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5 Dec 2005 : Column 928W—continued
Cockle Fishing
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Government will implement a secure permit system for cockle fishing requiring (a) the observation of health and safety regulations, (b) that the coastguard be informed of any cockling activity, (c) a responsible person to be on shore at all times and to be informed of all active participants at any time, (d) the enforcement of risk assessment procedures and (e) a proper check of all vehicles and equipment. [33536]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 1 December 2005]: The 12 Sea Fisheries Committees in England and Wales have powers under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1996 to introduce byelaws to meet local fisheries management requirements (for example, to regulate cockle fishing by permit requirement). Other authorities have primary responsibility for such matters as health and safety regulation and the safety of vehicles, and relevant legal requirements and enforcement arrangements are in place. I will be considering whether additional provision for effective inshore fisheries management needs to be made in the Government's planned Marine Bill.
Crematoria
Mr. Olner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Government
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will provide the Crematorium Authority Mercury Abatement Organisation with powers enabling it to co-ordinate implementation measures with regards to the installation of mercury-abatement equipment and emissions burden-sharing in crematoria. [31843]
Mr. Bradshaw: We have made provision for the mercury reductions required from crematoria to be delivered through burden sharing, in response to concerns raised by some cremation organisations over alternative approaches, and have been pleased to assist the cremation sector to the extent possible in their development of suitable arrangements. This is a novel approach and is an alternative to the conventional method of identifying installations above a given size to take pollution control measures.
It would not be appropriate for the Government to intervene in order to dictate that one particular burden sharing approach—such as that of the Crematorium Authority Mercury Abatement Organisation—be taken up by all crematoria. I have, however, extended the deadline until 1 June 2006 by when we wish to see evidence that the burden sharing approach will deliver the 50 per cent. reduction we have specified.
Endemic Species
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list in descending order the number of endemic species of (a) insects and (b) plants in each of the world's islands, countries and territories. [34049]
Jim Knight: It is not in the public interest for the Secretary of State to hold such a list. However, information on endemic species is available from the following sources:
Groombridge, B & Jenkins, M. 2002. World atlas of biodiversity. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London
Groombridge B (Ed) 1992. Global biodiversity—status of the earth's living resources. Chapman and Hall, London, Tokyo
You may also be interested to know about the UK's ongoing support for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an organisation committed to efforts to make biodiversity information available to the public via the internet (www.gbif.org).
Farming
Dr. McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of animal feeds was to farmers in England in the 2004–05 financial year. [33794]
Mr. Bradshaw: Data are not available for the 2004–05 financial year. However the cost of animal feed to farmers in England for the 2004 calendar year was £1.649 billion. This includes compound feed, straight concentrates and non-concentrates and also feed purchased from other farms.
Fixed Penalty Notices
David Davis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed
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penalty notices have been issued by (a) community support officers and (b) police officers for dog fouling under paragraph 1(2)(c) of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 in each of the last four years, broken down by police authority. [29346]
Mr. Bradshaw: The figures for fixed penalty notices we collect annually makes no distinction between those fixed penalties issued by local authority officers and police community support officers.
Foot and Mouth (Brazil)
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to house imports of meat from Brazil following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease there. [32302]
Mr. Bradshaw: Following outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in Brazil, action was taken to ban imports of meat from the affected areas which may present a risk.
All meat imported into the EU from third countries must enter at designated Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) where it is subject to veterinary inspections. All consignments are subject to documentary and identity checks and at least 20 per cent. of consignments undergo physical checks. These ensure import conditions are met and that the products remain in a satisfactory condition during transport.
Any consignment that does not meet EU requirements, including that which may have been affected by the ban would be rejected and re-exported or destroyed.
Identity Cards
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the (a) total and (b) net cost of (i)integrating the proposed identity card scheme into her Department's IT systems and (ii) the ongoing operation of the scheme within her Department. [31108]
Jim Knight: The Department has not finalised current best estimates of the cost of using the ID cards scheme to support the services which it oversees.
Landfill
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2005, Official Report, column 16W, on landfill, what percentage of glass and plastic bottles were recycled in the last period for which figures are available. [33856]
Mr. Bradshaw: Results for 2004 from the trade organisations of British Glass and British Plastics Federation estimate 35 per cent. of glass and 8 per cent. of plastic bottles are recycled.
Live Animal Imports
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the extent to which live animals exported from Brazil are subsequently imported as meat products into the UK. [28112]
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Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 14 November 2005]: The trade in individual animals can not be traced through overseas trade statistics.
The following table shows the total exports of live animals from Brazil split by country for 2004.
Information on the subsequent processing and destination of these live animal exports from Brazil is not readily available. However the following table gives details of the total imports of meat and meat products into the UK in 2004 from those countries to which Brazil has exported live animals in 2004:
| Type | Description | £000 | Tonnes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | Paraguay | 12 | 11 |
| Poultry | Argentina | 1,545 | 1,344 |
| Chile | 8,969 | 4,862 | |
| France | 123,922 | 58,807 | |
| Spain | 13,062 | 6,625 | |
| Grand total | 315,099 | 186,993 |
Sources:
H M Revenue and Customs
Data prepared by Trade statistics, Food Chain Analysis 3, DEFRA
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