| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
3 Mar 2006 : Column 1016W—continued
Single Farm Payment
Mr. Fraser:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the interest which has accumulated
3 Mar 2006 : Column 1017W
from the funds allocated for single farm payments which have not yet been paid; and what the interest will be used for. [52486]
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 have therefore been received in respect of payments under the Single Payment Scheme that have not yet been made and no interest has therefore accumulated.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farms to date have received the correct single farm payment from the Rural Payments Agency; and on what date she expects all farmers in England to have received full payment. [52526]
Jim Knight: RPA made the first Single Payment Scheme payments to farmers and growers in England on 20 February. It remains on track to complete the bulk of payments by the end of March 2006.
I expect all payments will be made well within the regulatory payment window which runs until 30 June 2006.
Spending Review (Efficiency Targets)
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much is expected to be saved as a result of meeting the Civil Service workforce reductions targets for her Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review; and whether these savings count towards the agreed efficiency target for her Department set out in the Review. [52802]
Jim Knight: Defra has a target to achieve financial efficiencies of £610 million by March 2008, of which more than 60 per cent. are planned to be cash-releasing. Within the same timeframe, Defra will reduce the size of its workforce by 2,400. The financial savings arising from this workforce reduction will count towards the cash-releasing target though it is not possible to confirm the precise level at this stage.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the agreed efficiency target for her Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review is to be cashable; and under what budget headings these cashable efficiency savings will be re-spent. [52824]
Jim Knight:
Defra has a target to deliver £610 million financial efficiencies by March 2008. Over 60 per cent. of these are planned to be cash-releasing. They arise from two broad areas. First, Defra identified £226 million of cashable savings. These have been recycled to meet (i) requirements under the Department's 5 Year Strategy for which we were unsuccessful in gaining additional funding in SR04, such as some elements of the climate change and sustainable development programmes, and (ii) other priority pressures such as bovine TB and diffuse water pollution.
3 Mar 2006 : Column 1018W
The second area relates to local authorities, which have a target to deliver at least £149 million cashable savings through improved management of environmental services. Each local authority is free to determine how the resources it releases will be used.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the target level of employment expressed as full-time equivalents is in her Department by April 2008, in order to meet her Department's Civil Service workforce reductions target set out in the 2004 Spending Review. [52843]
Jim Knight: The target level for staff in post in April 2008 for DEFRA and its Executive Agencies (excluding non-departmental public bodies) is 11,250.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what total efficiency savings were achieved by her Department in 2004–05; and whether these count towards the agreed efficiency target for her Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review. [52866]
Jim Knight: DEFRA achieved efficiency savings of £114.6 million in 2004–05. Apart from efficiencies of £6.5 million arising from one-off procurement activities, these savings count towards the overall efficiency target of £610 million to be achieved by March 2008.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what interim targets she has set for achieving (a) the agreed efficiency target for her Department and (b) the Civil Service workforce reductions targets for (i) gross reductions in posts, (ii) net reductions in posts and (iii) relocations for her Department, as set out in the 2004 Spending Review; what the baseline figures are against which these interim targets are assessed; on what dates they will take effect; and by what dates these interim targets are intended to be met. [52912]
Jim Knight: DEFRA does not have interim efficiency targets. The Department's efficiency portfolio is made up of a number of programmes and projects that will deliver efficiencies at various times in the 2004 Spending Review period. DEFRA's Efficiency Technical Note, which is available on-line (www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/busplan/efficiencynote-0511.pdf), describes our plans for meeting efficiency targets. We have developed a trajectory based on key milestones from the component parts of the efficiency portfolio and use this to monitor progress towards financial, workforce and relocation targets.
Travelling Circuses
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received since 1997 from (a) individuals and (b) organisations on the welfare of animals in travelling circuses; and when the Department last (i) commissioned and (ii) evaluated research on the welfare of animals in travelling circuses. [54633]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The Department has received a range of representations on this issue from both individuals and organisations. We have considered the findings of various research projects, but have not commissioned any directly.
3 Mar 2006 : Column 1019W
Vandalism
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the acts of vandalism which have been perpetrated (a) inside and (b) on the outside of her Department's buildings in the last 12 months. [49506]
Jim Knight:
Incidences of vandalism to my Department's buildings across the estate are very rare. Over the last 12 months there have been few, and those that have occurred, have been limited to trivial acts of graffiti or minor vandalism to fixtures and fittings. A list of individual incidents is not recorded centrally.
3 Mar 2006 : Column 1020W
CABINET OFFICE
Departmental Property
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what properties are held by his Department; and what the (a) square footage and (b) purpose to which the property is being put is in each case. [55798]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The properties held by the Cabinet Office, their Net Internal Area and the purpose for which the properties are being used are shown in the following table.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |