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Air Freight (Food)

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the (a) value and (b) quantity of food airfreighted into the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2003. [185174]

Alun Michael: An assessment of airfreighted food is being made as part of a wider study commissioned by the Department on the impact of food transportation. The report of the study of "The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development" will be published soon. I will write to the right hon. Member to inform him when the report is published.

Ammonium Nitrate

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how often she meets industry representatives to discuss the manufacture and safe storage of ammonium nitrate fertiliser; and whether she has held such meetings since March. [184604]

Alun Michael: Officials from Defra and other key Government Departments have met industry representatives on a regular basis (weekly or more frequently), both before and since March, to discuss the manufacture and safe storage of ammonium nitrate fertiliser.

Aviation Emissions

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the carbon dioxide emissions from the aviation sector in each year since 1990; and what the projected figures are for each year to 2020. [184852]

Mr. Morley: Table A shows the estimated emissions of carbon dioxide from domestic and international flights departing from UK airports. The estimates are expressed in million tonnes of carbon per year (MtC/yr), for the period 1990–2002 as published in the latest UK Greenhouse gas inventory, released in April 2004.
 
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Table A: Emissions of CO ₂ from aviation, 1990–2002, MtC/yr

	Domestic	International	Total
1990	0.59	4.03	4.62
1991	0.58	3.97	4.55
1992	0.61	4.40	5.00
1993	0.62	4.70	5.32
1994	0.61	4.89	5.50
1995	0.65	5.20	5.85
1996	0.68	5.54	6.21
1997	0.70	5.90	6.60
1998	0.73	6.60	7.33
1999	0.75	7.23	7.98
2000	0.76	8.02	8.79
2001	0.80	7.53	8.33
2002	0.80	7.34	8.14

Projected total emissions from aviation are published in the DfT's "Aviation and Global Warming" technical paper. Table B shows these data for the UK, also in MtC/yr.
Table B: Total (international plus domestic) projected emissions for UK aviation emissions, MtC/yr

	Total emissions
2010	10.8
2020	14.9

These projections are based on emissions from all flights departing the UK. Emissions projections for intervening years to 2020 are not available.

British Beef

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to the UK of France's ban on British beef; and what steps she has taken to recover such costs. [184006]

Mr. Bradshaw: The value of beef exports from the UK to France in 1995 was £250 million. However a large proportion of this was in the form of carcase beef from Over Thirty Month cattle. Exports of such beef are not permitted under the EU rules of the Date-based Export Scheme (DBES). Trade would also have been affected by factors such as the exchange rate, consumer confidence in France and the need for any UK slaughterhouses wishing to export to be approved under the stringent requirements of the DBES.

Compensation for losses resulting from the ban must be sought by those directly affected. It is not for the Government to seek compensation for damages to UK interests because it is not directly involved from a legal point of view. We would provide full support in terms of information and practical assistance to those who wish to seek compensation (although, as a matter of policy, we will not provide funding or detailed legal advice).

Cetacean By-catch

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has received the results of this year's monitoring of cetacean by-catch; and if she will make a statement. [184227]

 
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Mr. Bradshaw: As I explained in the written statement that I made earlier today on this subject, I have concluded, in the light of results from this season's monitoring of the UK element of the offshore bass fishery, that current levels of bycatch in the fishery as a whole may constitute a threat to the common dolphin population. In the course of this research conducted by the Sea Mammal Research Unit on our behalf, 169 dolphin casualties were observed. It has also become clear from our research that exclusion devices which previously showed some potential in reducing bycatch are not currently sufficiently developed to reduce bycatch to more acceptable levels in the immediate future.

Community action to address this problem is needed. We will therefore be requesting that the European Commission introduce emergency measures to close the fishery while more permanent measures are developed. If the case for emergency action is not accepted then I will consider other options, including restricting the number of vessels allowed into the fishery and seeking a ban on pair trawling within 12 miles of the UK.

CFCs

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what quantities of CFC have been collected and safely destroyed under the licensed facilities operating in the UK under EU Regulation 2037/2000 on ozone depleting substances in each year since implementation of the regulations; and what percentage of potential CFCs available for recovery this represented in each year. [184557]

Mr. Morley: The information on CFCs is not held in the form requested. However, the following information is provided:
Tonnes

	Recovery of ozone depleting substances (ODS) including CFCs	Total ODS destroyed (including halon)
2002	387	979
2003	494	819

In addition, a significant number of refrigerators leave the UK for treatment—418,000 in 2002 and 377,000 in 2003—and it will fall to the receiving EU state to recover the associated ODS, and report upon it.

It is not possible to state the percentage of potential ODS available for recovery that the destroyed amounts represented. One of the key reasons for this is ODS loss during a product's service life.

CITES

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what Regulatory Impact Assessment she has obtained for her review of charges for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species licences and permits. [184713]

 
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Mr. Morley: The Department issued a consultation on CITES charges on 1 April 2004. At this stage, a partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) has been completed and was issued with the consultation documents to stakeholders.

A partial RIA follows on from an initial RIA carried out at the first stages of policy development, it is informed by discussion, data gathering and informal consultations and in liaison with the Small Business Service.

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the (a) cost to pet retailers of selling individual Hermann's tortoises and (b) cost to wholesalers importing large numbers of Hermann's tortoises as a consequence of the proposed charges for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species licences and permits. [184714]

Mr. Morley: No specific assessment has been made within the regulatory impact assessment of the effects on pet retailers selling tortoises. However, the assessments made over a range of traders in CITES protected species assume that the additional costs will be passed on to the consumer and that costs will rise by the amount of the proposed increase in the fee levels.

As a general practice wholesale importers apply for an import permit to cover a number of specimens of the same species and their costs will therefore be lower when apportioned between individual specimens.

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the cost to UK breeders of Hermann's tortoises resulting from the proposed changes to charges for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species licences and permits. [184715]

Mr. Morley: The partial Regulatory Impact Assessment developed for the consultation looked at a small sample of different businesses and how they might be affected by the proposed increases. UK breeders of Hermann's tortoises were not one of the businesses sampled.

The final Regulatory Impact Assessment, which will accompany any legislation, will be developed in the light of the information given during the consultation period and any further analysis indicated will be carried out before a final decision on how to proceed with the question of charges for CITES licences and permits.

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