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30 Mar 2006 : Column 1092W—continued
Pension Liabilities
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will estimate the net present value of accrued pension liabilities in respect of (a) present and (b) former employees of her Department and its predecessors. [52118]
Bridget Prentice: The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme and individual departments' pension liabilities are not available. The Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation Resource Accounts for 2004–05 showed that the total pension liability at 31 March 2005 was £84.1 billion. The value of pension liabilities was assessed as follows.
Deferred pensions and contingent pensions for dependants in respect of members no longer contributing—£12.7 billion.
As a result of a change in the discount rate used for calculating pension liabilities with effect from 1 April 2005, the total pension liability at 1 April 2005 increased by £10.6 billion to £94.7 billion.
30 Mar 2006 : Column 1093W
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Advisory Committee on Pesticides
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the compatibility of the Department's role as the sponsoring Department for the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) with the ACP's role in offering advice to other Government Departments. [62045]
Mr. Morley: While Defra and the Health and Safety Executive provide the secretariat to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides other Government Departments are closely involved in its operation. Appointments to the Committee are made by all Ministers responsible for pesticides in Great Britain and the Committee is also appointed separately to advise Northern Ireland Ministers. An assessor from each of the responsible departments attends ACP meetings. Advice from the ACP on particular pesticide authorisations has to be approved by all the relevant Departments before it is implemented. I see no conflict in the current arrangements.
Biofuels
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in preparing for the introduction of the enhanced capital allowance for biofuels in early 2007. [59391]
Mr. Morley:
Defra has been working closely with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs in drawing up the state aid notification. As announced in the Budget report on 22 March, this has now been submitted to the European Commission. Consultants will be appointed to develop the administrative arrangements for the scheme and, in consultation with industry, to finalise the qualifying criteria and list of eligible equipment. Subject to state aid clearance, we envisage the scheme being in place in early 2007.
30 Mar 2006 : Column 1094W
Capita Group
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department have held with directors and senior executives of (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries since 1 January 2004; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have provided input (1) in writing and (2) in person to policy discussions in her Department since 1 January 2004. [61080]
Cattle Movement Service
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle movements were tracked by the British Cattle Movement Service in the last five years for which figures are available. [60369]
Jim Knight: The figures in the following table show the number of movement notifications received by the British Cattle Movement Service for each year. The actual number of animals moving would be significantly less than the annual figures quoted because both ends of the movement are required to be notified.
| Number of cattle movements notified | |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 14,147,712 |
| 2004 | 14,339,631 |
| 2003 | 13,597,790 |
| 2002 | 13,341,802 |
| 2001 | 8,928,908 |
Chicken Imports
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what change there has been in the level of imports of chicken in the last three months. [61560]
Mr. Bradshaw: The most recent trade statistics currently available are for January 2006, February data is expected to be available around 17 April. During the last three months available, the import level for chicken has remained steady at around 40,000 tonnes per calendar month.
Note:
Data prepared by Trade statistics, Food Chain Analysis 3, DEFRA. 2005 and 2006 data is subject to change.
Source:
H M Revenue and Customs
30 Mar 2006 : Column 1095W
Coastal and Market Towns Initiative
Angela Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total budget is for the Coastal and Market Towns Initiative (a) to final report stage and (b) for the implementation stage beyond final report. [61603]
Jim Knight [holding answer 27 March 2006]: For towns currently engaged in the South West Coastal and Market Towns Initiative, the average award up to plan production has been approximately £45,000 per town.
The addition of the implementation stage is a new development introduced by the Market and Coastal Towns Association during the last year. It provides additional support of between £5,000 and £10,000 per town. It is likely that towns coming into the initiative from the next financial year onwards will be awarded £25,000 to complete their plan, as well as consultancy support of approximately £10,000 to complete their implementation stage. This reduction in overall costs will be achieved through the better targeting of effort and resources as a result of the lessons learned from previous years.
Angela Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list towns in Devon engaged in the Coastal and Market Towns Initiative; and which have completed the process and produced a final report. [61604]
Jim Knight [holding answer 27 March 2006]: There are 20 Devon towns currently engaged in the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative. They are as follows:
Seventeen towns have completed and published their community strategic plan (final report). Honiton has just completed a draft plan and anticipate publishing a final version in May 2006. Lynton and Lynmouth expect to publish their plan in June 2006, and Tiverton aim to publish theirs in September 2006.
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