---

19 Jan 2006 : Column 1452W—continued

Small Claims Court (Tamworth)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the current waiting time is from allocation to hearing for small claims at Tamworth county court. [42074]

 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1453W
 

Ms Harman: The latest figures available are those at the end of November 2005 the average waiting time for small claims is 14.8 weeks against a target of 15 weeks

Spoilt Ballot Papers

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many spoilt ballot papers there were in each electoral ward in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) North Lincolnshire in the most recent local elections in each of those wards. [42679]

 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1454W
 

Ms Harman: This information is not held centrally. The Returning officer at a local election, has a duty to publish the results of that election, including the names of the candidate(s) elected, the number of votes each candidate received and the number of rejected ballot papers under each head shown in the statement of rejected ballot papers (Rule 44(1 )(c) of the Local Elections (Principle Areas) Rules 1983). There is no duty, however, to inform the Government of the result of a local election. The local authority in question should hold this information.
 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1455W
 

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Administration Costs

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total administrative costs for her core Department are; and whether these are regarded as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses. [39833]

Jim Knight: DEFRA's provisional administration costs outturn for the core Department for 2004–05 is shown in table 4 in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (CMD 6639). All the administration costs, with the exception of administrative costs associated with departmental pay costs, are identifiable for the purposes of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses.

Animal Health and Welfare

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will introduce a regime whereby single farm payments can be made to farmers who develop an animal health and welfare strategy in conjunction with a veterinary surgeon. [42254]

Jim Knight: From 1 January 2007, farmers receiving payments under the single payment scheme will have to fulfil the requirements of three animal welfare directives under the cross compliance regime. We do not intend to make payments to farmers through the money available through the Rural Development Programme for farm health planning, but we do intend to pump prime with £6 million of money from elsewhere.

Animal Movement Licences

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discretion is allowed to applicants on complying with time limits when applying to the British Cattle Movement Service for animal movement licences. [43043]

Jim Knight [holding answer 17 January 2006]: The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) may issue a movement licence to allow a bovine animal without a passport, aged under two years, to be moved to a hunt kennel or knacker's yard. This licence may be applied for at any time but is valid for only two weeks from the date of issue. It must accompany the animal when it is moved. There is no discretion as to the time limit.

This is the only type of movement licence issued by BCMS.

Avian Influenza

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 16 January 2006, Official Report, column 892W, on Avian influenza, on what date the testing of the 3,179 wild birds for avian influenza commenced; and on what dates the mallard and shelduck were (a) found or captured and (b) tested. [43615]

 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1456W
 

Mr. Bradshaw: Testing of the 3,179 wild birds, referred to in the answer of 16 January 2006, Official Report, column 892W, commenced on 7 October 2005.

Samples from the mallard were taken on 14 November 2005 and first tested on 25 November 2005. Samples from the shelduck were also taken on 14 November 2005 and first tested on 6 December 2005.

Biofuels

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what incentives the Government are making available for the development of refining and processing capacity for (a) biomass and (b) other biofuels. [41511]

Mr. Morley: The Government are keen to promote the production of biomass heat and electricity, and transport biofuels. Electricity suppliers are required to source 15 per cent. of their electricity from renewables, including biomass, by 2015–16. The co-firing of biomass with coal in conventional power stations is permitted. £66 million of funding has been allocated to develop dedicated biomass power stations, combined heat and power schemes, and heating boilers. £12.5 million is available for household and community renewable energy projects, including biomass heating.

Support is available to process biomass into a form suitable for use by energy end-users. A cross-departmental team is looking at the recommendations from the Biomass Task Force on ways to overcome the barriers to developing biomass energy. The Government will publish a full response by April. Support for the production of transport biofuels is through the 20 pence per litre cut in the duty rate for biodiesel and bioethanol. Last November, the Government announced that a Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation will be introduced to require 5 per cent. of road fuel to come from a renewable source by 2010. Other measures being considered include duty incentives to encourage the mixing of biomass with hydrocarbons in the conventional refinery process, and an enhanced capital allowance scheme for the cleanest biofuels processing plants. The latter scheme would allow the cost of capital assets to be written off against taxable profits. Regional support grants for capital investment in production plants are already available.

Cattle Passports

Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle passport applications were refused because the application was received late over the last 12 month period for which figures are available. [42193]

Jim Knight: In the calendar year 2005, the Rural Payments Agency refused to issue passports for 13,298 animals born in or imported into Great Britain, because their passport applications were received outside the
 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1457W
 
legal time limit. This amounts to 0.49 per cent. of all applications. All these animals have been registered on the Cattle Tracing System database and issued with a notice of registration.

4,443 passports initially refused have subsequently been issued following successful appeals.

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will reply to the letter dated 14 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Alexander Scott-Marlow. [41847]

Jim Knight: I apologise for the delay in responding to this letter, a reply will be sent out shortly.

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many letters longer than one sheet of A4 paper were sent by her Department in 2005 in answer to inquiries from (a) hon. Members and (b) the public. [42731]

 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1458W
 

Jim Knight: That information is not held by this Department.

Departmental Estate

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the former (a) buildings and (b) land of (i) her Department and (ii) (A) non-departmental public bodies, (B)agencies and (C) independent statutory bodies for which her Department is responsible which have been sold since 7 May 1997; what the sale price of each (1) was at the time of sale and (2) is at current prices; and whether the money accrued was (x) retained by her Department and (y) claimed by the Treasury. [40138]

Jim Knight: The information on sales of freehold land and buildings since June 2001 when DEFRA was created is set out in the following table. The Department does not hold information on current values and these could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The sales proceeds have been retained within the departmental limits agreed by the Treasury and therefore no excess funds have been claimed by the Treasury.

Department/NDPB/ Agency/ISB	Year	Building	Land	Sale price (£)
DEFRA	2001–021, 2	Torry Laboratory Aberdeenshire	—	750,000
		Crown House Maidstone Kent	—	1,200,000
		—	Brynsiencyn Oyster Station Gwynedd	2,000
		Stockbridge House Cawood North Yorkshire	—	880,000
		Littlehampton Dwellings West Sussex	—	2,788,000
		Brooklands Avenue Cambridge Cambridgeshire(5)	—	5,250,000
		Long Benton Newcastle Tyne and Wear	—	300,000
		Hoddesdon Buffer Depot Hertfordshire	—	6,830,000
	2002–03	Gunthorpe Buffer Depot Nottinghamshire	—	160,000
		Bridgets Farm Martyr Worthy Hampshire (main part of site)	—	4,000,000
		Harlescott Buffer Depot Shropshire	—	1,802,000
		Castle House Stafford Staffordshire	—	1,300,000
		Stockbridge House Dwellings Cawood North Yorkshire	—	623,000
	2003–04	—	Barnhall Wickford Essex	160,000
		Bridgets Farm Martyr Worthy Hampshire dwellings	—	1,338,000
		Brooklands Avenue Cambridge Cambridgeshire(5)	—	8,724,000
	2004–05	Tattenhall Buffer Depot Cheshire	—	361,000
		Bridgets Farm Martyr Worthy Hampshire (small part of site)	—	10,000
		Worplesdon Surrey(6)	—	329,000
		Kirton Lincolnshire dwelling	—	68,500
		Boxworth Cambridgeshire dwelling	—	165,500
	2005–06	Efford Hampshire Lots 1 and 1A (part of site)	—	1,402,750
		—	Efford Hampshire Lot 4 (part of site)	150,999
		—	Efford Hampshire Lot 5 (part of site)	65,000
		Throckmorton Worcestershire dwelling	—	245,000
		Efford Hampshire dwelling	—	152,000
		Boxworth Cambridgeshire dwelling	—	400,000
		Bridgets Farm Martyr Worthy Hampshire (small part of site)	—	760
NDPBs		None	—	—
Agencies		None	—	—
ISBs		None	—	—

⁽³⁾From 8 June 2001.
⁽⁴⁾The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was created on 8 June 2001.
⁽⁵⁾Part payment in respect of PFI deal.
⁽⁶⁾Payment under clawback clause from original sale in 1999–2000.



 
19 Jan 2006 : Column 1459W
 

---