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13 Jun 2006 : Column 1058W—continued
Dr. Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are committed to encouraging the most sustainable forms of biofuels for emissions savings as well as for security of supply reasons. That is why we announced in November 2005 that we will introduce a Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation in April 2008 which will require all suppliers of transport fuels in the UK to ensure that a certain percentage of their total annual sales is made up of biofuels (or, in the longer term, some other renewable transport fuel).
The level of the obligation will rise from 2.5 per cent. in the financial year 2008-09 to 3.75 per cent. in 2009-10 and 5 per cent. in 2010-11. These levels will deliver a significant increase on current sales and will mean that by 2010 the vast majority of UK forecourts will be supplying renewable fuels in the form of biodiesel and bioethanol. The RTFO will deliver real environmental benefits and is projected to save around 1 million tonnes of carbon by 2010.
Bovine Tuberculosis
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent advice he has received on ways to improve the efficiency of testing cattle for bovine tuberculosis. [76330]
Mr. Bradshaw: The single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) test is a well-established screening test for TB in cattle and the primary tool for live testing in Great Britain.
The SICCT is approved and recognised by the EU Commission and the International Animal Health Organisation (OIE) as the primary tool for the diagnosis of TB in cattle and other species, by virtue of its overall accuracy, robustness and relative simplicity. This has been demonstrated in several field evaluations conducted throughout the world.
The accuracy of any test is measured in terms of its specificity (proportion of uninfected animals identified as negative) and its sensitivity (proportion of infected animals detected as positive). The specificity for a correctly performed SICCT is above 99 per cent. Its sensitivity is between 77 per cent. and 95 per cent.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure adequate numbers of veterinary surgeons are available to test herds for bovine TB. [76331]
Mr. Bradshaw: We recognise the importance of ensuring sufficient resources are available to carry out bovine TB testing. My officials closely monitor the situation and meet regularly with the veterinary profession.
Last year the Government introduced legislation under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 to enable technical staff in the State Veterinary Service to carry out TB tests. A pilot study into lay TB testing is due to conclude shortly. We will consult the veterinary profession and other interested parties on the results and any proposals to extend lay testing.
End-of-Life Vehicles
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps the Environment Agency has taken to implement the end-of-life vehicle legislation; [75656]
(2) how many operators have been prosecuted due to failure to apply for a site licence for storing and treating end-of-life vehicles. [75658]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has transposed the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC) through the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2635) and the End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/263). DEFRA has responsibility for Part VII of the 2003 Regulations, on the keeping and treatment of waste motor vehicles, and these provisions are enforced by the Environment Agency (EA) in England and Wales.
All facilities treating un-depolluted end-of-life vehicles are required to have a permit, a condition of which is that the site in question must meet the minimum technical standards set down in Schedule 5 to the Regulations.
There are currently around 1,100 ‘Authorised Treatment Facilities’ for ELVs. The EA has worked closely with DEFRA, DTI and the vehicle dismantling sector to produce practical treatment guidance. Sites that hold the necessary site licence are inspected by the EA to ensure that they meet required standards. The EA also investigates sites thought to be handling vehicles illegally.
In 2004, the EA took forward 15 prosecutions for offences involving the keeping or treatment of ELVs. The figure for 2005 was 30. There have been 13 in the first five months of 2006. These are cases where ELVs were the main, or a significant proportion of, the waste being handled illegally.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidelines have been issued by his Department to authorised treatment facilities licensed to store and treat end-of-life vehicles. [75657]
Mr. Bradshaw: ‘Guidance for Authorised Treatment Facilities’, a booklet providing guidance on de-polluting end-of-life vehicles, has been issued by the Department and is available from:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/elvehicledir.htm
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will list the operators in North Devon who have been issued with a licence for storing and treating end-of-life vehicles. [75659]
Mr. Bradshaw: The operators in North Devon who have been issued with a licence for storing and treating end-of-life vehicles are listed in the following table.
| Company name (licence holder) | Address |
|
Pathfields Business Park, Quicks Close, Hacche Lane, South Molton, Devon | |
|
Esau's Vehicle Dismantlers, Mr. A. J. Esau and Mr. P. L. Cridge | |
In order to treat end-of-life vehicles, licensed sites also need to meet the requirements of the End-of-Life Vehicle Regulations 2003. To do this they need to have the necessary infrastructure in place to be an authorised treatment facility (ATF). The Environment Agency inspects and approves such facilities under these Regulations. At present only those sites listed below are both licensed and authorised to treat end-of-life vehicles.
| Company name (licence holder) | Address |
There are a number of sites in North Devon that are registered as exempt from the requirement to have a waste management licence under paragraph 45 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended). This exemption allows for the storage of dry ferrous and non-ferrous metals and storage of depolluted end-of-life vehicles. It does not allow for the storage and treatment of un-depolluted vehicles for which a licence would be required.
Export Health Certificates
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of export health certificates have been granted within agreed timeframes in each year since 1997. [76340]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The state veterinary service (SVS) only holds reliable and accessible figures for the period from January to April 2006. Applications for export
certificates need to be made 10 working days before export. The following table shows the SVS success rate for timely applications:
| Success rate (percentage) | |
This compares favourably with the SVS's target of processing 95 per cent. of timely applications within the agreed time frame.
Poultry Keepers
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many keepers of poultry with flocks of fewer than 50 there are; and what estimate he has made of how many chickens this represents. [76176]
Mr. Bradshaw: The June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture for 2005 shows that there are approximately 21,000 registered poultry holdings in England with fewer than 50 birds. This represents approximately 350,000 chickens, or 0.3 per cent. of the national flock.
These figures only represent poultry kept on registered holdings in England. There are likely to be a significant number of poultry keepers with fewer than 50 birds that are kept on unregistered holdings, including domestic premises. No estimate is available for unregistered keepers.
Recycling
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to increase the level of recycling; and what additional resources will be granted to (a) local authorities and (b) the Waste Resources Action Plan to achieve this. [76043]
Mr. Bradshaw: The review of England’s Waste Strategy, due to be published later this year, will put forward a range of measures to build on recent improvements in recycling. The proposed target increases for household waste recycling are 40 per cent. by 2010, 45 per cent. by 2015 and 50 per cent. by 2020.
Local authorities’ main source of funding for waste management is the environmental, protective and cultural services (EPCS) block of the revenue support grant, distributed by central Government each year. In the last Spending Review (SR2004) the Government announced an increase in the EPCS block of £888 million by 2007-08 over 2004-05. A further £260 million through the waste performance and efficiency grant and £535 million in private finance initiative credits were also made available by 2007-08.
For 2006-07, the Waste Resources and Action Plan (WRAP) has been allocated £10.8 million for market development work, £40 million under the Waste Implementation Programme (to divert biodegradable municipal waste from landfill), £9 million under the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme and £5.5 million under the Aggregate Sustainable Levy Fund.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will amend local authority league tables on recycling to give greater weight to waste minimisation. [76687]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 12 June 2006]: Local authorities are assessed against a number of indicators on household waste which include the percentage sent for recycling or composting and the total weight collected per head. The Audit Commission publishes information on local authority performance against these indicators each year. This is available from the Audit Commission website:
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/performance/data provision.asp
Currently, there is no local authority statutory performance standard for waste minimisation. However, as part of the review of England’s Waste Strategy, Defra is looking at what levels and what forms of targets and indicators will, in the longer-term, be the most efficient at continuing the recent improvements we have seen in waste performance. The review will take into account existing policies designed to make waste management more sustainable, and consider how best to present information on local authority waste performance, consistent with sustainable waste management objectives.
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of (a) plastic and (b) glass bottles were recycled in each of the last five years. [75564]
Mr. Bradshaw: Each year the Department publishes its Packaging Data Note (which can be found on the Defra website), giving the overall tonnages of all glass and plastic packaging waste recycled each year. These are shown in the following tables.
| Glass packaging waste recycled | |
| Tonnes | |
| Plastic packaging waste recycled | |
| Tonnes | |
2005 figures are subject to confirmation. It is estimated that of the total amount of glass packaging waste recycled in 2004, approximately 75 per cent. were glass bottles. Of the total amount of plastic packaging waste recycled, about 10 per cent. is estimated to have been plastic bottles.
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005 place an obligation on producers who put packaging on the market to recover and recycle packaging waste. The packaging targets increase each year and we expect the amount of glass and plastic packaging waste (including bottles) recycled to also increase.
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