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18 Jun 2004 : Column 1120W—continued

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Fly-tipping (Merseyside)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many occasions Merseyside local authorities have used their new powers to investigate and tackle fly-tipping since the inception of these powers. [178330]

Mr. Morley: No data is collated on how often local authorities use the specific stop, search and seizure powers and investigation powers that were extended to waste collection authorities under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.

Information can be derived from returns to the Flycapture database on numbers of prosecutions:

St. Helens—182 incidents, 20 investigations

Sefton—171 incidents, No actions recorded yet

Knowsley—215 incidents, No actions recorded yet

Liverpool City—Not yet registered for Flycapture

Wirral—Registered but not submitted a return for April

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on progress by Merseyside local authorities in the adoption of the standard classification system for the reporting of fly-tipping. [178331]

Mr. Morley: The Flycapture database that has been developed between Defra, the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association went 'live' on 5 April. The first returns were due to be sent by 25 May.

So far, progress nationally on adopting Flycapture has been good with 92 per cent. of waste collection authorities in England and Wales registering.

The progress of local authorities in the Merseyside area is detailed:

Liverpool City—Not yet registered

St. Helens—Registered and submitted data

Sefton —Registered and submitted data

Knowsley—Registered and submitted data

Wirral—Registered but not submitted data for April.

Abandoned Vehicles

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned vehicles there were in England and Wales in each financial year since 2001–02 (a) in total and (b) broken down by region. [176937]

 
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Mr. Morley: Figures for numbers of abandoned vehicles removed and destroyed are compiled from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey for 2001–02 and 2002–03 and the Defra Abandoned Vehicle Survey for 2002–03.

Figures for England broken down by region are listed as follows:
Thousand vehicles

Region	2001–02	2002–03
North East	3.8	6.9
North West	13.0	18.5
Yorkshire and the Humber	12.7	15.7
East Midlands	17.6	20.5
West Midlands	12.0	26.0
East	42.2	44.4
London	104.5	94.5
South East	57.3	56.2
South West	23.3	27.3
England	286.3	310.1

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned cars each local authority in England and Wales stated they had removed in their submissions to the most recent Municipal Waste Management Survey. [176938]

Mr. Morley: The latest data for abandoned vehicles removed and destroyed by each local authority in England are taken both from the 2002–03 Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey and the 2002–03 Defra Abandoned Vehicle Survey. The results from either survey are available in the Library of the House.

Cardiff Process

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government is taking to ensure the success at EU level of the Cardiff process to integrate environmental considerations into sectoral policy. [178704]

Mr. Morley: The Government has been an active supporter of the Cardiff process since its launch under the UK presidency in 1998. The European Commission has recently produced a stocktaking report of the Cardiff process ['Integrating environmental considerations into other policy areas—a stocktaking of the Cardiff process'COM (2004) 394]. This document shows that whilst some progress has been made in important areas such as agriculture (reform of the CAP) and energy (Directive 2004/87/EC on Greenhouse gas emissions) more work is still needed. My department will consider the recommendations in the stocktaking carefully. In the meantime my department has been considering ways of promoting environmental integration through various other tools. For example, we see a fair and balanced impact assessment of new EU policy proposals as a key tool in promoting environmental integration; my department have commissioned a study investigating the Commission's new impact assessment system and will be sharing its conclusions and recommendations with the Commission. We will also be looking for further improvements in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy which is being reviewed this year.
 
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Ceramics Industry

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the UK ceramics industry about (a) European regulation and (b) the Government's implementation thereof; and what action she has taken as a result. [177449]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 7 June 2004]: The Ceramic industry is subject to a range of EU legislation. I believe that, in this case, the hon. Member may be referring to the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The ceramic industry is one of the sectors covered by EU ETS.

Government have held discussions with the ceramic industry in relation to the EU ETS through formal consultation and a sector meeting held on 27 February. A meeting with the ceramic sector was held on 11 May to renegotiate their Climate Change Agreement targets. This work will also feed into the EU ETS allocation process. Representatives from the ceramic industry have also been present at various seminars held by Government, the most recent being on allocation methodology held on 20 May.

Officials have also worked closely with the British Ceramic Confederation over the implementation of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive, including their involvement in implementation trials and discussions about interpretation and statutory guidance. Amendments have been made to the guidance in the light of their comments. The British Ceramic Confederation is a member of the Department's Industry Forum concerning the Pollution Prevention and Control regime, which meets twice a year.

Common Agricultural Policy

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK farm holdings received total annual Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments in excess of (a) £500,000, (b) £750,000 and (c) £1,000,000 in each CAP accounting year in the last five years for which figures are available. [177122]

Alun Michael: The number of farm holdings in England that received total annual CAP payments in the requested bands is shown in the following table.

These figures have been taken from European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) accounts. The EAGGF financial year runs from 16 October to 15 October.

The information for other countries within the UK is a matter for their devolved assemblies.

EAGGF year	Over £500,000	Over £750,000	Over £1,000,000
2000	32	9	4
2001	27	11	7
2002	25	8	5
2003	37	19	11

 
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The Rural Payments Agency introduced a new accounting system in 1999 so complete figures for that year could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Secondments

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department and its agencies were seconded from the (a) private and (b) academic sector in each of the last three years. [174821]

Alun Michael: The number of staff in Defra and its agencies seconded from the private and academic sector in each of the last three years is shown in the following table:

	Private sector	Academic sector
2001–02	4	2
2002–03	4	0
2003–04	7	0

The purpose of bringing people into the Civil Service from other sectors is to fill skills gaps and to add dimensions and insights from outside. For the individuals themselves, the secondment provides experience of another sector and an opportunity to enhance existing skills and develop others.

Secondments are part of the Interchange Initiative which promotes the exchange of people and good practice between the Civil Service and other organisations. Before an interchange can occur, all parties must be satisfied that no conflict of interest arises.

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