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16 Nov 2004 : Column 1257W—continued
National Parks
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the economic impact of the Single Farm Payment on National Parks (a) individually and (b) collectively. [197416]
Alun Michael: An assessment of the economic impact of the Single Payment Scheme in England has been placed in the House of Commons' Library (and is available on the Defra website). While data are not available to enable specifically on impacts within the National Parks, the report contains analysis relating to cattle and sheep farms in the less favoured areas, which is the predominant farm type in National Parks.
Orchards
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when her Department will confirm the definition of orchards. [197451]
Alun Michael:
Commercial orchards remain ineligible for the Single Payment Scheme as permanent crops. In August this year we commissioned the Central Science Laboratory to research possible criteria for inclusion of traditional (dual use) orchards in the Single Payment Scheme. On 2 November the report was published and the results are now available on the Defra website www.defra.gov.uk.
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Based on this report we are drawing up simple criteria in conjunction with EN, RPA and RDS and we plan to share them shortly with interested parties. These criteria will need to be shown to the Commission before being finalised.
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether a committee has been set up to determine the appropriate definition of a traditional orchard. [197452]
Alun Michael: In August this year we commissioned the Central Science Laboratory to research possible criteria for inclusion of traditional (dual use) orchards in the Single Payment Scheme. On 2 November the report was published and the results are now available on the Defra website www.defra.gov.uk.
Based on this report we are drawing up simple criteria in conjunction with EN, RPA and RDS and we plan to share them shortly with interested parties. These criteria will need to be shown to the Commission before being finalised.
Organic Farming
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much has been paid to farmers in Yorkshire and the Humber to convert to organic farming since 1997; [192422]
(2) how many acres of land were farmed organically in Yorkshire and the Humber in 1997; and how many are now. [192423]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested for the years from 2000 to 2003 is set out in the following table. Information for earlier years is not available in the form requested.
Pesticides
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) reported cases of and (b) successful prosecutions for breaches of maximum residue levels from pesticides there have been in each of the last five years. [197581]
Alun Michael: The UK's surveillance programme for pesticide residues in food is overseen by the independent Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC). In 2003, 4,071 samples of imported or UK-produced food were tested for up to 149 different pesticide residues. The Maximum Residue Level (MRL) was exceeded in 27 (0.7 per cent.) samples. For previous years, the percentage of exceedances is similar, at around 1 per cent. All the results are available on the PRC's website at www.prc.org.
MRLs are not safety limits. Statutory Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) have been established for many thousands of individual pesticides in individual crops. The purpose of MRLs is to regulate trade in treated food. They indicate that any pesticide was applied to crops or foodstuffs in accordance with the conditions of use set by the UK regulator, the Pesticides Safety Directorate, or equivalent organisations overseas. They are always set below, often far below, safety limits. The safety limit depends on many factors, which include the properties of the pesticide, the amount of residue, amount of food being consumed and whether this is in a single meal or over a longer period, and the body weight of the consumer (e.g. adult, child, infant).
In all cases where an MRL is exceeded, a risk assessment is carried out. The conclusion was that none of the exceedances in 2003 was likely to be of concern for consumer health.
Where there is evidence of repeated exceedances of an MRL or the use of a pesticide on a crop for which the pesticide is not approved, a targeted enforcement campaign is carried out. An enforcement campaign has been carried out for the last three years testing for
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MRL's on winter lettuce. Winter lettuce grown in the UK under glass is particularly prone to fungal attack during the cool damp winter months and there are only a limited number of products approved for disease control.
Over the last three years, the enforcement campaign has revealed that there have been 57 samples of lettuce containing pesticide residues over the MRL. This is made up of;
Although a number of enforcement actions have been taken including warning letters, educational visits and the issuing of enforcement notices, the evidence obtained (and in particular the risk to human health), has not supported any prosecution.
Press Officers
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many press officers are employed in her Department; and how many were employed in each year since 1996–97. [195359]
Alun Michael: Defra was set up in June 2001. Figures relating to numbers of press officers employed by the organisations whose functions were subsumed into the new department would not correspond accurately to the distribution and scope of the present work areas. Year-on-year comparisons since that date are as follows:
| As at June: | Press officers |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 22 |
| 2002 | 22 |
| 2003 | 22 |
| 2004 | 18 |
The numbers do vary within any year, and for instance at 1 November 2004 the number was 23.
Public Bodies
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications for (a) the number of jobs, (b) costs and (c) savings of integrating executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies within her Department. [196684]
Alun Michael: Our current focus in this area is on bringing together three bodies to create a new organisation as a major element of Defra's Modernising Rural Delivery programme. This will lead to the establishment of a new independent Integrated Agency which will bring together English Nature, parts of the Countryside Agency and much of the Rural Development Service which is a part of core Defra.
This intention was set out by the Secretary of State in her statement in July on the Rural Strategy 2004. Work currently in hand includes:
(b) work to refine initial estimates that put the total main investment costs required to implement the programme at approximately £40 million in total,
(c) preparation of detailed plans to realise the efficiency gains set out in the Department's recently published Efficiency Technical Note. These are planned to rise to £13 million per year by 2007–08.
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