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Written Answers to Questions
Friday 23 April 2004
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Agriculture (Environmental Damage)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on damage caused to the environment by animal agriculture. [164224]
Mr. Morley: The information is as follows.
(a) Defra has commissioned a wide range of studies on this topic. These programmes and their associated studies have been addressed by "pollutant" (eg greenhouse gas, ammonia, nitrate, phosphorus) rather than by farming sector (eg animal, arable). Full details of the numerous studies, both on-going and those completed in and after 1999, can be found on http://www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project data/subject.asp?SCOPE=0. Most of this extensive research is listed under the policy areas "Environmental Protection (Agriculture)" and "Farmland Conservation". Some of the output of this research is summarised in National Inventories for Greenhouse Gases and Ammonia.
(b) Defra R&D programmes are subjected to periodic review (usually triennial). In addition, individual studies are subject to an expanding programme of peer review. An economic evaluation of the nitrate R&D programme was published in 2002 and can be found at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/nitrate/default.asp.
Amazon Basin
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of the globalised beef market on deforestation in the Amazon basin. [166834]
Mr. Morley: The international beef export market is expanding and Brazilian production is rising to meet demand. The vast majority of Brazil's export trade is currently with countries outside the European Community.
We have not undertaken our own assessment of the impact of the globalised beef market on deforestation in the Amazon Basin, but we are aware of work undertaken and published on 2 April 2004 by CIFOR (Centre for International Forestry Research), which suggests that Brazil's beef production contributes to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
The Government takes sustainable forest management seriously and is playing a leading role in international negotiations on forests in a number of fora, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), Forest Law Enforcement and Governance processes and the G8.
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The Government is committed to tackling illegal logging. Under EU law, a ban on the import of illegally logged timber can be imposed only at EU level. We are therefore showing leadership within the European Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process. The FLEGT action plan includes the proposal to negotiate voluntary partnership agreements with timber producing countries. These agreements would be underpinned by a new EU import Regulation that would deny access to EU markets for illegally harvested timber from those countries.
BACS
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department has made to manage the changeover from the Bank Automated Clearing System to the new BACSTEL-IP system for electronic payments. [164328]
Alun Michael: Defra has been in discussion with our Bank Automated Clearing System (BACS) software provider and we have also been in communication with our sponsoring bank for BACS payments (The Bank of England). Defra will be migrating to BACSTEL-IP in accordance with the timetable issued by BACS Ltd. and guidance from The Office of the Paymaster General.
BSE/nvCJD
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the latest evidence on the links between BSE and new variant CJD. [164072]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
The research referred to is published in international scientific literature, not by the Government.
The two latest published findings are Asante E. A. et al (2002)—the European Molecular Biology Organisation Journal, vol. 21, pp. 6358–6366 and proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA) vol. 98, pp 4142–4147. Copies of both have been placed in the Library.
Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the factors accounting for the trend in UK carbon dioxide emissions since 1996. [165455]
Alun Michael: UK emissions of CO 2 in 2003 were some seven million tonnes of carbon (MtC) lower than in 1996. Broadly speaking this can be accounted for by warmer temperatures in 2003 (-4MtC), greater economic output (+29MtC), lower energy consumption per unit of economic output (-26 MtC), and lower average carbon content of fuels per unit of energy consumption (-6 MtC). The figures in brackets indicate approximately the contribution of each effect, positive and negative signs indicating respectively a contribution to higher or lower emissions.
Chardon LL Fodder Maize
Mr. Simon Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will
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withdraw her request to the French competent authority for a variation in the conditions attached to the Part C consent for Chardon LL fodder maize. [166421]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 21 April 2004]: No. The consent issued by the French Authorities applies to all types of maize genetically modified with the event known as T25, not just to specific varieties, such as Chardon LL.
Climate Change
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate the Government has made of the annual costs to the insurance industry resulting from climate change. [165815]
Mr. Morley: According to the Association of British Insurers storm and flood insurance losses in the UK over the past five years have totalled £5 billion, twice that of previous years. At present, it is not possible scientifically, to attribute such changes and the associated weather events to climate change absolutely. However, what is clear is that the extreme weather events experienced in the UK over recent years (for example, the floods in 2000 and the hot summer in 2003) are typical of what is likely to be experienced with even greater frequency as a result of man-made climate change.
Environment Agency
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to review the Environment Agency's pollution incident recording system. [166051]
Mr. Morley: I have no plans to review the Environment Agency's National Incident Recording System (NIRS).
The Agency carries out an ongoing review of the effectiveness of the system and liaises with the user community, making changes where appropriate.
Over the next five years, the Agency will be looking to move towards one fully integrated web-based tracking system to encompass incident reporting and enforcement.
Environmental Problems (Costs)
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Treasury on the cost to the economy of environmental problems. [166670]
Mr. Morley: Officials and Ministers from Defra and the Treasury frequently discuss the cost to the economy of environmental problems and how best this can be mitigated. To inform these discussions and policy development more generally Defra undertakes analysis of the economic costs and benefits of policies to protect the environment, including a continuous programme of impact assessments and an annual national survey of environmental expenditure by businesses.
Recent examples of such discussions include the development of proposals for returning the revenue from the new landfill tax escalator to business and
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consideration of the scope for cost savings through more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
GM Crops
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 18 March, Official Report, column 435W, on GM crops, whether the investigations were conducted by the Robert Koch Institute on behalf of the Syngenta Corporation. [166109]
Mr. Morley: The German Government has appointed the Robert Koch Institute as its competent authority under Directive 2001/18. The Institute's investigation was undertaken as the competent authority with the full co-operation of Syngenta, who hold the consent for marketing of Bt176 maize.
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