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Thames Barrier

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times the Thames Barrier has been closed in each year since its construction. [192334]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 18 October 2004]: The Thames Barrier has been closed as following since it was first used in February 1983:

	Tidal	Fluvially dominated	Total
1983	1	0	1
1984	0	0	0
1985	0	1	1
1986	0	0	0
1987	1	0	1
1988	1	0	1
1989	0	0	0
1990	3	3	6
1991	0	0	0
1992	1	0	1
1993	5	4	9
1994	1	0	1
1995	3	2	5
1996	4	0	4
1997	0	0	0
1998	3	0	3
1999	3	3	6
2000	6	4	10
2001	11	4	15
2002	2	2	4
2003	8	11	19
2004	1	0	1
Total	54	34	88

Actual closure dates are available on the Environment Agency's website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

The reference to "tidal" closures are where the barrier was closed to prevent flooding or overtopping of the defences upstream of the barrier.

The "fluvially dominated" closures refer to occasions where closing the barrier has stopped the tide and allowed unhindered fluvial/rainfall flow to continue over Teddington Weir, which has thereby reduced the risk of flooding just upstream of the weir.

Theft and Fraud

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate
 
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is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997. [191420]

Alun Michael: The Department came into existence in June 2001. Information covering earlier periods could only be reconstructed at disproportionate cost. Annual reports, which Treasury prepares on fraud, covering returns from both the former MAFF and DETR, are deposited in the House of Commons Library.

Annual returns of fraud submitted by Defra, to HM Treasury for the financial years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04, show the estimated total cost of theft and fraud to the Department to be as shown in the table:

Information on NDPBs could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

			£
		Fraud	Theft
2001–02	Core-Defra	61,066	38,678
	Agencies	—	226,111
2002–03	Core-Defra	16,749	96,236
	Agencies	—	—
2003–04	Core-Defra	20,750	1,000
	Agencies	171	—

Vegetable Oil

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reclassify used vegetable oil so that it is not considered as a waste product. [193028]

Mr. Morley: The definition of waste in force in the United Kingdom is the definition in Article 1(a) of the Waste Framework Directive (as amended). It provides that waste means, . . . any substance or object . . . which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard." Whether or not a substance, such as used vegetable oil, is discarded as waste is a matter which must be determined on the facts of the case and the interpretation of the law is a matter for the courts. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued several judgments on the interpretation of the definition of waste and the meaning of "discard". ECJ judgments are binding on member states and their "competent authorities".

It is not within the power of the Government to exclude any particular substance, including waste vegetable oil, from the definition of waste. It rests in the first place with the producer of a substance to decide whether it is being discarded as waste. The Environment Agency is designated as a competent authority for the purposes of the directive and is responsible for the application of its controls to substances discarded as waste.

Voluntary Shops

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many voluntary shops are operating, broken down by local authority area; and what financial or other help the Department has provided in each case. [192339]

 
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Alun Michael: There is no accepted definition of what constitutes a 'voluntary' shop. Furthermore, there is no one definitive source of information on how many voluntary shops are operating nationally, or therefore broken down by local authority area.

The Plunkett Foundation estimates that there are 200 'community owned' rural village shops nationally. This includes 150 that have received support from the Village Retail Services Association over the past 10 years.

The Vital Villages programme, which the Countryside Agency ran between April 2001 and April 2004, contained a Community Services Grant. During the programme, £314,020 was granted to a total of
 
25 Oct 2004 : Column 972W
 
19 projects which involved retail services or facilities and which were owned by non-for-profit organisations, charitable trusts or voluntary groups. This information is broken down in Annex A.

The Community Services Grant also funded retail applicants to benefit from retail consultants, who provided business support and advice for these projects.

The Rural Enterprise Scheme, which forms part of the England Rural Development Programme, is wide-ranging in its support for projects and offers funding towards the set up costs of community shops. Since the scheme came into force in October 2000 it has assisted eight community shops, amounting to £419,170 grant (a detailed breakdown is at Annex B).
Annex A: Retail projects funded by Community Services Grant 2001–04

Region/Applicant	Project name	Parish	District	Amount (£)
East Midlands
Voluntary group	Witham St. Hugh's Community Hall project	Witham St. Hugh's	North Kesteven	23,688
Charitable trust	Palterton Welfare Shop	Scarcliff	Bolsover	1,971
East of England
Voluntary group	Itteringham Community Shop	Itteringham	North Norfolk	19,754
Not for profit organisation	Monks Eleigh Community Shop Development	Monks Eleigh	Babergh	23,751
Not for profit organisation	Langham and Boxted community shop	Boxted	Colchester	17,189
Charitable trust	Pakenham New shop and Post Office in Village hall	Pakenham	St. Edmundsbury	25,000
North East
Charitable trust	Kielder Petrol station	Kielder	Tynedale	25,000
South East
Voluntary group	St. Mary Bourne village shop	St. Mary Bourne	Basingstoke and Deane	24,772
Not for profit organisation	Winchelsea Little shop Association	Icklesham	Rother	18,443
Not for profit organisation	Buriton Village shop and post office	Buriton	East Hampshire	14,620
Not for profit organisation	The Old village store—Slinford	Slinford	Horsham	25,000
Not for profit organisation	Ascott-under-Wychwood village shop	Ascott-under-Wychwood	West Oxfordshire	10,000
Charitable trust	Tackley Community shop	Tackley	West Oxfordshire	25,000
South West
Voluntary group	Blisland Amenity centre shop	Blisland	North Cornwall	25,000
Voluntary group	Exbourne and Jacobstowe community enterprise	Exbourne	West Devon	10,844
Not for profit organisation	Coaley Shop and post office association	Coaley	Stroud	10,126
West Midlands
Voluntary group	Hinstock Village stores and post office	Hinstock	North Shropshire	3,862
Voluntary group	Bretforton post office and stores	Bretforton	Wychavon	10,000
Total number of projects: 19			314,020

Annex B: A detailed breakdown of how the Rural Enterprise Scheme has assisted eight community shops

What it is	Where	How much RES funding (£)
Village Shop and Post Office	Melmsby and Fellside, Penrith	22,248
Ditto	Longtown	61,763
Village Post Office	Milnthorpe	31,350
Village Store/Cafe/Post Office	Brockwier and Hewelsfield, Chepstow	230,384
Village shop adjoining Community Hall	Newsham, Richmond	37,441
Post Office and village Community Shop	Midgely, Halifax	20,587
Village Store	Whittlesford	10,216
Post Office	East Hendred	5,176
Total		419,165

Note:
As at 19 October 2004



 
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Waste Disposal (Buckinghamshire)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list for Buckinghamshire by (a) tonnage and (b) percentage the amount of waste disposal by (i) landfill, (ii) recycling and (iii) incineration in (A) 2002–03 and (B) 2003–04. [191049]

Mr. Morley: Results from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey 2002–03 show the following municipal waste disposal routes for Buckinghamshire Waste Disposal Authority and Milton Keynes Unitary Authority.
Tonnes (percentages)

	Landfill	Recycled and composted	Incineration	Total
Buckinghamshire WDA	199,747 (74)	69,066 (26)	123 (<0)	268,936 (100)
Milton Keynes UA	91,516 (82)	19,694 (18)	49 (<0)	111,259 (100)
Total	291,263 (77)	88,760 (23)	172 (<0)	380,195 (100)

Note:
Results from the 2003–04 Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey will be available in early 2005.

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