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6 Feb 2006 : Column 890W—continued
Poultry Imports
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from which countries (a) untreated feathers, (b) raw poultry meat, (c) uncooked eggs and egg products and (d) live poultry and game have been imported in each of the last five years; and what quantity of each product was imported in each year. [45984]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 26 January 2006]: Details of the imports requested as recorded in the Overseas Trade Statistics are provided in the tables made available in the Library of the House.
Note that China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Pakistan and South Africa have been banned from exporting unprocessed feathers and parts of unprocessed feathers since January 2004. This is in line with the usual bans in effect on any country affected by, or suspected to have, highly pathogenic avian influenza—HPAI. Only processed feathers have been allowed to be imported from these countries since January 2004.
Sewage
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many tonnes of human sewage sludge was disposed of on (a) agricultural land and (b) by other means in each of the last five years. [47942]
Mr. Morley: The total number of dry solid tonnes of sewage sludge recycled to agricultural land and disposed of by other means in England and Wales in the years 2000–04 was as follows:
| Agriculture | Other routes | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 556,798 | 384,326 |
| 2001 | 664,685 | 365,036 |
| 2002 | 701,249 | 490,015 |
| 2003 | 802,555 | 476,781 |
| 2004 | 796,927 | 424,117 |
Note:
Under The Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989, agriculture" means the growing of all types of commercial food crops, including for stock-rearing purposes. Before being applied to agricultural land, sludge from wastewater treatment plants is treated in accordance with the Safe Sludge Matrix.
Source:
Water UK
Sustainable Building
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on Government procurement in relation to sustainable building practices. [48015]
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John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
The Government is committed to supporting sustainable building practices through best practice procurement by the public sector. The mandated 'Common Minimum Standards for the procurement of built environments in the Public Sector' (CMS), published by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), includes a sustainability standard that states:
Project and programme procurement strategies will take full account of the Government's commitment to sustainable development and of the economic, environmental and social impacts of its decisions."
The CMS and other relevant construction procurement guidance are available on the OGC website www.ogc.gov.uk
UK Food Security
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on UK food security. [46624]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Government naturally takes the issue of food security very seriously. Food security is about ensuring that consumers have access to a stable and adequate supply of food, whether domestically produced or imported. The UK has long been a net importer of food and national and international food security is best facilitated through improved trading relationships based on more open international markets and reductions in trade distorting subsidies.
Food supply is robust and resilient because of the high degree of demand and supply-side substitutability of foodstuffs. DEFRA works closely with all parts of the industry to ensure that appropriate support is provided to maintain supply throughout the chain in the event of significant disruption.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the percentage of (a) indigenous food and (b) all food consumed in the UK produced in the UK; and if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on amounts of food imported. [46625]
Mr. Bradshaw: The latest published figures for 2004 show the UK was (a) 74.2 per cent. self-sufficient in indigenous food and (b) 63.4 per cent. self-sufficient in all food. This compares with figures for 2000 of 80.3 per cent. and 66.8 per cent. respectively.
The Government naturally takes the issue of food security very seriously. Food security is about ensuring that consumers have access to a stable and adequate supply of food, whether domestically produced or imported. The UK has long been a net importer of food and national and international food security is best facilitated through improved trading relationships based on more open international markets and reductions in trade distorting subsidies.
Food supply is robust and resilient because of the high degree of demand and supply-side substitutability of foodstuffs. DEFRA works closely with all parts of the industry to ensure that appropriate support is provided to maintain supply throughout the chain in the event of significant disruption.
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Waste Management
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities provide a kerbside collection service for recyclable materials; and which separate materials are collected in each of these local authorities. [45641]
Mr. Bradshaw: All local authorities in England with responsibility for waste collection (except for the Council of the Isles of Scilly) operate some form of kerbside collection service for recyclable materials.
Local authorities have provided information in the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey. The data for 2003–04 on the materials that are collected separately for recycling is shown in the table—a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. These have been coded as:
A—paper and card, B—glass, C—compost, D—scrap metal and white goods, E—textiles, F—cans, G—plastics.
Where information from the 2003–04 survey is not available, the most recent available information prior to 2003–04 has been used. Data from the 2004–05 survey will be available in spring 2006.
Some authorities have been listed with no separate materials recycled. These authorities will normally provide a form of kerbside waste collection service which will include at least some of the materials listed, but collected in a co-mingled format.
It should be noted that many local authorities are quite active regarding their kerbside recycling services. Authorities sometimes change and update current schemes as well as introduce new schemes. In this respect, listed activity may not reflect recent changes in kerbside collection services.
Water
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the level of debt owed to water companies for non-payment of water rates; what discussions she has had with the water companies on this issue, with particular reference to the policy of non-disconnection except in extreme circumstances; and if she will make a statement. [47845]
Mr. Morley: Customer debt is primarily the responsibility of water companies to manage. Companies still have a range of means to recover payments, including through the courts. The previous power of water companies to disconnect household customers for non-payment of water bills was ended, by the Water Industry Act 1999, without any qualification concerning extreme circumstances. Water companies, in their discussions with Ministers and officials, are not pressing for the power to disconnect to be restored. I am prepared to consider any suggestions for how Government should help companies to tackle customer debt. The industry itself needs to identify and apply best practice in debt management, and I welcome companies' efforts to do so.
The responsibility for the economic regulation of the water industry rests with the Director-General of Water Services (Ofwat). Ofwat monitors companies' debt situation on an annual basis.
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The following table presents figures provided by Ofwat on the revenue outstanding to water companies by household customers. This table sets out key
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indicators for 1998–99, 2003–04 and 2004–05. It also shows the percentage changes between these years.
(24) Includes revenue written off.
Notes:
1. All numbers are rounded for ease of reference.
2. Percentage changes are derived from unrounded numbers.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the current level of the water table in the area supplying Peterborough constituency. [48144]
Mr. Morley: Peterborough's water requirements are supplied by Rutland Water whose level is currently 80 per cent. of capacity. The nearest groundwater is to the north of Peterborough where the level is 11.89 metres Above Ordnance Datum (mAOD), which is slightly above the long term average for this time of year of 11.73mAOD.
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