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Sex Offenders

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons on the Sex Offenders Register in Northern Ireland have re-offended whilst on licence in each of the last five years. [81810]

Mr. Hanson: Probation Board for Northern Ireland have responsibility for the post-release supervision of persons subject to life licences and sex offender licences. Of the 17 persons released in the last five years who are subject to a life licence or sex offender licence, and who are also subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, one person has been reconvicted.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons on the Sex Offenders Register in Northern Ireland on licence have had their licence revoked in each of the last five years. [81811]

Mr. Hanson: Probation Board for Northern Ireland have responsibility for the post-release supervision of persons subject to life licences and sex offender licences. In the last five years, three offenders on sex offender licences who were also subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 were returned to prison for breach of licence conditions, two in 2001 and one in 2002. There have been no licences revoked in any of the last five yearsin respect of those subject to a life licence or sex offender licence who are also subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Victims March (Dublin)

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 5 July 2006, Official Report, column 1187W, on the Victims March (Dublin), what assurances he sought from Ministers of the Irish Republic (a) about the safety of Northern Ireland citizens while in Dublin in the future and (b) regarding the prosecution of people identified as being involved in the attacks upon citizens of Northern Ireland in Dublin on 25 February 2006. [84760]

Mr. Hain: This was an unfortunate but isolated incident. I understand 41 people were arrested during the disorder that occurred on 25 February: the decision to prosecute is a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The safety of Northern Ireland citizens, whether in Dublin or Belfast or anywhere else, remains paramount for me and of course I discussed this and keep in touch with Ministers of the Irish Republic.

Westminster Election (Expenditure)

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on the running of the 2001 Westminster election in Northern Ireland. [19580]

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Mr. Hanson: The spend in relation to the parliamentary general election held on 7 June 2001 in Northern Ireland was £1.65 million.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Abandoned Cars

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abandoned cars were recorded in each local authority in England in each year since 1997. [82909]

Mr. Bradshaw: Numbers of abandoned vehicles for each local authority were primarily collected from 2000-01 to 2003-04 from the Defra Municipal Waste Management Survey and from WasteDataFlow in 2004-05. Results from authorities that responded have been placed in the Library of the House. Numbers were not collected prior to 2000-01 and results for 2005-06 are not yet available.

Air Quality

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will visit the London borough of Bexley to discuss air quality with residents. [85990]

Mr. Bradshaw: There are no plans at present to visit the London borough of Bexley.

Carbon Islands

Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research he has evaluated on carbon islands as a preventive measure for climate change. [84744]

Ian Pearson: I understand carbon islands to mean the production of biomass grown by hydroponics on artificial islands in tropical seas. My Department has not evaluated any research on this idea as a way to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Energy Efficiency

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets have been set for Government departments’ consumption of (a) gas, (b) electricity and (c) all power from renewable sources. [82420]

Ian Pearson: On 12 June the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (David Miliband) announced new sustainable operations targets for the Government estate. They replace the previous targets in the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate, and will drive improvements in the way Departments’ manage their land and buildings sustainably.

These new commitments do not set a separate target for gas and electricity consumption on the Government estate. Instead Government have set targets on overall energy efficiency, carbon emissions and carbon
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neutrality, all of which will apply from April 2006. A table of the new targets follows as annex A. In addition, the existing commitment that Government Departments should source at least 10 per cent. of their electricity from renewables will remain in place until 2008.

Departmental performance against Government estate targets, including carbon emissions and energy efficiency, has been published in annual Sustainable Development in Government Reports. The last report, produced by the Sustainable Development Commission, the independent watchdog, was in December 2005. It covered the reporting period April 2004 to March 2005 and is available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/watchdog.

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Annex A: Targets for sustainable operations on the Government estate( 1)
Priority area	Targets
Climate change and energy
Carbon emissions from offices	Reverse the current upward trend in carbon emissions by April 2007
	Reduce carbon emissions by 12.5 per cent. by 2010-11, relative to 1999-2000 levels
	Reduce carbon emissions by 30 per cent. by 2020, relative to 1999-2000 levels
Carbon emissions from road vehicles	Reduce carbon emissions from road vehicles used for Government administrative operations by 15 per cent. by 2010-11, relative to 2005-06 levels
Carbon neutral	Central Government’s office estate to be carbon neutral by 2012
Energy efficiency	Departments to increase their energy efficiency per m2 by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000 levels.
	Departments to increase their energy efficiency per m2 by 30 per cent. by 2020, relative to 1999-2000 levels
Sustainable consumption and production
Waste arisings	Departments to reduce their waste arisings by 5 per cent. by 2010, relative to 2004-05 levels
	Departments to reduce their waste arisings by 25 per cent. by 2020, relative to 2004-05
Recycling	Departments to increase their recycling figures to 40 per cent. of their waste arisings by 2010
	Departments to increase their recycling figures to 75 per cent. of their waste arisings by 2020
Natural resource protection
Biodiversity	Departments to meet or exceed the aim of having 95 per cent. of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s) in sole ownership or control in target condition by 2010
Water consumption	Reduce water consumption by 25 per cent. on the office and non-office estate by 2020, relative to 2004-05 levels
	Reduce water consumption to an average of 3m(3) per person/year for all new office builds or major office refurbishments
Government to mandate	Departments to adopt the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management Programme—involves the proactive management to the risks and opportunities relating to climate change mitigation
	The application of BRE’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) excellent standards, or equivalent, to all new builds and major refurbishments
	Accepted elements from the Sustainable Procurement Task Force National Action Plan
	OGC’s Property Benchmarking Scheme—aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate estate management
	All Departments to have Environmental Management Systems based, or modelled upon, a recognised system
	Data collection and reporting—identification of core data to be reported against the new targets
	All Departments to encourage staff to take an active role in volunteering in the community
	All Departments to conduct sustainability appraisals of office relocations
Existing Sustainable Operational Commitments (to continue until completion)	Departments to source at least-10 per cent. of-electricity from renewables (31 March 2008)
	Departments to source at least 15 per cent. of electricity from Combined Heat and Power (2010)
(1) Vision for the Government estate A sustainably managed estate which is: modern, resource efficient, with low energy buildings; well conserved and managed land; efficient use of space and ways of working; and where the principles of sustainable development are embedded into our working practices. Note: The above sustainable operational targets to apply for the reporting period April 2006-March 2007

Environmental Directives

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) letters of warning, (b) infringement notices and (c) prosecutions have been instigated by the European Commission against his Department since May 1997 in relation to environmental directives, including failure to meet transposition dates; and what the circumstances were of each case. [84963]

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Ian Pearson: Defra was created in June 2001. Between 1 June 2001 and 30 June 2006 the Department was the lead Department for 60 environmental infringement proceedings initiated by the European Commission. The following table lists these by year:

	Number
1 June to 31 December 2001	10
2002	7
2003	20
2004	12
2005	4
2006	7

A member state can be infracted for a number of different reasons falling into the following categories: late transposition, poor transposition and implementation issues. The infraction procedure begins with an initial pre-litigation stage, during which the Commission issues first a letter of formal notice (article 226 letter).

A list of all infringements, including environmental ones, initiated by the European Commission against the UK can be found on the European Commission website at:

http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/eulaw/index_en.htm-infractions

Greenhouse Emissions

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms exist to ensure the accuracy of (a) national and (b) international reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. [85231]

Ian Pearson: Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol are required to submit Greenhouse Gas Inventories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) every year. These inventories are compiled using methodologies devised by the International Panel on Climate Change and agreed by the UNFCCC. Once submitted, the inventories are scrutinised by international experts to ensure their completeness and accuracy.

In the UK, inventory data are subject to an audited quality control and assurance programme. This ensures that the data sources are reliable and quality checked, that the choice of methodologies is transparent, and that data are consistent over time, complete, comparable, and assessed for uncertainties. When required, methodological changes are made to take account of new data sources, new guidance fromthe IPCC, relevant work by other international organisations, new research, or specific research programmes sponsored by Defra. Such improvements to the methodology are applied retrospectively to ensure a consistent time series of emissions.

Defra periodically tests the accuracy of key source sector estimates in the national inventory by undertaking independent peer review. Reviews completed to date include carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and agriculture. Defra also funds independent verification of the reliability of the emissions estimates by combining measurements of the concentrations of selected greenhouse gases at Mace Head in Ireland and a model of atmospheric transport developed by the Met Office.

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Methyl Bromide

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in the UK towards the Montreal Protocol aim of phasing out the use of methyl bromide. [84511]

Ian Pearson: Under the Montreal Protocol, methyl bromide use was phased out in developed countries from 2005, except for quarantine and pre-shipment purposes, and critical uses agreed by the parties to the Protocol and (in the EU) licensed by the European Commission.

In 2006, agreed UK critical uses amount to up to33 tonnes. This shows a significant downward trend of less than half the previous amount licensed for 2005 (some 70 tonnes). 2006 is the last year that methyl bromide will be used by the agricultural sector in soil. UK nominations of 11 tonnes for critical uses in 2007 continue the downward trend.

Methyl bromide is an ozone depleting substance and the Government's policy is to support further critical uses only where lack of availability would cause significant market disruption and there are no technical or economically feasible alternatives.

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department (a) provides assistance for and (b) promotes the development of alternatives to (i) sulphuric acid in the cultivation of potatoes and (ii) methyl bromide as a pesticide in agriculture. [84512]

Ian Pearson: The Department does not generally seek to find alternatives to specific uses of chemicals such as those listed, since this is a matter for the industry sectors concerned. However, it is funding a small number of projects, some jointly with industry, on the development of alternatives to methyl bromide, particularly in the horticulture sector.

Additionally, our pesticides research and development programme includes alternative crop protection technologies projects which aim to support Government policy directed at the minimisation of conventional chemical pesticide use. Defra's Pesticides Safety Directorate administers a research budget of about £5.5 million per year, of which over £1 million is applied to support this objective.

Radioactive Waste

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent on 16 June 2006 to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on the future of Nirex and policy on the management of radioactive waste. [84951]

Ian Pearson: No. It is inappropriate to place private ministerial correspondence in the Library of the House.

However, it might be helpful to explain and put into context the current role of Nirex in the management of radioactive waste.

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Responsibility for securing the safety of the public and the environment rests with the independent regulators—the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the environment agencies (the Environment Agency, EA, in England and Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, SEPA, in Scotland).

The nuclear operators are required to demonstrate to the regulators that the risks to the public and the environment from their activities, including the management of radioactive waste, are reduced to as low as reasonably practicable. In support of their safety cases for packaging and disposal of radioactive waste, the operators may seek advice from Nirex.

Nirex is not a regulator. It is a company that is jointly owned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that advises nuclear site operators on the preparation of the industry's safety case submissions to the regulators for the conditioning and packaging of waste.

It is the independent regulators who take decisions on the acceptability of waste conditioning and packaging safety cases submitted to them. The environment agencies have teams that scrutinise Nirex's contribution to the safety case process. It is regulators who are responsible for applying and determiningthe statutory safety requirements of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1993.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is the strategic UK-wide body with responsibility for securing the clean up and decommissioning of public sector nuclear liabilities and the treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials including radioactive waste. It is the owner of most of the UK's radioactive waste.

The majority of Nirex's current funding—over90 per cent.—comes from a contract with the NDA. The remainder comes through an agreement withthe Ministry of Defence (MoD). The company also receives payment from nuclear site operators for supply of their waste conditioning and packaging advice.

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