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Cormorants
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the likely impact on the UK breeding population of cormorants of her Department's change of policy on cormorant control. [217969]
Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 24 February 2005]: Modelling by Defra's Central Science Laboratory (CSL) has examined the likely consequences of the new policy on winter cormorant numbers. The focus on winter numbers is appropriate since this coincides with the period when licensed shooting occurs; wintering counts are also recorded annually, unlike counts of breeding birds which are only conducted infrequently at the national level. CSL have explored the limits within which the licensing system may operate without risking the conservation status of the cormorant population. The aim has been to identify prudent upper limits for shooting and not to recommend levels of population reduction. To further safeguard the conservation of cormorants Defra will monitor the national winter population and if necessary reduce or stop the granting of licences should the population not respond in the manner predicted.
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Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of fish refuges in reducing predation by cormorants; and how much her Department has spent on research into the effectiveness of fish refuges in the last two years. [217970]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 24 February 2005]: Mr Bradshaw Defra's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science is currently undertaking research into the use of fish refuges to reduce damage to inland fisheries by cormorants. Early results are encouraging and suggest that the technique has considerable potential for reducing fish losses at some sites, such as smaller stillwater coarse fisheries. Currently, fish refuges do not offer a solution for all fisheries. However, work is continuing to further evaluate the benefits of introducing refuges in a range of fisheries and to assess any effects of the refuge structures on anglers. Over the past two years this research has cost the Department £260k.
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many licences to control cormorants have been issued in each English county since 16 September 2004; and how many birds are permitted to be killed under each licence. [217971]
Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 24 February 2005]: Up until 9 February 2005 the Department granted 274 licences. The minimum number of birds which have been licenced to be killed is 1800. This equates to an average of almost seven birds per licence. The analysis of licences per county involves a disproportionate cost and has not been supplied.
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Countryside Agency
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria she is using to determine the location of the new headquarters of the Countryside Agency; and whether premises in Cheltenham are under consideration. [214714]
Alun Michael: The Secretary of State announced in Rural Strategy 2004 that the 'new' Countryside Agency would in due course be located in a lagging" rural area. For these purposes, lagging" rural areas will be defined by reference to those local authority districts demonstrating poor economic performance in their rural economies, as set out in Annex B to Defra's Public Service Agreement 2004 (see www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/busplan/tn.pdf). As Rural Strategy 2004 sets out, poor economic performance is both affected by, and affects, social exclusion.
The annex above lists the geography of poor economic performance in rural England as follows:
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We are looking forward to receiving proposals shortly from the agency, taking into account the Government's policy priorities set out in Rural Strategy 2004 and the objectives of the 'new' Countryside Agency, that will enable an early decision to be made on the new location.
Dairy Herds
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dairy herds had an average size of (a) less than 20, (b) 21to 40, (c) 41 to 60, (d) 61 to 80, (e) 81 to 100, (f) 101 to 120, (g) 120 to 140, (h) 141 to 160, (i) 161 to 180, (j) 181 to 200 and (k) more than 200 in (i) 1995, (ii) 2000 and (iii) the last year for which figures are available. [219310]
Alun Michael: The figures in the table show dairy herd and holding numbers in England by dairy cow size group in (i) 1995, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2003. The dairy herd are all cows and heifers that have calved and including cows in calf, cows in milk and cull cows.
Notes:
(a) Figures prior to 2000 are for main holdings only, from 2000 onwards main and minor are included.
A holding is defined as minor if it meets all of the following conditions:
1. the total area is less than 6 hecatres
2. the labour requirement is estimated to be less than 100 standard person-days
3. there is no regular full-time farmer or worker
4. the glasshouse area is less than 100 square metres
5. the occupier does not farm another holding
Source:
June Agricultural Census
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