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5 Jul 2004 : Column 440W—continued
Multi-pick-up/Drop-off Licences
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what evaluation her Department has made of the costs to farmers and hauliers resulting from the continued enforcement of multi-pick-up and drop-off licences; and what assessment she has made of the risks of abandoning such licences. [181367]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 29 June 2004]: Farmers and hauliers who comply with the rules governing multiple pick-ups and drop-offs incur no costs arising from the enforcement of these provisions. Defra is responsible for the cost of granting approval of multiple pick-ups and drop-offs.
Any vehicle taking livestock onto a farm and then off again as part of a multiple pick-up or drop-off movement risks spreading disease, either to the animals if disease is present on the farm, or to animals on the farm if disease is present in the animals on the vehicle. Given the need for continued biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of disease there are no proposals to amend the requirement that multiple pick-ups and drop-offs take place only from approved points.
Organic Food Initiatives
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support the Department has made available to organic food initiatives over the last 12 months. [177962]
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Mr. Bradshaw: The Organic Farming Scheme has made available improved payments to farmers as outlined in brief here:
Conversion payments over five years of:
£1,860 per hectare for top fruit orchards—apples (others than cider apples) pears, cherries and plums;
£450 per hectare for Arable Area Payment Scheme eligible land and land in permanent crops;
£349 per hectare for other improved land;
£50 per hectare for unimproved land.
Maintenance payments over five years of:
£150 per hectare for top fruit orchards and Arable Area Payment Scheme eligible land and land in permanent crops;
£115 per hectare for other improved;
£25 per hectare for unimproved land.
The modified OFS itself is an interim measure. We have recently announced that we intend (subject to approval by the European Commission) to introduce a payment of £60 per hectare in the organic strand of the Entry Level Stewardship scheme compared with £30 per hectare for non-organic farmers.
Advice to farmers considering converting to organic production is provided free of charge to them by the Defra funded Organic Conversion Information Service.
The Rural Enterprise Scheme has provided support for organic food projects such as small on-farm processing facilities and the development and marketing of organic products. In excess of £1.1 million of RES funding has been awarded to organic food projects during the last year.
Defra have a £2.2 million research budget for organic production. This covers a wide range of support that assists the industry in improving its competitiveness.
There is also provision under the LINK scheme for private sector companies to seek assistance with organic research, £5 million has been allocated to provide organic LINK research over the five years beginning 2003–04.
Ozone
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the levels of urban concentrations of ozone for each year since 1997. [179441]
Mr. Morley:
Defra's Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) currently monitors tropospheric ozone concentrations hourly at 85 locations in England, covering a variety of urban, suburban and rural areas. Ozone monitoring in other parts of the UK is the responsibility of the relevant devolved Administration. Data from UK ozone monitors are maintained on an electronic database available to the public on the National Air Quality Information Archive at www. airquality.co.uk. The database currently holds around 116 million air quality measurements and 50 million statistics. The public can interrogate Defra's Air Quality Archive to obtain data, including the levels of urban ozone concentrations for each year since 1997.
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The following table summarises the average and range of annual mean ozone concentrations at Defra's urban ozone monitors from 1997 to 2003.
| Average | Minimum | Maximum | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 31 | 19 | 46 |
| 1998 | 34 | 12 | 53 |
| 1999 | 38 | 13 | 55 |
| 2000 | 36 | 13 | 54 |
| 2001 | 36 | 14 | 50 |
| 2002 | 37 | 15 | 58 |
| 2003 | 40 | 16 | 58 |
Portable Electrical Equipment
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often since 1997 (a) her Department and (b) its associated public sector organisations have undergone portable appliance testing of IT equipment; and what the cost was of portable appliance testing in each year since 1997. [176569]
Alun Michael: In DEFRA, there is no central management of portable appliance testing of IT equipment, and at present the level of testing varies from site to site. It is normally undertaken as part of the Facilities Management arrangements for each site and is not controlled by the IT supplier.
At the main IT site at Guildford an annual exercise for portable appliance testing of electrical equipment includes portable IT equipment. Recent costs have been:
| No of devices tested | Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1,134 | 1,841 |
| 2002 | 10,986 | 15,380 |
| 2003 | 3,608 | 6,359 |
| 2004 | 8,052 | 13,245 |
Note:
There are no figures for the period before 2001.
The number of devices tested at Guildford covers all portable electrical appliances including kettles, lamps etc. Separate figures are not maintained for IT equipment testing at Guildford. The number of items tested at Guildford varies from year to year. All portable IT equipment should have a full test at least every five years. Class 1 IT equipment (requiring 3 ply power cable including earth) is tested annually.
Portable appliance testing of IT equipment is not undertaken at most other Defra sites although power leads serving the hardware are tested. This basic level of testing is undertaken annually and has been since 1997 and the average unit cost is currently £10 per device. There are approximately 20,000 portable IT devices (PCs, laptops and printers) in Defra and its agencies.
The cost of collecting and collating the required information from Defra's associated public sector organisations would almost certainly exceed the cost threshold for PQs.
5 Jul 2004 : Column 443W
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many radioactive waste sites there are in Lancashire, where they are located; and how often they are inspected. [180426]
Mr. Morley: Two radioactive waste sites are located in Lancashire: Clifton Marsh in Preston and Ulnes Walton in Leyland. Ulnes Walton has not received waste since 1984.
Clifton Marsh is currently inspected six times per quarter and Ulnes Walton twice per quarter.
Refrigerator Recycling
Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons the Environment Agency report auditing the refrigerator recycling scheme has been delayed; and when it is now expected. [179867]
Mr. Morley: The Environment Agency report auditing the sites handling the recovery of ozone depleting substances from refrigerators and their disposal was originally planned for publication by the end of March 2004. The Agency has since sought to publish a single, comprehensive report that incorporates a subsequent analysis of the process efficiency of the audited sites, and a comparison of their performance. This will be published in July 2004.
Rod Licences
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total amount of revenue raised by fishing rod licences was for each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement on where the revenue was spent. [180026]
Mr. Bradshaw: The total rod licence revenue collected by the Environment Agency in England and Wales for each of the last ten years is as follows:
| Rod licence revenue | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 12.151 |
| 1995–96 | 11.172 |
| 1996–97 | 12.253 |
| 1997–98 | 13.519 |
| 1998–99 | 12.956 |
| 1999–2000 | 14.211 |
| 2000–01 | 14.419 |
| 2001–02 | 14.869 |
| 2002–03 | 16.109 |
| 2003–04 | 18.005 |
All rod licence revenue is spent to protect, conserve and improve freshwater fisheries on such actions as enforcement activities, monitoring, research and development, and habitat improvement works.
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