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10 May 2004 : Column 19W—continued

Departmental Procurement

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of the (a) crockery, (b) cutlery and (c) glassware procured by her Department over the last five years is of British manufacture. [170800]

Alun Michael: Defra was formed in June 2001. The information requested cannot be provided, as it is not held centrally. Under public procurement rules, it would be illegal to discriminate between suppliers on grounds of nationality.

Discarded Needles

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received about the collection and disposal of discarded needles and other drug paraphernalia; and if she will make a statement. [170836]

Alun Michael: Over the last two years my officials have received representations from the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management about problems associated with discarded drug paraphernalia, in particular needles. My officials are leading discussions with a number of Government Departments, notably the Home Office, Department of Health and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, looking at what action might be taken to address the problem. A drugs related litter conference took place on 12 February 2004 in Bristol which looked at identifying key issues and discussed how to take matters forward. Work in this area will continue to build upon the positive outcomes of the conference.
 
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Environmental Protection

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Government funding was available in each of the past three years to Government programmes (a) to stop people littering and polluting, (b) to promote energy efficiency and (c) to cut traffic pollution. [168808]

Alun Michael: (a) Defra funding is provided to ENCAMS (formerly Tidy Britain Group) annually. Funding over the last three years is as follows:

	£
2001–02	3,762,000
2002–03	4,597,0001
2003–04	3,574,000

This funding supports ENCAMS work on a range of    local environmental quality issues, including programmes to discourage littering. In addition ENCAMS is able to undertake additional work funded by or undertaken jointly with local government or other government departments and agencies.

(b) Defra currently provides grants to aid energy efficiency through four main routes.

1. The Carbon Trust—to support and promote energy efficiency and low carbon innovation for business and public sector

2. The Energy Saving Trust—to support and promote energy efficiency in the domestic sector.

3. The Community Energy programme—capital and development funding to refurbish existing and install new community heating schemes.

4. The Warm Front programme—to provide energy efficiency measures to the vulnerable.

¹  Defra allocated an additional 1m to local authorities through ENCAMS for the Local Environmental Quality Pathfinder Programme that forged partnerships between local authorities and the local community. Some of the projects developed reduced fast food litter, railway land litter and schools litter.

The funding made available by Defra and its predecessors to support and promote efficiency measures in the last three years (including the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust) is of the scale set out as follows:

	£
2001–02	256,000,000
2002–03	225,000,000
2003–04	(4)243,000,000

⁽⁴⁾ Budget

(c) Government currently provides funding through the Transport Energy Powershift and CleanUp programmes, which are administered by the Energy Saving Trust. Powershift provides grants towards the purchase of cleaner and more efficient alternatively fuelled vehicles e.g. LPG, natural gas and hybrid vehicles. CleanUp provides grants towards the cost of purchasing exhaust treatment systems which reduce NOx    and Particulate emissions. Both programmes contribute to reducing traffic pollution and were allocated the following Government funding.
 
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CleanUp	£
2001–02	7,400,000
2002–03	8,300,000
2003–04	12,900,000

Powershift	£
2001–02	5,400,000
2002–03	2,200,000
2003–04	7,000,000

Note:
These figures refer to grant spend and do not include management and Administration costs.

Food Export Standards

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) the UK Government's and (b) the EU's regulatory systems to prevent the export of food produced in the EU accession countries which does not fully comply with EU slaughter and production standards. [167324]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 22 April 2002]: It is the responsibility of the relevant competent authorities in each accession country and EU Member State to ensure that all food is produced in accordance with EU legislation. Once food is placed on the market in the EU, it is up to the relevant central competent authorities in Member States to ensure that the legal requirements continue to be met. The European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office is responsible for ensuring that      competent authorities comply with these responsibilities. The Food and Veterinary Office have carried out a series of visits to accession countries to check that they have appropriate control systems in place, and will carry out further visits to ensure continuing compliance.

The Food Standards Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its agencies are responsible for food safety and food standards in the   UK. Enforcement responsibilities are delegated to    environmental health and trading standards departments in Local Authorities and the Meat Hygiene Service who carry out checks on food to ensure compliance with food safety and food hygiene standards.

Farm Income

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the impact of the (a) ending of the Over-Thirty-Months Scheme and (b) start of single farm payments on livestock holdings. [170136]

Alun Michael: The information is as follows:

(a) If the Over-Thirty-Months-Scheme were to end for cattle born after 1 August 1996 this would lead to an increase in domestic beef production, amounting to an additional 175,000 tonnes in 2005. Consequent changes in price will depend on the initial volumes and perceived quality of cow beef, the rate of import substitution,
 
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market demand, and changes to the Date Based Export Scheme. Any losses to producers should be relatively short term and market prices for OTM cattle could, in the longer term, be expected to recover to levels close to the EU average. As the present OTMS compensation rate is below the EU market price for cull cows and demand for manufacturing beef is strong, UK farm prices for OTM cattle are expected to rise especially as exports open up leading to a positive effect on the incomes of dairy and suckler beef farmers.

(b) Under the single farm payment scheme, direct subsidies are being decoupled from production which will provide an opportunity for farmers to respond to market signals thereby producing products that consumers demand rather than producing those that they have historically produced, or which attract larger subsidies. Payments under the single payment scheme will initially be composed of an element based on farmers' historic payment in the reference period and an element based on their farm area. Area payments will be fully implemented by 2012. There will be some redistribution of monies within the regions defined by the area payments from the more intensive to the more extensive types of farming, but the impact on individual holdings will also depend on how they respond to opportunities presented by CAP reform.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on farm income levels for farmers in Wirral South. [170273]

Alun Michael: Due to the small number of farms in Wirral South, there are no robust data available on farm incomes for farmers in that area. Net farm income for farms in the EU North Region ¹ and for England over the last five years are show in the following table.
Net Farm Income £

	EU North Region	England
1998–99	8,272	10,359
1999–2000	8,659	7,981
2000–01	12,456	9,886
2001–02	16,457	13,558
2002–03	18,512	16,435

Source:
Farm Business Survey

Net farm income is the return to the principal farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and to the tenant-type capital of the business.

¹  Comprising Government Office Regions North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on farm income levels for farmers in Oldham, West and Royton in the past five years. [170880]

Alun Michael: Due to the small number of farms in Oldham West and Royton, there is no robust data available on farm incomes for farmers in that area over the last five years. Net farm income for farms in the EU North Region and for England over the last five years are show in the following table.
 
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Net Farm Income

	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
EU North Region	8,272	8,659	12,456	16,457	18,512
England	10,359	7,981	9,886	13,558	16,435

Source:
Farm Business Survey

Net farm income is the return to the principal farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and to the tenant-type capital of the business

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