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5 May 2004 : Column 1490W—continued
Small Businesses
12. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent representations he has received from small business organisations in Wales regarding start-up schemes. [169194]
Mr. Touhig: My right hon. Friend and I have regular meetings with small business organisations. The Government and the Assembly have created an extremely supportive environment to start up, grow and run a business.
Waiting Lists
13. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary about progress in reducing waiting times. [169195]
Mr. Touhig: I regularly meet the Assembly Health Minister concerning the health service in Wales: waiting times is one of the topics that we frequently discuss.
The most recent Assembly quarterly waiting time statistics illustrates huge improvements in long waits for patients. There has been a 71.9 per cent. fall in the number of patients waiting over 18 months for in-patient treatment and a fall of over 36 per cent. in waiting times of over 18 months for an out-patient appointment.
Miners' Compensation
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on the (a) latest activities of the Welsh monitoring sub-group for the miners' compensation scheme in Wales and (b) latest figures for disbursements under the scheme. [169188]
Mr. Touhig:
The Welsh Sub-Group of the Coal Health Claims Monitoring Group, which I chair, meets on a regular basis and will next meet on 24 May to discuss progress of miners compensation in Wales.
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To date, £300 million for respiratory disease and over £106 million for vibration white finger have been paid out to ex-miners and their families in Wales—bringing the total under both schemes to well over £400 million.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Anderson Inquiry
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether the final report of the mission, entitled "DG (SANCO)/3367/2001—MR Final", carried out from 1 to 5 October 2001 by the European Commission Food and Veterinary Office, was submitted to the Anderson Inquiry into foot and mouth disease; [166757]
(2) whether the Department's Inquiry Liaison Unit was informed of the final report of the mission, entitled "DG (SANCO)/3367/2001—MR Final", carried out from 1 to 5 October 2001 by the European Commission Food and Veterinary Office. [166758]
Mr. Bradshaw: There is no record of the final report, "DG (SANCO)/3367/2001—MR Final", being received by the Department's Inquiry Liaison Unit and it was not sent to the Anderson Inquiry on foot and mouth disease. However, Dr. Anderson did meet the EU Commission to discuss the foot and mouth 2001 outbreak and the lessons learned. Defra also provided the Inquiry Liaison Unit with a submission, which was passed to the Anderson Inquiry, which plotted the legislative changes, and gave copies of the legislation and the Department's working instructions, since the last foot and mouth outbreak in 1967. The submission included a copy of Council Directive 80/217. As I made clear in the Adjournment Debate on 16 March 2004, we believe that 80/217 was properly implemented in the UK. The application by this Government was consistent with previous administrations.
Aridity Index
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the aridity index was, broken down by country in (a) 1975, (b) 1985, (c) 1995 and (d) 2002. [165813]
Mr. Bradshaw: The aridity index is currently being developed as an index of desertification risk for Mediterranean areas by Spanish and Portuguese academics and supported by European research funds. It is an index of the average water available in the soil, defined as the ratio between mean annual precipitation and mean annual evapotranspiration. The research work is scheduled for completion by the end of 2004.
Breckland Farmland SSSI
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the success of the stone curlew within the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest is measured. [165144]
Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 19 April 2004]: The stone curlew population will be assessed for the whole of the Breckland pSPA, which includes Breckland Farmland SSSI. This assessment is based on annual
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counts and is considered by English Nature in conjunction with available information on the UK population and distribution trends, to assess whether the pSPA is continuing to support the numbers of stone curlews for which it has been selected and make a contribution to the Favourable Conservation Status of the species across Europe.
The conservation objective for Breckland pSPA is to maintain in favourable condition the habitats of the internationally important population of stone curlew. To date, the successful recovery of the stone curlew within the pSPA can be measured by the increase in numbers of breeding pairs since the start of the recovery project in 1985 and that the target of 200 pairs set in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan for the numbers of breeding pairs was achieved two years ahead of schedule and continues to rise.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the legal costs to date associated with the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest and the proposed Breckland Special Protection Area are (a) excluding costs relating to legal challenges and (b) including costs relating to legal challenges; and what other costs to date have been incurred by (i) English Nature and (ii) her Department. [165130]
Mr. Bradshaw: The legal costs to date associated with the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the proposed Breckland Special Protection Area incurred by English Nature are: (a) excluding costs relating to legal challenges, approximately £10,000; and (b) including costs relating to legal challenges, approximately £250,000, both amounts are subject to VAT.
The first amount (a) includes legal advice concerning the SSSI notification process and letters of objection together with legal representation at the English Nature Council meeting in July 2001. Included within the costs at (b) is the cost of the High Court proceedings as incurred by English Nature in the legal challenge brought by the hon. Patrick Fisher and the Trustees of the Hon. P.V Fisher's Children's 1986 Settlement.
With regard to any other costs incurred by (i) English Nature, I regret that these would be obtainable only at disproportionate cost but would cover the time provided by various members of staff involved in the proceedings. The costs incurred by (ii) Defra are negligible as the Department is not a party to the proceedings brought over Breckland Farmland SSSI.
Energy Efficiency (Wirral, South)
Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimates she has made of the potential carbon savings that will be achieved in the UK as a result of implementing the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive by (a) 2010 and (b) 2020. [165280]
Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
The Government support the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and propose to transpose it into law through the Building Regulations. It requires member states to set standards, to require the provision of
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certificates, and to inspect boilers and air conditioning systems. It does not include specific carbon saving measures, and therefore no estimates of savings have been made. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is confident however that implementation of the directive will heighten energy efficiency in the public's mind, and hence lead to improvements in buildings producing carbon savings in due course.
EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 26 April; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [169477]
Mr. Bradshaw: I represented the United Kingdom at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 26 to 27 April 2004.
After several hours of talks, the Irish Presidency concluded that it was not possible to identify a compromise proposal on the welfare of animals during transport that would command the support of a qualified majority of member states, and so the meeting concluded without agreement on that dossier. There are no plans to resume discussion of it. This outcome was disappointing for the Government, which had supported the Presidency's efforts to find a compromise that represented a genuine improvement in animal welfare over the current rules.
On the approvals process for genetically modified organisms, there was no qualified majority of member states, either in favour of or against, the approval of sweetcorn from Bt11 maize for consumption in the EU. Under the rules of procedure for such approvals, the Commission is now able to take a decision under its own responsibility, from 1 May.
Denmark reported on measures it has taken in response to dioxin levels in salmon fished in the Baltic Sea. Slovakia and Poland raised concerns about the rules on the carry-over of agricultural stocks on enlargement, which are designed to prevent speculation but which they consider to be over-bureaucratic. In response to a request from Denmark and Austria, the Commission indicated that it would bring forward a proposal within the next few weeks on thresholds for the adventitious presence of genetically modified material in seeds.
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