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5 Jul 2004 : Column 436W—continued

Badgers

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the results of trials in Northern Ireland on TB in badgers; and if she will make a statement. [178901]

Mr. Bradshaw: There have been no trials in Northern Ireland on TB in badgers.

Beef Exports

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department last held talks on the export of beef to (a) Thailand and (b) other Asian countries. [180717]


 
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Mr. Bradshaw: Defra officials have met delegations from a number of countries, including Thailand and South Korea, in the past year and discussed beef exports. Also, diplomatic posts continue regularly to urge host Governments of Asian and other countries to lift bans on imports of UK export eligible beef.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what grounds the Thai authorities ban the import of British beef. [180718]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Thai authorities ban beef imports from countries where cases of BSE have been recorded.

The UK Government believes that this ban is unjustified with respect to UK beef produced under the Date-based Export Scheme .

BSE

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the current situation in relation to BSE in the UK. [181287]

Mr. Bradshaw: [holding answer 1 July 2004]: As at 21 June 2004, there had been 182,770 confirmed cases of BSE in the UK. Due to stringent controls numbers of BSE cases are now significantly lower than in 1988, when the disease was first made notifiable. Reported new cases are running at less than 1 per cent. of early 1993 levels, at the peak of the epidemic, when there were over 1,000 a week.

Cage and Aviary Birds

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on exhibitions of cage and aviary birds, with particular regard to the Pet Animals Act 1951; and if she will make a statement. [181052]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Pet Animals Act 1951 is concerned with the sale of animals and is applicable only to events where sales take place and therefore exhibitions which are solely for competitive showing fall outside the scope of the 1951 Act. Our policy on the sale of pet and captive animals is currently under review and the 1951 Act is likely to be repealed and replaced with more up to date legislation.

Civil Service Relocation

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many civil servants and what percentage of the total civil service workforce in her Department will be relocated over the next five years (a) outside the M25, (b) to the West Midlands and (c) to Staffordshire. [180184]

Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 June 2004, Official Report, column 1292W, by my right hon. Friend, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Paul Boateng).

Contaminated Land

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much
 
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contaminated land was reclaimed in each of the last three years in (a) England, (b) the Eastern Region and (c) Essex. [179408]

Mr. Morley: Most remediation of contaminated land takes place as part and parcel of the development of land, and is secured through the planning system. Data on this activity is not collected centrally. Where remediation is instead being secured through Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, data is collected by the Environment Agency. Data to 31 March 2004 is contained in the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 28 April, Official Report, columns 1004–12, detailing action under Part IIA, including seven cases in the Eastern region of which two are in Essex. Data about completion of remediation is not collected centrally.

Domestic Water Conservation

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures the Government will bring forward to encourage domestic water conservation. [180186]

Mr. Morley: The Government are engaged in a number of activities to encourage water conservation across different sectors. In relation to domestic water use, the recent report by the Sustainable Buildings Task Group, "Better Buildings—Better Lives", contained a number of recommendations to improve the water efficiency of new and existing buildings. These include tighter minimum standards for water fittings, development of best practice guidance and incentives to encourage the uptake of water efficient products. The Government are actively considering how it will take these forward. I am also looking into the feasibility of introducing a product labelling scheme to help domestic consumers identify water efficient fittings and appliances. These activities will complement the existing duty on water undertakers to promote the efficient use of water by their customers.

Farming

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking (a) to promote dairy farming and (b) to persuade young people to enter dairy farming. [180714]

Alun Michael: The Government are taking action in line with its Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food to facilitate industry action to create a dairy sector that is attractive, sustainable and profitable for those engaged in it. For example:


 
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As with all new entrants into farming, young farmers can obtain a range of business advice for start up businesses through the business links network and the Small Business Service. For full time farmers this includes access to the Farm Business Advice Service.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will reduce the administrative burden for farmers. [180715]

Alun Michael: The Government are indeed working hard to reduce administrative burdens on farmers not least through reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, reducing 10 main funding schemes to a Single Payment Scheme. This will remove much of the bureaucracy and paperwork associated with the old schemes and result in a streamlined and simplified application process for farmers. More than 100 pages of forms will be reduced to a fraction of this number. And through the Modernising Rural Delivery Rural Programme we aim to simplify access to rural funding streams.

In addition, the Whole Farm Approach will be rolled out in late 2005. The whole farm appraisal is currently being widely piloted, and this will transform Defra's interactions with farmers on subsidies, regulation and advice by redesigning them around on-farm activities and saving farmers from repeated requests for regulatory data.

The existing administrative burdens on farmers derive largely from regulations to achieve desirable outcomes for society such as protecting human and animal health, animal welfare and the environment. In addition, administrative checks are required to ensure proper disbursement of funds under CAP and other rural schemes. However, the Government are taking a broader approach to reducing administrative burdens on farmers; in response to the recent recommendations of the Regulation Taskforce set up by the Secretary of State. Along with a new unit developing a farm regulation strategy, this will help improve Defra's regulatory performance; achieving a coherent and holistic approach to the development of regulation and its impact on farmers.

Fisheries

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the number of fishermen in the UK in each year since 1990. [179436]

Mr. Bradshaw: The following table shows estimates of the number of fishermen in the UK for 1990–2002, compiled from estimates made by Defra and other Fisheries Departments in the UK.

Estimates for 2003 are not yet compiled, but will be published in "United Kingdom Sea Fisheries Statistics 2003", available in August 2004.
Number of Fishermen in the UK, 1990–2002

England and Wales
Scotland
RegularPart-timeTotalRegularPart-timeTotal
1990(1)(1)(1)7,5507668,316
1991(1)(1)(1)7,3037928,095
1992(1)(1)(1)7,1818658,046
1993(2)(1)(1)(1)7,6751,3479,022
19947,5423,42510,9677,1601,4108,570
19958,2402,19210,4326,8891,5068,395
19967,8672,1309,9976,6891,3958,084
19977,2532,1769,4296,7291,4658,194
19987,1491,9629,1116,3951,3767,771
19996,0831,6137,6966,0421,2887,330
20005,4911,8157,3065,5941,3086,902
20016,0571,3927,4495,3531,2846,637
20025,5878416,4284,3691,3385,707

 
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Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
RegularPart-timeTotalRegularPart-timeTotal
19901,0503161,366(1)(1)(1)
19911,0812881,369(1)(1)(1)
19921,0362961,332(1)(1)(1)
1993(2)9572721,229(1)(1)(1)
19949382281,16615,6405,06320,703
19959332261,15916,0623,92419,986
199681514896315,3713,67319,044
199785013198114,8323,77218,604
19988921151,00714,4363,45317,889
19998459093512,9702,99115,961
20006127468611,6973,19714,894
20015134655911,9232,72214,645
20025684361110,5242,22212,746


(1) No data.
(2) The apparent increase in fishermen in Scotland reflected the licensing of 10m and under vessels; when more information became available on the numbers of such active vessels.
Source:
Fisheries Departments in the UK




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