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29 Apr 2004 : Column 1190W—continued
Breckland Farmland SSSI
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the size of the stone curlew population within the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest (a) at present, (b) five years ago, (c) 10 years ago and (d) 15 years ago. [165145]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 19 April 2004]: From the counts of stone curlews within the Breckland Farmland SSSI undertaken by the work of the Breckland Stone Curlew Recovery Project I am able to provide the following information:
(a) The number of pairs proved breeding in the 2003 breeding season was 110 (this does not include parts of the SSSI where access for survey and monitoring was denied);
The Breckland Farmland SSSI was not notified until 2001, so the following figures are for the population nesting on arable and other land within the whole of the Breckland area. This excludes the heathland sites which are the main breeding areas outside the current Breckland Farmland SSSI. These records were used in the assessment of the Breckland Farmland SSSI boundary for breeding stone curlew. The number of pairs proved breeding on arable and other areas within Breckland in the years requested is as follows:
| Pairs | |
|---|---|
| (b) 1998 | 86 |
| (c) 1993 | 49 |
| (d) 1988 | 55 |
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest takes to encourage appropriate habitat management practice. [165146]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 19 April 2004]: The conservation of stone curlew in Breckland is encouraged by the work of the Breckland Stone Curlew Recovery Project, jointly funded mainly by English Nature and the RSPB. Project staff locate and monitor breeding sites and advise farmers on appropriate management actions to ensure breeding success. English Nature's funding for the project is from its SSSI management budget. The success of the stone curlew recovery project is due largely to the combined efforts of the project officers and farmers, working together to achieve nest protection, improved habitat management and habitat creation (provision of nest-plots on set-aside land).
English Nature also runs a Wildlife Enhancement Scheme for Breckland Farmland SSSI to assist land managers with their work. Through this scheme English Nature can offer a Management Agreement to provide payment for additional positive management to benefit nesting stone curlews. The scheme provides options for
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management designed to improve breeding success and to encourage birds out of crops and on to specially created nest plots.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) process and (b) timescale are for the implementation of the Breckland Special Protection Area. [165147]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 19 April 2004]: English Nature has undertaken scientific consultations on the case made for the site. Objections were received and one has resulted in a legal challenge. English Nature expects to submit its recommendations once that has been concluded. Once those recommendations are received Ministers will consider any outstanding issues before taking a decision whether the site merits classification as a Special Protection Area.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the (a) boundaries of the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest and (b) proposed boundaries of the Breckland Special Protection Area have been decided. [165129]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information is as follows.
(a) The boundary of the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) was drawn up by English Nature on the basis of the nest records collected under the Stone Curlew Recovery Project, financed jointly by the RSPB and English Nature, for the years 1995 to 1999 inclusive. Areas regularly containing two or more nest sites over this period were included, conservatively using a foraging range of up to 2 km from each nest site. Other features were also taken into account, in particular the need to have boundaries corresponding to physical features such as roads, drains, ditches, field edges or the boundaries of land holdings.
(b) All or parts of 28 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have been recommended as Breckland potential Special Protection Area (pSPA) because together they support breeding bird populations of three species of European importance.
Breckland SPA qualifies under the EC Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) as it is used regularly by 1 per cent. or more of the Great Britain population of three species of birds listed in Annex 1 of the Directive. They are stone curlew, nightjar and woodlark.
The pSPA boundary was delineated on the basis of records covering stone curlew nests, male woodlarks in forest blocks and in non-forest locations and breeding nightjars. The data spans the period 1992–98, with account taken of 1999 data where available.
Brucellosis
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the (a) cause and (b) source of the recent brucellosis outbreak in South East Cornwall. [166444]
Mr Bradshaw
[holding answer 19 April 2004]: A specialist epidemiological team has been set up to look into the source of the outbreak. The team, led by
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veterinary epidemiologist Professor John Wilesmith, includes specialists in surveillance and epidemiology from both the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and DEFRA.
The group is liaising closely with the State Veterinary Service and looking at the brucellosis testing history of the infected herd, the relationship between cows, bulls and youngstock, cattle movements on and off over the past two years, any known unrecorded cattle movements, the herd's breeding programme, any unusual mixing of livestock and imports into Devon and Cornwall over the past three years.
Field investigations and epidemiological analyses of available data are concentrated on two main hypotheses:
(i) the introduction of infection via an imported animal from a known infected country, or an as yet unknown infected country; or
(ii) the recrudescence of infection either from animals in the infected herd or from other GB herds.
Epidemiological investigations are progressing well; however the cause and source of the infection remain unknown at this stage.
BSE
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the US Department of Agriculture decision to use antibody-based tests for the prion protein that causes BSE; and if she will make a statement. [165253]
Mr. Bradshaw: The testing approvals in the USA are currently consistent with those in the EU where all currently approved and potential new surveillance tests are antibody based. It is understandable that the USDA might want to use similar testing to the EU in order to assess BSE prevalence in their cattle population. No specific evaluation of the US approval process is considered necessary.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the BSE tests she has been conducting at High Mowbray in Yorkshire. [166441]
Mr Bradshaw [holding answer 19 April 2004]: I assume that the hon. Member is referring to BSE research that was conducted between 1989 and 2001 at High Mowthorpe Centre in North Yorkshire as no BSE tests or research have been conducted at High Mowbray. Embryos were derived elsewhere from BSE-infected cattle and transported to High Mowthorpe, where they were transferred to recipient BSE-free dams from New Zealand. A total of 266 live born calves were produced from 347 recipient females and all 613 animals were monitored for seven years. None developed BSE and no sign of BSE was observed when brains were subjected to post-mortem examination. These findings led to the lifting of the import/export ban on cattle embryos in 2002.
Butterflies
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will add butterflies to the list of quality of life indicators. [165068]
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Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 1 April 2004]: The UK Government in partnership with the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Administration have begun developing new strategy to produce a step change in the delivery of sustainable development in the UK. The public consultation document and process for developing new strategy will be launched later this month. As part of the consultation we will consider the use and scope of indicators for monitoring our progress.
We cannot at this stage pre-empt the outcome of the consultation and the associated review of indicators to comment which indicators may or may not be included in a new set.
Annual information on butterfly populations at monitored sites is available and an indicator covering 1976 to 2002 could be compiled. However, the majority of the sites covered by the monitoring schemes are nature reserves and the index is therefore unlikely to be representative of the country as a whole. This weakness is being addressed in a research project, which the Department is currently putting out to tender.
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