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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Recycling Rates

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the recycling rates of each local authority are, listed in descending order. [175033]

Mr. Morley: A table listing the percentage of household waste recycled and composted by each local authority in England in 2002–02 (the most recent year for which data is available) will be placed in the Library of the House.

Air Quality

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the air
 
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quality rates were in (a) Portsmouth, (b) Southampton and (c) rural Hampshire in each of the last three years. [174194]

Mr. Morley: The following table contains the annual mean concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and particles (PM _{1 0} ) at Portsmouth, Southampton, rural East Sussex and rural Oxfordshire. Defra does not monitor air quality in rural Hampshire. These data are available on the National Air Quality Information Archive on the internet (www.airquality.co.uk).

The table also shows the number of days of moderate air pollution or worse at the four sites. Pollution at each site on each day is defined according to the pollutant that is in the highest band during that day.

	Annual mean concentrations at automatic monitoring stations (micrograms per metre cubed)
Site	Ozone	Nitrogen dioxide	Carbon monoxide (milligrams per metre cubed)	Sulphur dioxide	PM 1 0 (Gravimetric Equivalent)	Number of days of moderate air pollution or worse
Portsmouth
2001	(60)—	28	—	3	23	3
2002	—	26	0.2	3	23	0
2003	52	26	0.2	6	24	55
Southampton
2001	34	38	0.6	8	26	20
2002	37	33	0.4	6	26	11
2003	40	36	0.6	6	28	48
Lullington Heath (rural East Sussex
2001	57	12.6	—	2.9	—	53
2002	55	10.8	—	2.5	—	41
2003	63	12.5	—	3.3	—	100
Harwell (rural Oxfordshire)
2001	49	17.1	—	3.1	19	42
2002	51	14.6	—	2.3	17	36
2003	60	15.8	—	3.6	20	90

⁽⁶⁰⁾ Pollutant not measured at this site.

Ancient Trees

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will create a new designation of historic tree to protect ancient and historic trees from destruction. [173943]

Keith Hill: I have been asked to reply.

The Government have no plans to amend environmental protection or planning legislation to create such a new designation. The on-going review of heritage protection is focusing on the reform of existing designations.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what strategies her Department (a) applies and (b) intends to apply for the protection of ancient and historic trees. [173944]

Keith Hill: I have been asked to reply.

Ancient and historic trees enjoy some measure of statutory protection under legislation relating to tree preservation orders, woodland protection, nature conservation and historic landscapes. Under the biodiversity strategy for England, incentives such as the Forestry Commission's Woodland Grant Scheme are being refined to encourage the restoration and sustainable management of ancient woodlands.

Asbestos

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the costs to the farming industry of implementing the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 in each of the next 10 years. [176642]

Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.

The total cost of the package of amendments to the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations brought in in 2002 was estimated to have a total present value of £1.7 billion in the 50 years 2000–50. The vast majority of this, £1.5 billion, is the estimated total present value cost of implementing the new regulation 4, the duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises.

The Regulatory Impact Assessment for the new duty to manage estimated the undiscounted cost to the agricultural industry over the first 10 years after
 
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implementation to be £41 million in the first year, £33 million in the second year, £31 million in each of the subsequent four years, and £1 million in each of the final four years (valued in 2000 prices). There are approximately 163,540 agricultural premises in Great Britain.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what advice she has given to farmers on identifying materials containing asbestos in premises under their control. [176648]

Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has worked with representatives of the farming community, including the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Rural, Agricultural and Allied Workers section of the TGWU, on asbestos related issues through the Health in Agriculture Group, which was set up in 1997.

Guidance on asbestos is included in the HSE guide to health and safety on farms 'Farmwise'. HSE also commented on NFU's specific guidance on asbestos.

Climate Change

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of climate change on the quantities of water that may be sustainably abstracted over the next 50 years, broken down by region. [168370]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the Answer given to her on 19 April 2004, Official Report, column 161W.

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the concept of contraction and convergence as the basis for international negotiations on climate change beyond 2010. [172936]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 18 May 2004]: On the one hand, the contraction and convergence framework promises both global participation in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a means of ensuring that greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised in the atmosphere at a level that avoids dangerous climate change. On the other hand, it requires upfront agreement on the level at which greenhouse gas concentrations should be stabilised, something that many countries are reluctant to discuss; it is based on a per-capita approach which a number of countries with high per capita emissions strongly oppose, and requires a governance structure that binds countries in for decades. The UK remains open to discussing the relative merits of the contraction and convergence approach with other countries and stakeholders, along with other approaches.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will obtain a reply to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton from the Food Standards Agency regarding Mr. and Mrs. P. Acton, as promised in her letter dated 28 April. [177433]

 
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Alun Michael: The letter referred to by the right hon. Member concerned European Rules on vitamin and mineral supplements which is a matter for the Department of Health. The letter was transferred to the Food Standards Agency on 28 April and the right hon. Member was informed that the transfer had taken place. It is not appropriate for me to comment on when a response will be sent by Department of Health.

Countryside Access

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps her Department is taking to facilitate access to open countryside; [175964]

(2) how much money has been allocated to the opening up of the countryside in each of the last 10 years; [175965]

(3) how much funding her Department plans to allocate to facilitate access to open countryside under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; [175966]

(4) what additional grants will be made to local authorities for implementation of new Part 1 access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. [175967]

Alun Michael: Defra is working with a wide range of organisations to ensure that people will enjoy the full benefits of the new right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The first two regions, the South East and lower North West, open for access on 19 September.

We are looking in detail with the Countryside Agency, Ordnance Survey and other bodies closely involved in the implementation of the new right at ways to make information about the Act widely available to the public. As part of our communications strategy, the Countryside Agency will very shortly be issuing guidance to access authorities (National Park Authorities in National Parks and local highway authorities elsewhere) and land managers on the use of signs.

The guidance will give access authorities the lead role in erecting and maintaining signs to show where open access rights exist and will encourage them to consult widely with land managers, local access forums and other interested parties in drawing up their plans. New signs will not be needed in every case and the guidance will advocate careful thought about whether additional signage is appropriate. The Countryside Agency will also be issuing a new and up-to-date Countryside Code on 12 July. Ordnance Survey is preparing to show access land on its Explorer maps.

Defra is funding the Countryside Agency, National Park Authorities and the Planning Inspectorate to implement Part 1 of the Act. The Countryside Agency has so far spent £29.30 million, consisting of £0.75 million in 1999–2000; £0.92 million in 2000–01; £5.17 million in 2001–02; £8.30 million in 2002–03; £13.25 million in 2003–04; and £0.77 million to date in 2004–05. The Agency expects to spend a further £14.23 million in the current financial year. National Park Authorities have been allocated an additional £4.725 million, consisting of £0.875 million in 2002–03;
 
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£2.0 million in 2003–04; and £1.85 million in 2004–05. We have also funded the Planning Inspectorate to deal with appeals against the inclusion of land on provisional maps and restriction appeals: £0.11 million in 2001–02; £0.84 million in 2002–03 and £1.20 million in 2003–04. The Planning Inspectorate expect to spend no more than £2 million in the current financial year. Local authorities have been funded to establish local access forums under Part V of the Act.

Further, I have announced funding of £2 million for 2004–05 towards an access management grant scheme to support local authorities in implementing the new right of access. The scheme, which will be administered by the Countryside Agency, will contribute towards access authorities' preparatory planning costs and cover between 50 per cent. and 75 per cent. of the cost of new infrastructure work agreed with the Agency, such as signage, foot bridges and gates. It will give highest priority to especially sensitive nature conservation sites where effective management will avoid the need for a legal restriction to be placed on access, but will also fund management measures on sites outside nature conservation areas.

The scheme runs to the end of March 2005 and I will be considering whether to extend it in the light of its success this year and in the context of Defra's future spending priorities. Interim guidance about how the scheme will work has been available since April. The Agency will issue final guidance in early June.

The Government will allocate sufficient resources in future years to ensure the successful implementation of the new right of access under the Act.

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