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Cattle Passports

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much taxpayers' money was spent by the British Cattle Movement Service replacing sets of labels for cattle passports. [177197]

Alun Michael: The exercise referred to will lead to a net saving of £73,000 over the next two years. In April 2004, the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) issued new sets of labels printed with farm details to all cattle keepers to replace labels they already had, some of which were issued five years ago. This exercise cost £67,000 and the BCMS estimate that it will save £140,000 over the next two years by reducing the verification and error correction costs arising because faded ink on the old label could not be read properly by their scanning system. The exercise was part of a continuing drive to improve quality and reduce costs.

Ceramics Industry

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she is expecting to make appropriate information available to enable the UK ceramics industry to decide whether to opt in or out of Phase I of the European Emissions Trading Scheme. [177451]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 7 June 2004]: The EU Emissions Trading Scheme provides for member states to apply for temporary exclusion from the first phase of the scheme for installations covered by national measures, provided that they satisfy the equivalence criteria set out in the Directive.

The ceramics industry is currently covered by a Climate Change Agreement and therefore operators within this sector may potentially apply for temporary exclusion. We have approached the European Commission to ask for their views on an application for temporary exclusion for Climate Change Agreement holders. We are continuing to work with the ceramics industry and others, to settle outstanding issues regarding the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
 
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Correspondence

Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when she expects to reply to the letter to her of 17 February from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire; [165133]

(2) when the hon. Member for West Worcestershire will receive a response to his letter of 30 March, reference 196782. [174750]

Alun Michael: My noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (The Lord Whitty), responded to the hon. Member's letter of 17 February on Biofuels on 27 February. I responded to the hon. Member's letter of 17 February on the live export of horses and ponies on 2 April and to the letter of 30 March on the Single Farm Payments Scheme on 8 June.

EC Water Framework Directive

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of surface waters will be covered by the Environment Agency's river basin characterisation report under the EC Water Framework Directive (a) within the Ribble catchment and (b) in England and Wales. [176918]

Mr. Morley: The Agency has taken a river catchment approach to characterisation and risk assessment. All river catchments have been assessed in England and Wales, including the River Ribble. This included 433 lakes, all groundwaters in aquifers and all coastal waters and estuaries.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to refine the Environment Agency's river basin characterisation report under the EC Water Framework Directive to ensure that it includes representative samples of small water bodies in each catchment. [176919]

Mr. Morley: The Agency will follow the guidance on small waters provided by the UK Technical Advisory Group on Water Framework Directive in refining the characterisation work on small water bodies. This refinement will happen progressively during the river basin planning process from January 2005.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether mechanisms to ensure full integration between land use planning and river basin management planning under the EC Water Framework Directive will be piloted in the Ribble; [176920]

(2) how she will ensure that land use planning is sufficiently integrated with river basin management planning under the EC Water Framework Directive; and how conflicts will be resolved if the two statutory plans are at odds with each other. [176921]

Mr. Morley: Defra and the Environment Agency are currently working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Local Government Association on the relationship between land use planning and river basin management planning, including how conflicts between the two statutory plans could arise and how such conflicts might be avoided or resolved. EC Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (usually
 
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referred to as the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive) will be an important vehicle for integration in this context.

As part of this work the Environment Agency proposes to look at a number of case studies to help understand how the systems will interrelate: these may include the Ribble.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms the Environment Agency has established to make use of data on the water environment held by non-governmental organisations as part of its characterisation and risk assessment process under the EC Water Framework Directive. [176922]

Mr. Morley: The draft outputs of initial characterisation will be published in September 2004 for public review. External stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, will be invited at that point to propose data for use in future refinement and validation of the characterisation work which will take place from 2004 onwards.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department plans to consult on the Environment Agency's river basin characterisation report under the EC Water Framework Directive; and what discussions she has had with the Scottish Executive about its consultation process on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's characterisation report. [176923]

Mr. Morley: The risk assessment outputs from the Environment Agency's river basin characterisation process will be available for public review from September 2004. There will not be a formal consultation on this issue.

Defra has been in discussion with the Environment Agency, the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency with respect to the river basin characterisation report and the consultation process. The Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have decided to undertake a formal consultation, beginning in July 2004.

Energy Efficiency

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outturn budget was that she and her predecessors supplied to fund the Energy Saving Trust in each year from 1997–98 to 2004–05, expressed in April 2004 money. [173464]

Mr. Morley: Defra outturn budgets (rounded to the nearest £ million) for the Energy Saving Trust in each year were converted to 2004–05 money using HM Treasury GDP Deflator.

	£ million
1998–99	22
1999–2000	26
2000–01	25
2001–02	26
2002–03	25
2003–04	25

 
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Figures for 1997–98 cannot be immediately provided. I will write to Mr. Baker as soon as this information is available. The EST's outturn for 2004–05 will not be known until after the end of the current financial year, but they have been offered Defra grant funding of about £24 million.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funds she supplied for the Warm Front programme in 2001–02, expressed in April 2004 money; and what the budget for the Warm Front programme is for 2004–05. [173466]

Mr. Morley: The Warm Front budget in 2001–2 was £152 million. Due to a carry over of £45 million from 2000–01, the final budget was £97 million.

In 2004, the £152 million would equate to approximately £164 million and the £197 million to £214 million.

Funding for the current financial year for fuel poverty will be around £166 million.

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