Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Second Report


Fourth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

The Water Framework Directive (HC 130-I)

Session 2002-03

Published 19 March 2003

Government Reply:

Sixth Special Report (HC 749)

Session 2002-03

Published 10 June 2003

Recommendation: The scale of the task involved in achieving good ecological status in our waters is not yet known.

Response: The Government will publish a revised overall assessment of the costs of implementing this Directive later this year.

Has this revised assessment been made? When will it be published?

The Government published a partial revision of the estimated costs of implementing the Directive in August 2003. In particular it updated the estimates of costs to agriculture.

Defra is currently finalising the RIA to update overall costs. The assessment will be published online and will accompany the Regulations when they are laid before Parliament.

A general update on progress made in implementing the Directive would be welcomed by the Committee.

The Government published in August a third consultation paper including draft transposing regulations. The full text of the consultation paper, including the RIA, is at http://defraweb/corporate/consult/waterframe3/consultdoc.pdf

Defra is working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) on all aspects of implementation, as the competent authority in England and Wales.

The EA continues its work on river basin characterisation which entails the identification of River Basin Districts and associated water body categories, types and reference conditions. A draft register of protected areas for each river basin district is also being established. For each district the significant pressures and impacts in catchments and the risk of failing the objectives for water bodies are being identified. It is planned that draft reports will be available for public review during September 2004.

The Ribble Pilot was launched in June of this year and is managed by the EA. The pilot will have two key phases of work:

  • Testing of the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) on the 'Planning Process' and 'Public Participation'. This will be completed by July 2004.

  • Preparation of a prototype River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures for the Ribble Basin by May 2007.

The pilot is working closely with regional stakeholders to explore methods and techniques for engaging regional and local stakeholders in the river basin planning process. Key stakeholders, including regional representatives for business, industry, wildlife, environmental and farming organisations, are closely involved in the development of the pilot project. The prototype plan will be finalised as part of the draft River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures for the North West River Basin District.

The UK continues to vigorously engage at European level in the EU's Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) working groups especially with Working Group 2.A "Ecological Status" where the UK co-leads and on the preparation of a joint UK/France/Commission paper on the assessment of the Recovery of Costs for Water Services which comes under the auspices of the CIS Drafting Group "Eco 1", a strand of Working Group 2b "Integrated River Basin Management".

The WFD National Stakeholder Group (covering England) has met most recently on 22 May and 8 October where stakeholders have been updated on progress and asked for comments and feedback on how implementation is progressing. Similar stakeholder groups are being organised in Scotland. The WFD Inter-Departmental Steering Group (ISG) which ensures a cross-UK and cross- departmental approach to the Directive met most recently on 9 October.

Defra and the EA have jointly appointed a communications consultancy to develop a WFD Communications Strategy for England at the request of the WFD Stakeholder Communications Sub-Group. The consultant made a presentation and sought initial views at the most recent Communications Sub-Group Meeting on 8 October where stakeholders broadly supported the objectives for the strategy including the plans to maximise stakeholder involvement through a series of interviews and workshops. The strategy is to be finalised by the end of 2003 and will inform how Defra/EA communicate their messages on WFD to key audiences over the next 2-3 years.

Parallel work on the public participation requirements of the Directive (Article 14) is also in progress. The EA is aiming to consult on the draft strategy by the end of 2004. Pilot studies using public participation techniques across the UK and Europe (including the Ribble) will help inform this work.

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Sixth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Rural Payments Agency (HC 382)

Session 2002-03

Published 8 April 2003

Government Reply:

Seventh Special Report (HC 830)

Session 2002-03

Published 24 June 2003

Recommendation: We welcome the prospect that new means of electronic delivery will simplify IACS forms. However, we are not yet fully persuaded that RPA is treating simplification of such forms with sufficient urgency. The matter should now be given the highest priority.

Response: RPA will test new form designs with customers and incorporate their views.

Have new forms been developed and tested with customers? What has been customer reaction?

Since we responded to the Committee on Recommendation 4, the CAP Reform package has been agreed and RPA has re-assessed priorities for its Change Programme. As a result the RPA's modernisation programme will now concentrate on the development of the new Single Integrated Payments Scheme (SIPS) to be implemented from 1 January 2005. As we acknowledged in our earlier response, we will test new form designs with customers and incorporate their views.

Legacy systems will therefore operate for one additional year based on existing forms and IT systems. When developing forms for the final years of the schemes, we will adopt the same approach as taken with SIPS and involve customers in the testing of any changes to form design. Our aim continues to be to make the process as simple as possible

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Seventh Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Badgers and Bovine TB (HC 432)

Session 2002-03

Published 9 April 2003

Government Reply:

Eighth Special Report (HC 831)

Session 2002-03

Published 24 June 2003

Recommendation: We welcome in principle the proposal to use 'lay' testers to clear the backlog of outstanding tests. We therefore recommend that the Government publish more detailed proposals about the qualifications it will require, taking into account the views of particularly the veterinary profession.

Response: The Government is planning a full public consultation exercise in the summer of 2003 on a proposal to introduce an Exemption Order, under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, to permit trained and competent lay people to perform tuberculin skin testing of cattle.

Has the consultation exercise been completed? What was its outcome?

The Government's consultation on the proposal to introduce an Exemption Order, under the Veterinary Surgeons Act, to permit trained and competent lay people to perform tuberculin skin testing of cattle ended on 26 September 2003. We are currently analysing the responses received, although we await the responses from the British Veterinary Association and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons which will be submitted after the RCVS Council on 30 October. A summary of the responses will be made available on the Defra Website.

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Recommendation: We recommend that the Government publish the terms of reference of and the plan of work for its review as quickly as possible.

Response: Government is developing, in consultation with stakeholders, a TB strategy. This will cover a period of up to 10 years. Government expects to issue a consultation document later this year.

When will the consultation paper be published?

The Government hopes to issue a TB Strategy consultation document by the end of the year. This will open debate on the development of a new TB Strategy for GB and propose short term measures for improved TB controls. Pre-consultation meetings with key stakeholder groups have been held and will inform the consultation document.

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Eighth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

The Future of Waste Management (HC 385)

Session 2002-03

Published 22 May 2003

Government Reply:

Ninth Special Report (HC 1084)

Session 2002-03

Published 16 September 2003

Recommendation: We are pleased that the Government is pressing for higher penalties for serious environmental crimes. We recommend that the proceeds of fines imposed for such crimes be passed to the Agency to support its work.

Response: We plan to consult on proposals at the end of the summer and to publish a policy statement once this has been completed.

Has the consultation been launched? When will it conclude?

The consultation is due to issue in Spring 2004 with a closing date 12 weeks later.

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Recommendation: We recommend that the Government complete its deliberations about local authority household incentive schemes as soon as practicable and certainly by the time of the next Pre-Budget report.

Response: In response to the Strategy Unit report, the Government has undertaken to carry out further work before any decision is taken to enable local authorities to implement direct or variable charging for waste…The work will be carried out in co-operation with the Local Government Association and other stakeholders and will start this summer thus enabling Government to review its position on this in 2004.

Has the work started?

Work is now being taken forward to look at the potential for household incentives in influencing waste management behaviour, and how they might be implemented.

The Local Government Association and local authorities have been involved in discussions on what can be done within the constraints of existing legislation, what can be learnt from their experiences, and what their preferences would be in establishing a system of household incentives.

This work will allow the Government to review its position in 2004.

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Recommendation: It remains to be seen whether the total pot of money available for local authorities to spend on more sustainable waste management is large enough. However, we are dissatisfied that what funding there has to be bid in competition with other authorities, or is not specifically for waste, or is tied to the introduction of Private Finance Initiatives.

Response: In line with this the Government announced in the budget that the existing Waste Minimisation and Recycling fund will be replaced with a Performance Reward Grant. The Government expects to announce more details of the new arrangements, including the timing of its introduction, later in the year.

Have further details been announced? If not, when will they be?

Defra announced in August that there would be one more round of the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund of £135m covering 2004/5 and 2005/6. The Performance Reward Grant will start in 2005/6 - initially with £45m, and £90m per annum thereafter.

The final round of bidding for the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund was announced on 20 October 2003.

Work on the design of the Performance Reward Grant is underway. The Government expects to issue a consultation on this before the end of the year.

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Recommendation: We are disappointed that the Commission does not appear to include recycling under its Environmental Guidelines for state aid, and recommend that the Government support WRAP in its negotiations with the Commission.

Response: …We will continue to work towards developing an interpretation that recognises the contribution that recycling can make to improving the environment and the legitimacy of public funding support to tackle certain market barriers, both through individual notifications and in any subsequent review of the Guidelines.

What progress has been made in negotiating with the Commission?

We have continued to support WRAP in its negotiations with the Commission and, since this response, WRAP has received further state aids clearance for its grants. However, the interpretation that the Commission has taken is that the aid under the Environmental Guidelines is for grants to companies to improve their own environmental performance by reducing emissions, rather than for broader environmental benefits such as increased recycling benefits the country as a whole.

We are continuing to work with the Commission to encourage them to examine their interpretation of the guidelines.

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Ninth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

The Delivery of Education in Rural Areas (HC 467)

Session 2002-03

Published 5 June 2003

Government Reply

10th Special Report (HC 1085)

Session 2002-03

Published 16 September 2003

Recommendation: Defra has a key role in monitoring the effect of the various government initiatives and pilot projects to help post-16 students attend school and college. We recommend Defra publish examples of good practice by LEAs in rural areas, and also identify those LEAs where students are prevented from attending school and college because of poor transport provision.

Response: The Government is publishing a Good Practice Brochure featuring 12 of the most successful Transport Development Pathfinders, and references to 4 exemplary Local Education Authority Transport Policy Statements. It will be published in September 2003 and disseminated to all Local Education Authority- led Transport Partnerships to assist in the development of improved transport services and support.

Has the brochure been published?

DfES intend to publish the brochure at the end of January 2004.

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