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29 Apr 2004 : Column 1186W—continued
Bio-refinery Technologies
Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the use of (a) household and municipal, (b) industrial and (c) agricultural waste streams as potential sources for bio-fuels through bio-refinery technologies; and if she will make a statement. [166906]
Alun Michael: A study by E4tech for the Department of Trade and Industry made the following estimates for the proportion of the UK's electricity demand that could be met by 2020 from various types of waste biomass: 2.2 per cent. from the combustion, gasification and anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste; 0.5 per cent. from the gasification and anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge; 1.9 per cent. from the combustion and gasification of straw; and less than 0.2 per cent. each from food waste, wood processing waste, farm waste and forestry residues.
The Waste Implementation Programme was established last year to provide support to local authorities in assessing and establishing alternative new technologies with particular reference to achieving the landfill diversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste. The New Technologies sub-programme aims to establish up to five demonstrator plants by 2005 end with at least five additional plants initiated by 2006.
Tallow derived from rendering animal by-products can be burnt to produce energy. 280,000 tonnes of tallow from animals slaughtered under the over-30-months (slaughter) scheme have already been sold to renderers to power their boilers. The Rural Payments
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Agency recently signed a contract to sell 110,000 tonnes of stockpiled tallow to a commercial company for energy production.
Around 120 million litres of waste vegetable oil are produced in the UK each year, which could produce about 115 million litres of biodiesel. 1 million litres of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil are currently sold each month in the UK and it is likely that this will increase once the ban on used cooking oil in animal feed comes into effect in November 2004. Recent advances in biotechnology are opening up opportunities to produce bioethanol from ligno-cellulosic feedstocks such as wood, straw and organic waste, using gasification and hydrolysis, although large-scale commercialisation is unlikely for some years.
Biodiversity
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to ensure sustainable funding for national survey and monitoring schemes in order to (a) mobilise and (b) support the voluntary effort to gather the data on the state of Britain's biodiversity. [165069]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 1 April 2004]: The work of volunteers is crucial to gathering data on the current state of our biodiversity. Volunteers have collected around 70 per cent. of all the data about species. This includes existing survey and monitoring schemes, including the Biological Records Centre:
breeding and wintering birds;
bats, otters and other mammals;
butterflies and moths; and
threatened plants.
An organisation called the National Biodiversity Network Trust is currently co-ordinating actions by a range of interested parties to bring together the efforts of volunteers. The work of the NBN Trust is supported by the Government agencies responsible for biodiversity and the Government support this work through the grant-in-aid to these agencies.
DEFRA has provided a direct contribution of £0.25 million per year to support technical elements of this work that were not being funded. Part of this work has been an exploration of how improved access to biodiversity data can improve the cost-effectiveness of delivering our agri-environmental schemes. This has demonstrated the huge importance of securing access to current information as a way of saving costs overall, and improving the outcomes. DEFRA is currently considering how to secure these benefits through increased support for the NBN process.
The work of volunteers is often focused on their local area and the NBN encourages local storage and quality assurance of these data. However, there are many national societies with networks of volunteers throughout the United Kingdom.
In some circumstances it is more effective to bring this information together in national data centres. The NBN provides a mechanism for both local and national data centres to provide access to their data. In May the latest version of this web-based mechanism, called the NBN Gateway, will be launched. Also, English Nature,
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supported by Treasury Capital Modernisation Funds, has created a public website that links with the NBN gateway to provide information to the public.
In addition to the work on the NBN, the Government will be considering this year how best to improve the co-ordination of the current monitoring and surveillance activities. This will ensure that the UK's state of nature is sufficiently monitored and that we make the best use of the voluntary sector and ensure that the sector receives the full support it needs to be fully effective.
While DEFRA is supporting the NBN process, and considering where further assistance may be needed, a major block to progress is the patchy support for local centres by local authorities. Information is critical to better development planning decisions through both local and regional processes.
DEFRA is seeking co-operation from other Departments over how to ensure that the information sources, underpinned by volunteer effort, are funded in a sustainable way.
Bovine TB
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of the Thornbury trial. [158598]
Mr. Bradshaw: The answer can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the optimum area in which to conduct a badger culling operation is based on the basis of experience from the Krebs trials. [158669]
Mr. Bradshaw: It is not possible to use the results from the Randomised Badger Culling Trial to describe an optimum area in which to conduct a badger culling operation, as this will depend on the local circumstances and the specific effect the operation is intended to achieve.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average duration of a TB2 restriction notice was in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003. [159062]
Mr. Bradshaw: Data for TB2 duration for 1997 are available only at disproportionate cost.
In 2003, the average duration of TB2 restriction notices was 90 1 days. This includes TB2 restriction notices served on herds where the routine herd test was overdue, as well as notices served on herds with a TB breakdown. Herds with overdue tests were not placed under restrictions in 1997.
1 Provisional data downloaded from the State Veterinary Service database on 17 March 2004. This is subject to change, as more data become available.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2003, Official Report, column 539W on badgers, what assessment she has made of the change in size of the total badger population in the Krebs areas since the commencement of the culling of badgers. [159275]
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Mr. Bradshaw: DEFRA assessments are based, principally, on surveys of badger activity carried out before and sometime after culling. Analyses of data from the first three triplets to go live indicate that badger activity levels in trial areas have changed consistent with the treatments applied; levels appearing approximately unchanged in survey only areas, somewhat reduced in reactive cull areas and substantially reduced in proactive cull areas. Such data on field signs, however, give only an approximate index of badger numbers, and Defra is funding two projects looking at ways to enable the estimation of badger populations with greater accuracy.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 212W, on bovine tuberculosis, what the lowest estimate is of culling efficiency using traps, experienced in the Krebs trial areas. [159282]
Mr. Bradshaw: Subjective estimates on the efficiency of culling, based on post-cull surveys, have indicated that in the poorest conditions, particularly relating to inclement weather and the season of the year, culling efficiency may be as low as 30 per cent.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answers of 20 November 2003, Official Report, column 1204W, on bovine tuberculosis and 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 212W, what the basis is of her estimate for the efficiency of trapping as a means of badger culling; whether that estimate has been scientifically validated; and what the current estimate is of the efficiency of the culling conducted in the Krebs trial areas. [159284]
Mr. Bradshaw: There is no sure way to estimate badger populations accurately. Post cull surveys provide a subjective indication of the level of badger activity and abundance based on field signs and are carried out by ecologists from the Central Science Laboratory. Evidence from post cull surveys suggests that trapping efficiency can vary between 30 per cent. and 80 per cent., dependent on conditions, season and taking into account a proportion of trap shy animals. Comparisons of initial and two-year surveys show changes in badger activity consistent with the treatments applied. DEFRA is funding research into novel and innovative methods of estimating badger numbers.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received from the European Commission on the incidence of TB in cattle in the United Kingdom. [159053]
Mr. Bradshaw: The European Commission has made no representations about the incidence of TB in cattle in Great Britain. The United Kingdom provide detailed information on bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) to the Commission as part of the annual report on trends and sources of Zoonoses and zoonotic agents in animals, feedingstuffs, food and man, under the requirements of EU Directive 92/117.
The Northern Ireland tuberculosis eradication programme has qualified for a financial contribution from the EU. As part of a series of missions to member
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states with co-financed bovine tuberculosis eradication programmes, a team of EU Field and Veterinary Office (FVO) inspectors visited Northern Ireland during November 2003. Publication of the FVO report of this inspection is awaited.
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