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Register of Interests

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the requirements are on officials in her Department to declare current interests; and what register of interests is kept for her departmental officials. [164711]

Alun Michael: The Civil Service Management Code sets out the requirements for civil servants declaring any conflicts of interest.

Arrangements in Defra for declaring conflicts of interest are set out in the interim Defra Staff Handbook which is derived from the Civil Service Management Code. Officials are required to inform Human Resources, via their line manager, of any conflicts of interest. Details are recorded centrally within Human Resources.

St. George's Day

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans her Department has to mark and celebrate St. George's Day. [167864]

Alun Michael: As a Department, Defra has made no plans to mark St. George's Day.

Swill Feeding

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the farm at Heddon View was a specialised establishment equipped for the treatment of swill; and whether there were animals there. [166755]

Mr. Bradshaw: Premises at Heddon View were approved to process catering waste into swill. There were no animals on the processing premises.
 
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Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether Mr. Bobby Waugh transferred swill for processing to the farm at Heddon View. [166756]

Mr. Bradshaw: Mr. Waugh transported catering waste to the farm at Heddon View for processing into swill.

Trees

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of trees (a) had full crowns, (b) had slight defoliation, (c) had moderate defoliation, (d) had severe defoliation and (e) were dead in the latest survey conducted on behalf of her Department into tree health in the UK, broken down by region. [165741]

Mr. Bradshaw: The latest survey was conducted jointly by the Forestry Commission and the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland between June and September 2003. The UK data, in the format reported internationally, are given in the following table:

Class	Percentage of trees
Not defoliated	28.8
Slightly defoliated	46.5
Moderately defoliated	23.2
Severely defoliated	0.9
Dead	0.6

The UK does not collect or analyse these data by region.

Vital Villages Programme

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a   statement on the reasons why the Vital Villages Programme is being ended. [167970]

Alun Michael: The Countryside Agency established the Vital Villages Programme in 2001 in response to the Rural White Paper. It was a time-limited programme designed to demonstrate what communities could achieve. The Countryside Agency has met its three-year target to help rural communities to help themselves and demonstrate good practice.

In 2004–05 the Countryside Agency is targeting its resources on meeting all existing grant commitments under the Vital Villages programme and helping communities benefit from the funds already committed to them. It will also work to share the lessons learnt with regional and local delivery bodies.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what evaluation she has undertaken of the effectiveness of the Vital Villages programme. [167971]

Alun Michael: The Countryside Agency's Vital Villages programme has been independently monitored and evaluated over the past three years through six-monthly monitoring and annual evaluation reports. In addition, the Countryside Agency is undertaking impact evaluations of the Parish Plan and Community Service
 
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grant schemes, with reports due by the end of September. The Rural Transport Partnership scheme has also been evaluated and a summary note will be published shortly.

The Countryside Agency has produced several publications drawing on these reports to share the successful lessons and the effectiveness of the schemes, namely:

Get your Community Moving (transport);

Great Ways to Go (transport);

Wheels to Work (transport);

Taxi Voucher Toolkit (transport);

Parish Plan Guidance for Local Authorities; and

Parish Plan Guidance for Parish Councils.

The Agency has also published various leaflets on community buildings, case studies, and good practice (all schemes).

TREASURY

Child Benefit

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how long on average it has taken in the last 12 months for grandparents who become responsible for their grandchildren to be awarded child benefit for   those grandchildren by the Child Benefit Centre once they have notified the centre of these new responsibilities. [168583]

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available as we do not keep separate records for grandparents and other claimants.

Financial Ombudsman Service

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of the system of targets and bonuses in the Financial Ombudsman Service on the quality of its work. [168903]

Ruth Kelly: None. The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent body. Responsibility for managing the work of the Financial Ombudsman Service is a matter for them.

I understand from the ombudsman service that quality assurance is embedded in the control processes of the service. Appropriate checks are made, in the first instance, at management level and the Board of the Financial Ombudsman Service receives monthly reports on service quality, timeliness and productivity. The most important quality check however lies in the ability of either party to a dispute to request that an ombudsman decide the outcome rather than consenting to the outcome proposed by an adjudicator. Only10 per cent. of cases are required to be decided by an ombudsman.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from (a) industry and (b) the public on the system of targets   and bonuses in the Financial Ombudsman Service. [168901]

 
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Ruth Kelly: None. The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent body. The staff employed by it are not civil servants, and the arrangements for managing and paying their staff are matters for the Financial Ombudsman Service and its Board.

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has conducted into the system of targets and bonuses in the Financial Ombudsman Service. [168902]

Ruth Kelly: None. The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent body. Responsibility for monitoring the level of service is a matter for the Financial Ombudsman Service itself.

I understand from the Financial Ombudsman Service that the Board of the Financial Ombudsman Service receives monthly reports on customer satisfaction research, and these have shown over the past 12 months overall satisfaction rates of between 75 per cent. and 88 per cent. The Financial Ombudsman Service also published in March 2004 research on what firms think about their service; the research showed that the vast majority of firms were satisfied with the fairness of decisions and with the process.

National Asset Register

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the next version of the National Asset Register to be published. [169114]

Ruth Kelly: The Government is considering the arrangements for publishing the next version of the    National Asset Register and will make an announcement shortly.

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