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14 Mar 2005 : Column 4W—continued
Train Operating Companies (Compensation)
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was paid, and on which dates, through the Strategic Rail Authority to train operating companies in respect of compensation for loss of revenue during industrial disputes in each of the last three years. [221003]
Mr. McNulty: The arrangements under which the Strategic Rail Authority is able, at its discretion, to compensate train operators for loss of revenue in these circumstances have existed only since March 2003. Since then, payments have been made in March 2003 (£12.65 million); June 2003 (£3 million); January 2004 (£6.8 million); July 2004 (£143,000); and November 2004 (£701,000).
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funds he has set aside to compensate train operating companies in the event of industrial disputes on the railways in the 2004–05 financial year. [221004]
Mr. McNulty: None. Payments of this sort are made entirely at the discretion of the Strategic Rail Authority and there may well be years in which none is made. No specific provision is therefore made and any payment would have to be funded from within the SRA's existing budgets.
Working Time Directive
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of whether the 29 March deadline for the introduction of the Working Time Directive regulations applicable to road haulage operators will be met. [218634]
Mr. Darling: I have laid the implementing regulations for this directive before Parliament today.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Bird Control
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance she plans to issue to the police on criteria to be used in deciding whether non-lethal methods of control under General Licence WLF18 are ineffective or unpracticable. [221095]
Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 10 March 2005]: There is no requirement for the police to decide whether non-lethal methods of control are either ineffective or
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impracticable. There are, therefore, no plans to issue guidance to the police on criteria to be used in making such an assessment.
Farmland Rental Prices
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average rental price of farmland in each (a) Welsh and (b) English county was in each of the last five years. [221327]
Alun Michael:
Farmland rental prices are collected through the Tenanted Land Survey (TLS), previously called the Annual Survey of Tenanted Land (ASTL). We do not produce results on a regional basis for two reasons.
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Firstly, analysis has shown that most of the variation in rental prices is between farm types, with rental consistent across regions within this—i.e. rental prices for a cereal holding are similar no matter where the holding is located.
Secondly, the relatively small sample size means that data would not be sufficiently robust to make valid and precise conclusions on a county level basis.
Instead we publish data by farm type. Results, by farm type, for the each of last five years for Full Agricultural Tenancies (FATs) and Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs) are shown as follows:
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| 2000 | |
|---|---|
| All agreements—one year and over | 82.77 |
| (±4.80) | |
| Other agreements—one year and over | 103.65 |
| (±18.54) |
| Type of holding | |
|---|---|
| Dairy | 118.01 |
| (±13.45) | |
| Cattle and Sheep (LFA) | 48.6 |
| (±6.77 ) | |
| Cattle and Sheep (Lowland) | 93.61 |
| (±11.66) | |
| All | 69.55 |
| (±5.23 ) |
| Type of holding | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Dairy | 162.06 |
| (±20.85) | |
| Cattle and Sheep (LFA) | 81.56 |
| (±8.22) | |
| Cattle and Sheep (Lowland) | 105.15 |
| (±20.02) | |
| All | 109.82 |
| (±6.56) |
A full set of results for England and Wales are available on the web at the following locations:
http://www.wales.gov.uk/keypubstatisticsforwales/content/publication/agriculture/2002/sdr71–2001.xls
Please note that the survey was not run in England in 2003. This is because we moved from the annual survey (ASTL) in 2002 to the biennial one (TLS) in 2004. No results for Wales are available since 2000.
Please note also that agriculture in Wales is a devolved matter and so falls under the remit of the National Assembly for Wales. The statistics are publicly available and so are quoted here with references.
The survey will next be run in England in 2006.
Horse Exports
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many horses have been exported live from the UK in the last 10 years. [220687]
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Alun Michael: According to the Department's system for issuing export health certificates, the number of equines exported from the United Kingdom are as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 1,169 |
| 1997 | 8,119 |
| 1998 | 11,086 |
| 1999 | 9,579 |
| 2000 | 9,176 |
| 2001 | 14,284 |
| 2002 | 10,785 |
| 2003 | 9,130 |
| 2004 | 21,936 |
The above figures were produced from data obtained from an electronic export health certificate issuing system which became operational towards the end of 1996.
These figures include the temporary export of equines as well as the re-export of imported animals.
These data do not include equines exported in accordance with the tripartite agreement, under which export health certificates are not required for the movement of horses to the Republic of Ireland or registered horses to France.
The tripartite agreement was suspended during the foot and mouth outbreak which led to exports of equines to the Republic of Ireland and France requiring export health certificates.
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