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Cockle Beds (Pilling Sands)

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the plans of the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee to re-open cockle beds at Pilling Sands before the end of this year. [34872]

Mr. Bradshaw: Inshore fisheries management at Morecambe Bay, and the decision to re-open cockle beds at Pilling Sands is the responsibility of the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. The Committee works together with other Government Agencies to ensure appropriate regulation of cockle fishing. I will be considering whether additional provision for effective inshore fisheries management needs to be made in the Government's planned Marine Bill.

Company Operating Regulations

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list meetings between her Department and the Treasury at which the decision to remove the obligation on businesses to publish operating and financial reviews was discussed. [35032]

Mr. Morley: Discussions were held at various levels, including between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, before the decision was taken to remove the obligation on businesses to publish operating and financial reviews.

European Environmental Monitoring Programme

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department is recommending a UK contribution of a quarter of gross domestic product to the European environmental monitoring programme; and what assessment she has made of the likely impact of such a move on the UK's contribution to addressing climate change. [R] [33464]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 1 December 2005]: As policy lead on the joint European Commission and European Space Agency initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), DEFRA has considered with other Government Departments the appropriate level of UK funding for the space component of the GMES programme. At the ESA ministerial on 5–6 December, the UK subscribed €8.86 million to the programme, equating to a quarter
 
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of the UK net national income share. This subscription will allow the UK to influence the shape and management of the GMES programme so that it can, inter alia, contribute towards understanding and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Fixed Penalty Notices

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed penalty notices have been issued by (a) community support officers and (b) police officers for (i) graffiti and (ii) fly-posting under paragraph 1(2)(ca) of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 in each of the last four years, broken down by police authority. [29345]

Mr. Bradshaw: The figures collected for graffiti and fly-posting fixed penalties do not distinguish between police employees and those authorised by local authorities. The power to issue fixed penalties in relation to graffiti and fly-posting offences under paragraph 1(2)(ca) of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 (as amended), is provided to community support officers, but not police officers. Under the penalty notice for disorder scheme as provided for under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, police officers have the power to issue fixed penalty notices for the offence of criminal damage.

Foot and Mouth

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many confirmed foot and mouth cases (a) occurred in (i)2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004 and (b) have occurred in 2005 in each county in England and Wales. [33552]

Mr. Bradshaw: None.

Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received on the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Brazil; and if she will make a statement. [35282]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Competent Authority in Brazil has provided information via the European Commission on the situation with respect to recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. This data provides information on the action Brazil is taking to control the disease.

Following notification of the outbreaks action was taken to ban imports of meat from the affected areas, which may present a risk. This is in accordance with European Community legislation.

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.
 
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Gas Supplies

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether it is her policy to relax pollution controls on coal-fired power stations in the event of a gas shortage this winter. [33664]

Mr. Bradshaw: Pollution controls on coal-fired power stations—and indeed on power stations and other large industrial installations generally—are a matter for the Environment Agency and are set in authorisations issued under the integrated pollution control (IPC) system or in permits under the integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) system which is replacing IPC.

Under these systems, the operator has to notify the Environment Agency of any change it wishes to make in the operation of the installation which has a bearing on the conditions of the authorisation or permit. It is then for the Environment Agency to consider whether and on what terms the change can be accepted, taking into account the circumstances in which the change has been proposed and their likely duration.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what further steps the Government are planning to take on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. [33627]

Mr. Morley: The Government are aiming to publish a revised UK Climate Change programme early next year which will set out additional policies and measures to further reduce the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2005, Official Report, columns 652–3W, on greenhouse gas emissions, if she will produce an annual report to Parliament on greenhouse gas emissions. [35522]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 7 December 2005]: As my hon. Friend, the Minister for Energy, has confirmed to the House, if Clause 2 of the Private Member's Bill Climate Change and Sustainable Energy" is amended to the effect that producing such a report would be the responsibility of the Secretary of State and the Bill then becomes law, the Secretary of State will produce annual reports to Parliament on greenhouse gas emissions.
 
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Household Waste

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much residential household refuse was collected in each year since 1997; and what proportion of refuse was recycled in each year. [34440]

Mr. Bradshaw: This information is collected through the Municipal Waste Management Survey of England and is published on the Department's website.

The information can be found in Annex A, Table 5 at:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/wastats/mwb0304/index.htm

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the average weight in kilograms of waste per household in each of the last 20 years. [36031]

Mr. Bradshaw: The estimated amount of waste arising from households in England is shown in the following table. Figures for 1996–97 to 2003–04 are from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey. Earlier data are only available for the years shown and are from the CIPFA Waste Survey.

	Kilogrammes per household per year
1983–84	1,055
1991–92	1,066
1993–94	1,093
1995–96	1,089
1996–97	1,117
1997–98	1,146
1998–99	1,146
1999–00	1,194
2000–01	1,196
2001–02	1,228
2002–03	1,233
2003–04	1,205

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