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19 Jan 2005 : Column 936W—continued
Homelessness
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many homeless households on average were in (a) temporary accommodation and (b) bed and breakfast accommodation in Wales in each year from 1990–91 to the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales. [207968]
Mr. Touhig: The information requested is shown in the following table.
(1) 1990–96 data relate to the period when cases of homelessness were dealt with under the Housing Act 1985
(2) From 1997 onwards cases are dealt with under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Households found to be eligible unintentionally homeless and in priority need.
(3) Figures exclude the estimated 2,000 households made homeless in Colwyn as a result of the major flooding incident in February 1990, for whom no breakdown by action of local authority is available.
(4) Figures exclude the estimated 237 households made homeless in Aberconwy as a result of the flooding incident in Llandudno during June 1993, for whom no breakdown by action of local authority is available
Source:
Welsh Office/Welsh Assembly WHO12 returns number
Ministerial Engagements
Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the Ministerial engagements (a) out of London and (b) in London that he has cancelled since 1 January 2004. [209229]
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Mr. Hain: There is no record kept of cancelled engagements in Wales Office Ministers' diaries. When engagements have had to be cancelled, wherever possible we try to re-instate them at a later date. All engagements are subject to ministerial and parliamentary business.
Swimming Pools
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many public swimming pools there are in Wales. [208792]
Mr. Touhig: In November 2004 there were 129 public swimming pools in Wales.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Apiculture
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what effect she expects the removal of Varroosis from the list of notifiable diseases to have on the health of (a) feral and (b) non-feral colonies of bees. [208365]
Alun Michael: Removing Varroosis from the list of notifiable diseases is not expected to have any significant impact on bee health as the disease has been endemic in the UK for several years.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her assessment is of the state of the honey industry in the UK; and how she expects it to change in the next five years. [208367]
Alun Michael: In recent years, the value of honey production in the UK has fluctuated between £10 million and £35 million per annum. Production has ranged between 3,000 and 7,500 tonnes per annum. The contribution of the honey industry to the agricultural economy is difficult to measure since productivity depends on a range of factors. But, subject to the influence of environmental conditions, such as the weather and available flora, bee health and the interest in the craft of beekeeping, no marked change is expected in the next five years.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what she estimates to be the contribution made by the beekeeping industry to the agricultural economy; and what assessment she has made of how it will be affected by the proposed cut in the budget of the National Bee Unit for 2005–06. [208368]
Alun Michael: An independent assessment, undertaken in 2001, estimated the value of beekeeping in England to the agricultural economy at around £120 million per annum. The proposed reduction in Defra's budget for the National Bee Unit will not apply until 2008. We are working with beekeeping associations to minimise any risks associated with this.
Bird Population
Dr. Pugh:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent
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reports the Department has assessed relating to the reduction in the number of species of birds in the United Kingdom and the implications for the bird population of the United Kingdom. [207868]
Mr. Bradshaw: Defra annually monitors the numbers of a whole range of birds, through the breeding bird survey. This survey, conducted and funded jointly by the British Trust for Ornithology, the RSPB and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, assesses trends in the numbers of common species of birds across the country. A range of other surveys, funded by these organisations, assesses trends in scarcer species. Annual reports are produced for each of the surveys, but summary information derived from them is contained in the report "The State of the UK's Birds 2003" 1 , which was published in July 2004.
The UK wild bird indicator, a barometer of the fortunes of breeding birds in the UK, for all species showed a slight decline between 2000 and 2002, but has stayed relatively stable since the early 1980s.
Considerable mixed fortunes in the trends in commoner breeding birds with decreases in populations of turtle doves, corn buntings, house sparrows and starlings, but short term increases in tree sparrows, stone chats and kingfishers.
The report recognised encouraging progress towards meeting species' targets in the UK biodiversity action plan where concerted conservation action has resulted in increases in numbers of bitterns, corncrakes, stone-curlews and cirl buntings—all species that were at serious risk of extinction as recently as the mid-1990s. Whilst there is no reason for complacency, indications are that the dramatic rate of long-term decline in overall bird populations may have been halted.
1 Eaton M.A., Noble D.G., Cranswick P.A., Carter N., Wotton S., Ratcliffe N., Wilson A., Hilton G.M., and Gregory R.D., 2004. The State of the UK's Birds 2003. BTO, the RSPB and WWT, Sandy.
BSE
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list countries in which there are confirmed cases of BSE; and whether export controls have been put in place (a) voluntarily and (b) compulsorily in each case. [208267]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following countries have reported confirmed cases of BSE in indigenous cattle.
In addition, one case identified in the USA was imported from Canada.
Portugal and the UK have had an export ban imposed by EU law as a result of a high incidence of BSE. The ban on exports of cattle and their products from Portugal was lifted in December last year following the satisfactory demonstration by the Portuguese authorities to the EU Commission of adequate BSE controls and reduced BSE incidence. We have not been notified of any voluntary export controls by any of the countries listed.
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