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2 Feb 2006 : Column 629W—continued
IBM, Guildford
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2005, Official Report, column 2376W, on departmental transport, if her Department will make a representation to IBM to instruct its employees not to park in residential roads near the site on the Epsom road, Merrow, Guildford. [46054]
Jim Knight: Official representations have been made to IBM to gain their co-operation in asking their employees not to park in surrounding roads.
DEFRA are carrying out daily patrols in the local roads to try to identify vehicles which belong to IBM employees. Drivers or their line managers are then contacted and asked to move their vehicles even though these may be parked legally.
Marine Environment
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the protection of the marine environment. [47174]
Mr. Bradshaw:
Both I and my officials have had extensive discussions with various colleagues in other Government Departments (and also with the devolved administrations) on a range of domestic and international
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issues concerning the protection of the marine environment, not least in preparing the Government's proposals for the Marine Bill.
Protected Species
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received about the species included in the list in Schedule 9 of the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981. [46687]
Jim Knight [holding answer 30 January 2005]: The Government have undertaken a review of Part I of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as it applies to England and Wales, and sought comments on retaining Schedule 9 in its current form and making it the subject of an early review. The responses we have received as part of this review are overwhelmingly in support of the retention of Schedule 9, with some suggested additions for both Part I (animals) and Part II (plants). We will be issuing a consultation document later this year which will proposed amendments to Schedule 9, informed by these responses.
Single Farm Payment
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether farmers in Lancashire will receive the single farm payment on the original timetable. [45491]
Jim Knight: As I announced on 31 January, the Rural Payments Agency will start making full payments under the single payment scheme in February with the bulk of payments being made in March. This is in line with announcements made in January 2005, and well within the regulatory payment window, which runs from 1 December 2005 to 30 June 2006.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what dates the UK Government received funds for the Single Farm Payment from the EU. [47981]
Jim Knight: Common Agricultural Policy funding is reimbursed by the European Commission two months after the end of the month in which the payments to claimants are made. No funds for the Single Payment Scheme have therefore been received.
Water Supplies
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure safe and sufficient water supplies in the south-east. [47594]
Mr. Morley: Water companies have statutory duties with regard to water supply and have produced drought and water resource plans in liaison with the Environment Agency. Under the Water Act 2003, these plans are now being made statutory. We have asked the Environment Agency to monitor and report on the developing drought in the south-east.
Woodland
Gregory Barker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she
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has to use native woodland creation to tackle (a) habitat fragmentation, (b) flooding and (c) climate change. [47168]
Jim Knight: Our statement of policy for England's ancient and native woodlands Keepers of Time" which we published last year sets out a number of strategic objectives which include the creation of new native woodland to extend, link arid complement existing woodland and other habitats. It also sets the objective of increasing the recognition and use of 'environmental services' which native woodland can provide, for example flood alleviation and pollution mitigation.
The England forestry strategy review and the review of the UK climate change programme are looking at how existing policies are performing and the range of polices that might be put in place in the future.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much woodland has been created in each year since 1995; and how much of this is broadleaved. [47171]
Jim Knight: The area of new woodland creation in England comes principally from the area of Forestry Commission grant aided planting and new woodland planting on the public forest estate. In addition a relatively small area is planted without grant aid and this is assumed to be entirely broadleaved. The total area created with and without incentives is given in the following table.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to increase woodland cover in England. [47172]
Jim Knight: Our target is to create 30,000 hectares of new woodland over the seven-year period, 2000–06, of the England rural development programme. In the period 1 January 2000–31 December 2005, 28,262 hectares of new woodland has been planted.
The successor to the current programme is being developed and a public consultation document will be published soon. New woodland creation is expected to remain a feature of the programme but at this stage we do not have a target area.
The revised England forestry strategy and the revision of the UK biodiversity action plan native woodland creation target are both expected to be published later this year and will provide more details of our plans for woodland cover in England.
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Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to encourage farmers to plant trees. [47166]
Jim Knight: Incentives to promote the planting of trees in England are part of the Forestry Commission's English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) which combines and replaces incentives for the establishment of new woodland that were available under the Commission's Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS) and Defra's Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (FWPS). Defra's Environmental Stewardship Scheme will build on past achievements by providing incentives for small-scale tree planting.
In addition to these England-wide schemes there are various regional and local initiatives aimed at increasing tree cover; notably the National Forest in the Midlands and the 12 Community Forest partnerships based close to urban areas.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of England is covered by ancient woodland; and what steps she has taken to halt its decline. [47169]
Jim Knight: In June last year I launched Keepers of Time: a statement policy for England's ancient and native woodland", which at around 340,000 hectares makes up just under 3 per cent. of our land area.
Our vision is that ancient woodlands, veteran trees and other native woodlands are adequately protected, sustainably managed in a wider landscape context, and are providing a wide range of social, environmental and economic benefits to society.
The Action Plan for 2005–07, which accompanied the policy statement, set out a broad range of actions aimed at achieving our strategic objectives, which includes halting the decline.
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