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27 Feb 2006 : Column 269W—continued
Departmental Expenditure (West Lancashire)
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding was allocated by her Department in West Lancashire for (a) capital projects and (b) revenue funding in each of the last five years and for what purposes. [45038]
Jim Knight: Expenditure information is not currently held by the Department on a constituency basis and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Chapter 8 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis shows the outturn of public expenditure by region.
Departmental Staff
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department are paid on a performance-related basis. [50518]
Jim Knight: All staff in Defra are paid on a performance-related basis.
Electric Shock Collars
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many electric shock collars have been sold in the UK over the last five years. [53228]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not hold this information.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish the outcome of the Review of Policy Framework for local authority energy efficiency activity. [51177]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 13 February 2006]: The main conclusions of the Review were carried forward in the Energy White Paper, published in 2003 and have formed the basis of Defra's activity on encouraging local authority energy activity since it's publication.
Findings of the review relating to the implementation of the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 will be used to inform the review of guidance issued to Energy Conservation Authorities which is currently under way.
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Farm Inspection Costs
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Government will reverse its policy of asking farmers in TB hotspots to pay inspection costs. [53195]
Mr. Bradshaw: No. Pre-movement testing will be introduced on 27 March following a rapid independent survey of veterinary capacity and preparedness to deliver the new policy. The policy itself is not under review, as it is widely expected to reduce the risk of spreading TB through cattle movements.
The Government continues to fund the provision of tuberculin and all routine surveillance testing at a cost of over £40 million per annum.
Single Payment Scheme
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government has made of the accuracy of the digitalised farm maps used by the Rural Payments Agency for the purpose of making single farm payments. [53194]
Jim Knight: Digital mapping data capture work is the responsibility of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), which has established a continuous quality assurance checking process. Just under a third of all land parcels currently captured or amended are being checked, with 2.2 per cent. of land parcels checked requiring amendment before a map is sent to the applicant. Thereafter applicants have an opportunity to notify RPA of any further changes required, which are processed and a new map printed.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the proportion of single payment entitlement statements which will not be validated. [52228]
Jim Knight: The Rural Payments Agency is responsible for the administration of the single payment scheme, including the issue of entitlement statements. RPA is on course to issue statements to all eligible SPS claimants by the end of February. All claims have been subject to extensive validation, enabling RPA to press ahead with the process of determining entitlement. It is too early to give a precise estimate of the proportion of statements associated with partly validated claims, although it is likely that the majority will fall into that category. RPA is aiming to complete the outstanding validation in order pay the bulk of claims by the end of March.
Forestry Commission
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Forestry Commission England spent on biodiversity work in each forest district in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005; and how much it has budgeted for biodiversity work in each district for (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008. [51870]
Jim Knight:
Total expenditure on conservation of natural heritage and enhancement of biodiversity on the public forest estate for the last two years and the current year's budget is given in the following table.
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The budget for 2006–07 and 2007–08 is being finalised and I will write to the hon. Member when this information is available. It is too early to predict the budget for 2008–09 which will be subject to the outcome of CSR07.
Green Space
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of the change in the area of privately owned urban green space over the last 10 years; and what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the change on biodiversity. [51535]
Jim Knight [holding answer 14 February 2006]: Land Use Change Statistics are published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The most recent results were published in November 2005, as Land Use Change in England to 2004: Additional Tables". These are available at:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/pub/532/LandusechangestatisticsinEnglandto2004No20AAdditionalTables_id1161532.pdf
These data show the amount of land being developed according to its past use. An average of 150 hectares a year changed from outdoor recreation to residential usage during the period 1992 to 2001. Of this, 130 hectares a year was within built-up areas. Information on whether the land involved is privately owned is not recorded, however.
My Department has not made a direct assessment of the loss of such space on biodiversity to date. But initiatives such as the new planning policy statement 9 do establish clear national policies on protection of biodiversity and geological conservation through the planning system.
Household Waste
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of waste produced in (a) Leicester and (b) England in each of the last five years was household waste. [54321]
Mr. Bradshaw:
Data on the total amount of waste arising form all sectors are not collected on an annual basis. The latest available estimate, based mainly on 2002–03 data, is that household waste is estimated to be around 9 per cent. of total UK waste. Estimate for England is likely to be around the same level. Comparable estimate for Leicester is not available.
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Incinerators
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local authorities she estimates are considering the introduction of incinerators in order to meet their landfill diversion targets. [52232]
Mr. Bradshaw: The requested information is not held centrally within Defra. Local authorities have the responsibility for managing municipal waste within their boundaries and are not required to share their proposed management systems with Defra. Once built, incinerator operators are required to operate under a licence issued by the Environment Agency.
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