---

20 Jun 2005 : Column 672W—continued

Royal Navy

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to fit (a) HMS Gloucester and (b) HMS Manchester with the Mark 8 Mod 1 gun. [3877]

Mr. Ingram: There are no plans to fit the 4.5 inch Mark 8 Mod 1 gun to either HMS Gloucester or HMS Manchester. However, two Batch 3 Type 42 Destroyers, HMS York and HMS Edinburgh, were recently fitted with the Mod 1 configuration as part of their scheduled upkeep work. There are no plans to retrofit the gun to any other Batch 2 or Batch 3 Type 42s.

Territorial Army

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Territorial Army medical personnel (a) have been and (b) are deployed in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [4660]

Mr. Touhig: Some 2,740 Territorial Army (TA) medical personnel have been called up in support of operations in Iraq. There are currently some 230 TA medical personnel serving in Iraq.

Type-23 Destroyers

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many ship sets of Sonar 2087 have been ordered; to which Type-23s they will be fitted; and if he will make a statement. [3879]

Mr. Ingram: A total of eight ship sets of Sonar 2087 have now been ordered. A contract to procure sets seven and eight of Sonar 2087 was placed with Thales Underwater Systems in April 2005. The Type 23 frigates to which Sonar 2087 will be fitted have not changed since the answer I gave on 9 December 2004, Official Report, column 691W, to the hon. Member.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Abandoned Cars

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned cars were recorded in each local authority in England and Wales in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05. [4601]

Mr. Bradshaw: Estimates for abandoned vehicles removed and destroyed in England have been compiled in the DEFRA municipal waste management survey since 2001. The figures for 2003–04 are shown in a table placed in the Library of the House. We do not have the figures for Wales. The figures for 2004–05 will be released once they have been collated and verified.

Animal Welfare

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on limiting the use of fast-growing breeds in the broiler industry. [3771]

Mr. Bradshaw: The recently published proposal for a Council directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production
 
20 Jun 2005 : Column 673W
 
includes a commitment from the Commission, of not later than five years from the date of adoption of the directive, to submit to the European Parliament and to the Council, a report concerning the influence of genetic parameters on identified deficiencies resulting in poor welfare of chickens. The UK will be involved in discussions on the proposal with other member states, in working groups, over the next few months.

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make representations to the European Commission to implement the recommendations of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare for a maximum stocking density of 25 kg/sq m. [3790]

Mr. Bradshaw: The European Commission has recently published proposals for a Council directive laying down minimum rules, including a two tier stocking density, for the protection of chickens kept for meat production. The proposal takes account of the recommendations of the SCAHAW report and the results of recent scientific research.

Aquatic Environment

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information she has procured to establish the levels of residues from anti-depressant drugs in the (a) livers, (b) brains and (c) muscle of fish. [4449]

Mr. Bradshaw: As a follow-up to studies commissioned by the Environment Agency in which trace levels of some pharmaceuticals were detected in UK sewage effluents and rivers, the CEFAS Laboratory at Burnham on Crouch has investigated the presence of selected pharmaceutical products, including the antidepressant Lofepramine, in the liver and muscles of a small number of pike in the Grand Union canal. Pike are predatory fish and due to biomagnification will exhibit the highest levels of any residues likely to enter the food chain. Lofepramine was not detected in any of the samples.

The Environment Agency have developed a position statement on pharmaceuticals—which can be found on the Agency's website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk (search-pharmaceuticals). This elaborates further on the work done and includes a recommendation to the pharmaceutical industry to do more on the development of analytical methods for environmental monitoring. Iam pleased that the Environment Agency is in discussion with the industry on the development of a work programme to cover the recommendations to industry listed in the position statement.

Illegal Meat

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will increase the resources available for detecting imports of illegal meat. [4816]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government have made available an additional £25 million over the three financial years from 2003–06 to tackle illegal imports from outside the European Union of any meat, other animal products and plant products. The majority of this funding is for additional resources to be deployed by Customs to
 
20 Jun 2005 : Column 674W
 
detect illegal imports at the frontier. The current level of funding has been included in Customs' allocation for future years. Funding will also continue to be available for Defra to examine the risks and help increase public awareness, and for the FSA for work on inland controls.

Overall, the money for the illegal imports programme needs to be looked at in the context of the whole control regime including the legal trade. Funding has to be proportionate to risk. Our controls compare well with other EU member states.

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps are taken by her Department to detect illegal bush meat imported through British ports and airports; and if she will make a statement. [4817]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Government have made available an additional £25 million over the three financial years from 2003–06 to tackle illegal imports from outside the European Union of meat (including bush meat), other animal products, and plant products. Customs are responsible for anti-smuggling controls at the border. In addition to their 3,500 detection staff, they also have dedicated extra resources (c 100 officers and a 10 'meat' detector dog programme) targeting higher risk import routes.

This has resulted in a considerable increase in seizures in 2003–04 to 15,838. There was a further significant increase in 2004–05—final figures will be published in DEFRA's annual review in July. However bush meat forms only a very small part (approx 3 per cent.) of Customs seizures of POAO.

The National Audit Office recently published (23 March 2005) a report recognising the good work of Customs in detecting illegal imports, and that our controls compare well to those of other EU member states. I am also pleased that there have been eight successful prosecutions, the most recent in June resulting in a custodial sentence.

Customs will continue to be vigorous in tackling illegal imports, including the use of new technology such as over-the-belt X-ray scanners at selected major airports to assist in its operations.

We recognise that the risk of disease can never be reduced to zero, but a number of measures that the Government have taken to improve prevention, detection, and domestic biosecurity, has we believe, reduced the risk.

Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of implementing the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. [4296]

Mr. Bradshaw: The cost to local authorities of meeting the Landfill Directive targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill through the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme was considered in the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Landfill Allowance and Trading Scheme (England) Regulations 2004. The aim of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme is to enable local authorities to meet these targets in the most cost-effective way.
 
20 Jun 2005 : Column 675W
 

In terms of administrative costs, there will be no significant additional burden on waste disposal authorities as a result of implementing the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. Authorities are now required to submit monitoring information quarterly rather than annually but Waste Dataflow enables them to do this electronically. They will also need to register any transfer of allowances on an electronic register. Neither are considered onerous tasks.

---