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EU Fisheries

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) under which European Court decisions the common fisheries policy has been changed to exclusive competence over the marine biological resources of the seas in the EU constitution; [215489]

(2) whether the exclusive competence over marine resources of the sea provided for in the EU constitution will necessitate the development of a common policy on other marine vertebrates and invertebrates. [215490]

 
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Mr. Bradshaw: Existing Community competence over marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy derives from article 102 of the UK treaty of accession. The EU constitutional treaty does not change the current arrangements.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the (a) budget and (b) role of the European Fisheries Fund. [215206]

Mr. Bradshaw: The budget for the European Fisheries Fund remains to be negotiated. The European Commission has proposed that the figure for the whole of the European Union should be €4.963 billion. Decisions have yet to be taken on the Financial Perspective for the period 2007–13, from which the amount for EFF spending will be derived. The UK believes the budget proposed by the Commission for the financial perspective is unaffordable.

The proposed fund aims to:

Support the CFP to ensure sustainable exploitation of natural marine resources and the protection of the environment;

Promote a sustainable balance between resources and fleet capacity, strengthen economic competitiveness and improve the quality of life in fishing communities; and

Promote equality between women and men in the sector.

Fallen Stock

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs within what time scale farmers should expect their fallen stock to be collected under the fallen stock scheme. [217538]

Mr. Bradshaw: Under the Animal By-Products Regulations 2003 farmers must arrange collection or other disposal of fallen stock without undue delay. The National Fallen Stock Company has said that it would normally expect fallen stock collectors to collect carcases within 48 hours following notification.

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she is taking to ensure that the fallen stock scheme works effectively in all areas. [217539]

Mr. Bradshaw: This is a matter for the National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) which has been set up jointly by government and the farming industry to run the scheme. Generally, the scheme is working well in most areas of the UK but the company is aware that the service in some areas requires improvement and is actively addressing this with the local collection industry.

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many companies are registered to collect fallen stock; [217356]

(2) how many companies registered to collect fallen stock are hunt kennels. [217401]

Mr. Bradshaw: Over 360 approvals have been granted to establishments under Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 to allow them to collect and/or treat Category 1 and 2 animal by-products (including fallen stock). Of this number 143 are hunt kennels.
 
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In practice not all of the establishments referred to above will be engaged in the collection of fallen stock. Under the National Fallen Stock Scheme, there are currently 126 collectors registered, of which 25 are hunt kennels.

These latter figures include some freelance collectors, who do not require approval under the Regulation, but who must consign any collected carcases to an appropriately approved plant for disposal.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms are in place to monitor the National Fallen Stock Scheme. [216593]

Mr. Bradshaw: The National Fallen Stock Company (NFSCo) which is running the Scheme has Government representation on its Board to ensure that government funding is spent properly. In addition NFSCo is subject to the normal financial and audit controls which apply to a Limited Company. With regard to the operation of the Scheme the Company actively seeks feedback from its members on the service provided and records are kept of calls to the helpline and of complaints received to inform improvements to service provision. NFSCo has also engaged the State Veterinary Service to inspect collection premises and vehicles to enable compliance with Scheme rules, in particular in relation to biosecurity.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints the National Fallen Stock Company has received to date. [216595]

Mr. Bradshaw: The National Fallen Stock Company Ltd. reports that as of 11 February 2005 it had received 282 complaints. Of these 84 were in relation to the collection of fallen stock. This is out of some 30,000 collections in the same period.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the maximum recommended time period is under the National Fallen Stock Scheme for the collection of fallen stock. [216596]

Mr. Bradshaw: The National Fallen Stock Company has said that under most circumstances it would normally expect fallen stock collectors to collect carcases within 48 hours following notification.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the average costs of the collection of fallen stock to farmers subscribing to the National Fallen Stock Scheme (a) in the last year before and (b) since the Scheme began. [216597]

Mr. Bradshaw: None. Information of this nature is not collected by the Department.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many collections under the National Fallen Stock Scheme since its implementation have occurred 48 hours or more after the animals death was reported to the National Fallen Stock Company. [216598]

 
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Mr. Bradshaw: Although comprehensive information of this nature is not collected the National Fallen Stock Company Ltd. reports that as of 11 February 2005 it had received 62 complaints regarding collections that were not made within 48 hours of the animals' death being reported.

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to raise the (a) registration and (b) other fees payable by farmers subscribing to the National Fallen Stock Scheme. [216599]

Mr. Bradshaw: None. The setting of registration fees for farmers subscribing to the National Fallen Stock Scheme is for the National Fallen Stock Company Board to decide. The Board also sets the percentage rate by which farmers' collection costs are reduced using the government contribution to the Scheme. No other fees are payable by farmers with regard to subscribing to the Scheme.

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the compliance of delivery of information systems for the National Fallen Stock Scheme with the original (a) schedule, (b) functionality specification and (c) budget. [216644]

Mr. Bradshaw: The IT system was delivered to enable the Scheme to begin in the autumn of 2004 which was as previously announced by the National Fallen Stock Company. However, further work is taking place to provide full functionality in respect of financial and reporting systems. Defra previously announced it would provide £1 million towards setting up the system. The final cost will not be known until full functionality is in place, but it is likely to be close to this figure.

Flooding

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the role of (a) regional resilience teams and (b) regional flood defence committees; and what discussions each has with local planning authorities (i) on preventing flooding and (ii) building on functional floodplains. [216009]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 3 February 2005, Official Report, column 1023W, where I stated that the Government have set up a Regional Resilience Team in each of the English regions to enhance the co-ordination of planning for wide impact events, such as major flooding, and to improve lines of communication between central Government and local responders during the response to an incident. These arrangements worked successfully in relation to the Boscastle and Carlisle floods.

The Environment Agency (EA) is required by section 106 of the Water Resources Act 1991 to carry out most of its flood defence functions through regional flood defence committees (RFDCs). The committees in particular take decisions about the annual programmes of improvement and maintenance work to be carried out by the Agency and oversee other aspects of the Agency's work and operations. RFDCs also decide on such matters as the extension of main rivers, the making and operation of land drainage byelaws and various issues
 
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affecting any internal drainage boards in their area. They are required annually to approve estimates of expenditure and to determine the amounts to be levied by the Agency on constituent councils.

Through Planning Policy Guidance Note 25 (PPG25) the Government have given strengthened guidance to local planning authorities regarding inappropriate development in areas of flood risk. The EA (in conjunction with RFDCs) provides advice to local planning authorities on planning applications in areas at risk of flooding and this is used by the authorities in reaching decisions. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Defra have recently consulted on the need to revise PPG25 and whether the EA should be made a statutory consultee on proposals for development in flood risk areas.

Regional Resilience Teams have been established to enhance the co-ordination of major events and incidents and are not involved in the development control process.

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