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Herdwick Indigenous Sheep Flock

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding her Department has made available for the protection of the Herdwick indigenous sheep flock in each year since 1997. [67481]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 3 May 2006]: In 2001, Defra granted £10,000 to create the Heritage Gene Bank which was set up to preserve semen and embryos from breeds considered to be at-risk due to the FMD outbreak of the time. The Herdwick was one of those breeds considered to be at-risk because the majority of
 
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its breeding population were in or near to areas heavily affected by FMD.

Defra recognises the need to have a long term view on managing the genetic health of our livestock breeding population and the need for a co-ordinated effort to support initiatives that will encourage the characterisation, conservation and utilisation of our livestock genetic resources—which includes rare, mainstream and heritage livestock breeds. The National Steering Committee for Farm Animal Genetic Resources is about to report to Ministers with a national action plan to identify what the Government, industry stakeholders and other organisations can do to improve the management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources and this plan will help inform our future policy in this area.

Import of Seal Skins Regulations

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the operation of the Import of Seal Skins Regulations 1996. [66879]

Jim Knight: The Import of Seal Skins Regulations 1996 prohibit the commercial importation of skins (and other listed products) of White coat, Harp and Blueback Hooded seal pups, as required by European Council Directive 83/129/EEC (as amended). These Regulations are enforced at the border by HM Revenue and Customs.

Fisheries

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much money the Moroccan Army has received from the issuing of fishing licences in Western Sahara under the last EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement; how much it is expected to receive under the currentlyproposed agreement; and if she will make a statement. [67176]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Department does not hold this information.

Television Disposal

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of analogue televisions which will be sent to landfill as a result of switching off the analogue television signal; and what steps she is taking to find means by which televisions can be reused or recycled. [67765]

Mr. Bradshaw: Digital switchover does not require any equipment to be thrown away. However, as the regulatory impact assessment on the timing of digital switchover acknowledges, there may be a temporary acceleration in the disposal of some secondary televisions that people choose not to adapt after switchover in each region. In light of this, Defra and the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) have jointly commissioned the Market Transformation Programme to establish and quantify any changes in patterns of disposal of consumer equipment, including televisions, due to digital switchover. This project is due to report in June.
 
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Televisions disposed of following digital switchover will be subject to regulations implementing the EU Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which aims to prevent electronic and electrical waste and promote reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery in order to reduce the amount of such waste going to landfill. The directive requires producers, or those acting on their behalf, to set up systems for treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE.

Transposition of the majority of the WEEE directive is the responsibility of the DTI. However, Defra is drawing up regulations amending the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, to transpose the treatment-permitting requirements of article 6 of the directive. Defra also intend to introduce exemptions from the need to obtain a waste management licence for those storing waste electrical equipment prior to its recovery and those repairing such equipment to promote its reuse.

These regulations will help ensure that less waste electrical equipment ends up in landfill. They will also help to ensure that more of it is either reused or recycled in an environmentally sound manner.

The DTI plan to consult on the draft regulations and accompanying guidance later this spring.

Water Conservation/Resources

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to use the planning system to promote water conservation; and if she will make a statement. [54708]

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.

The prudent use of natural resources is set out in PPS1, Delivering sustainable development"; this includes the sustainable use of water.

Water use in buildings is also related to design and installation. Consequently the promotion of water conservation can also be served through building or water regulation.

Water conservation is a key element of sustainability. We intend to regulate to increase water efficiency in new homes and will consult on proposals late this year. Proposals for water conservation are set out in the consultation paper for the Code for Sustainable Homes that was published on 6 December; the Code sets out a base line target that water used in homes should be 20 per cent. less than the current norm. The Code will have a range of performance standards with a five star rating system. Housing schemes that are publicly funded or built on sites released or assembled by Government will have to achieve a three star rating.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answers to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 28 March 2006, Official Report, columns 844–5W, on water, if she will place in the Library a copy of the (a) joint sustainability impact study, (b) incidence effects of charging for domestic water and sewerage services (DETR, June 1998) (c) cross-Government review of water affordability
 
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(DEFRA, December 2004) and (d) current 25 year water resource plan for each water company in England. [66792]

Mr. Morley: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is placing copies of (a) sustainability impacts study of additional house building scenarios in England in the House Library.

The Department is placing copies of (b) Incidence Effects of Charging for Domestic Water and Sewerage Services, and (c) the Cross-Government Review of Water Affordability in the House Library.

The Department does not hold copies of the companies' water resource plans, which are currently produced voluntarily. I will, however, place in the Library, a copy of the Environment Agency report to Ministers on those plans, Maintaining Water Supply. Summaries of plans are also available on company websites. When these plans are made statutory under the Water Act 2003, the non-commercially confidential aspects of both draft and final plans will be publicly available.

TRANSPORT

Airport Security

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 April 2006, Official Report, column 1089W, whether any of the incidents referred to were deemed to be a threat to the lives of passengers, staff or the general public. [68104]

Derek Twigg [holding answer 3 May 2006]: If an incident involves circumstances indicating that an accident nearly occurred, it is defined as a serious incident under the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 1996. Of the 43 occurrences referred to in my earlier answer, four wereeither accidents or serious incidents. All serious incidents and accidents are investigated by the Department's air accidents investigation branch. The reports of all AAIB investigations are published on their website.

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 26 April 2006, Official Report, column 1089W, how many incidents there were at each of the airports in each of the three preceding years. [68105]

Derek Twigg [holding answer 3 May 2006]: The number of incidents investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority at or in the locality of Belfast international airport, Belfast city airport and Londonderry airport in each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 is set out in the following table:

	Belfast international	Belfast city	Londonderry
2002	8	11	1
2003	115	13	3
2004	12	15	4

 
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Of these, four were accidents or serious incidents as defined in the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents and Incidents) Regulations 1996.

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