart from some fluctuations in pressure for gas, and one brief failure in the supply for electricity due to external road works, no problems have been reported.

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