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Organic Meat
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the measures in place to prevent farmers labelling their meat as organic without complying with UK and EU regulations; how many farmers were found to be doing so in each year since 1997; what action was taken against them; what recent discussions the Government have had with the certification bodies for the organic sector on preventing such action; and if he will make a statement. [88601]
Ian
Pearson: Anyone who produces an organic agricultural
product, or processes or imports an agricultural product for human
consumption or animal feed, must be certified by an approved organic
certification body. These bodies can sanction against breaches of the
organic standards. However, they do not enforce action against
uncertified production that
claims to be organic. The enforcement of the Organic Product Regulations
rests with the relevant local
authority.
The Department has regular contact with Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) in order to ensure that the regulations are effectively implemented. The Department does not keep statistics on the enforcement of the labelling part of the UK and EU Organic Regulations. Anyone who suspects the provenance of an organic product are encouraged to report the matter to their local trading standards office to investigate.
Research Establishments
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of Government research establishments funded by his Department are located in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland. [88862]
Mr. Bradshaw: The three DEFRA laboratory agencies, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) each have their headquarters and main laboratory facilities in England. The VLA also has 15 regional laboratories, of which one is in Scotland, two in Wales and 12 in England.
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) office management and services staff and (b) scientific staff are employed at each public sector research establishment funded by his Department. [88863]
Mr. Bradshaw: The information for the three DEFRA laboratory agencies, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) is as follows:
| Agency | Scientists (including veterinarians) | Management and administration | Total staff |
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to implement the recommendations of the Final Report of the Research Council Institute and Public Sector Research Establishment Sustainability Study Steering Group. [88864]
Mr.
Bradshaw: DEFRA is in discussions with the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council on a Memorandum of
Understanding to agree a framework for putting the principles of the
Research Council Institute and Public Sector Research Establishment
Sustainability Study (RIPSS) into practice. Issues around capital
investment and risk in the context of DEFRA’s ownership of its
three laboratory agencies are being taken forward through
the Department’s Laboratory Strategy Programme. The other RIPSS
recommendations, insofar as they apply to DEFRA, have been implemented
or reflect existing
practice.
Rural Payments Agency
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when meetings were held between Ministers from her Department and (a) the chief executive of the Rural Payments Agency, (b) members of the senior management team of the Rural Payments Agency and (c) Accenture since January 2003; and which Ministers were present. [66745]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 27 April 2006]: DEFRA Ministers have met with the RPA chief executive, members of his senior management team and Accenture on a regular basis, including at single payment scheme stakeholder meetings. The Minister for Sustainable Farming and Food, and on occasion the Secretary of State, met with the RPA chief executive and/or his senior management team to specifically discuss matters related to the SPS on the following dates:
17 May 2005
30 June 2005
19 July 2005
27 July 2005
13 September 2005
29 September 2005
4 October 2005
5 October 2005
13 October 2005
20 October 2005
8 November 2005
11 November 2005
1 December 2005
16 December 2005
10 January 2006
30 January 2006
6 February 2006
14 March 2006
22 March 2006
28 March 2006
29 March 2006
5 April 2006
11 April 2006
12 April 2006
18 April 2006
19 April 2006
25 April 2006
4 May 2006
8 May 2006
10 May 2006
17 May 2006
24 May 2006
31 May 2006
7 June 2006
20 June 2006
21 June 2006
12 July 2006
Separate ministerial meetings involving Accenture were held on 12 May 2006, 26 July 2005 and 16 December 2005.
Dates of meetings prior to the general election in May 2005 are not readily available.
Single Farm Payments
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much it has cost to implement the subsidy system for the Single Farm Payment scheme. [76216]
Barry Gardiner: The total cost of implementing the Single Payment scheme (SPS) in England, including associated business processes and systems, was £105.4 million. This expenditure includes the cost of establishing entitlements; processing, validating, inspecting, paying and accounting for claims; populating new rural land and customer registers; creating a document management unit and communicating with customers via scheme literature, seminars and advertising. These systems will underpin the delivery of SPS and other schemes to 2012 and beyond.
The SPS 2005 scheme year payments In England amount to around £1,515 million (net of modulation).
SSSIs
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many sites of special scientific interest there are in England; and if he will make a statement. [89052]
Barry Gardiner: Currently, there are 4,120 sites of special scientific interest in England covering 1,074,216 hectares of land.
Sustainable Food and Farming
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of his Department’s sustainable food and farming research budget has been spent in research establishments based in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [88860]
Mr. Bradshaw: The proportion expressed as percentages of the Department’s sustainable farming and food research spent in research establishments i.e. research institutes in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland is given in the following table.
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of his Department’s research and development budget has been spent on research establishments based in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [88861]
Mr. Bradshaw: The proportion expressed as percentages of the Department’s research and development budget for research establishments i.e. research institutes in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland is shown in the following table.
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Waste Collection
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much (a) garden and (b) kitchen waste was collected by local authorities in each year since 2000; [87160]
(2) what assessment he has made of the barriers to the use of (a) home composters for garden waste and (b) food waste digesters for kitchen waste; [87161]
(3) what estimate he has made of the level of use of (a) home composters for garden waste and (b) food waste digesters for kitchen waste; [87162]
(4) what his policy is on the use of (a) home composters for garden waste and (b) food waste digesters for kitchen waste. [87163]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answers 24 July 2006]: Local authorities in England collected an estimated 798 thousand tonnes of organic material (kitchen and garden waste) for composting in 2000-01, 940 thousand tonnes in 2001-02, 1.2 million tonnes in 2002-03 and 1.4 million tonnes in 2003-04. It is provisionally estimated that this has increased to around two million tonnes in 2004-05. This organic waste is collected for centralised composting schemes from households via kerbside schemes or taken by householders to Civic Amenity sites.
Composting is high up the waste hierarchy and is supported by a range of policies that promote sustainable waste management. Composting, including home composting of kitchen and garden waste, is also likely to play an increasingly important role in diverting biodegradable waste from landfill in line with the Government’s waste strategy objectives and obligations under the Landfill Directive.
The Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP) indicate that over 34 per cent. households participate in home composting schemes, with 23 per cent. of British households composting both kitchen and garden waste. WRAP is working with local authorities and other partners to improve the uptake of home composting through the distribution of one million home composting bins to households across the country.
No
estimate has been made by the Department on the level of use of food
waste digesters for kitchen
waste, nor has any assessment been made of the use, (or barriers to the
use) of these, or home composters. Advice and best practice for home
composting is available from a range of organisations including WRAP:
http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/.
Waste Disposal Prosecutions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people in (a) England and (b) each region have been prosecuted for the illegal (i) transport, (ii) deposit and (iii) storage of waste in each of the last three years; and what total amount was paid in fines in each year. [88149]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Environment Agency records the numbers of prosecutions it takes nationally for illegal waste disposal. The number of prosecutions taken for the illegal deposit of waste and the average fines paid for illegal dumping of waste, are shown in the following tables.
| For section 33(1)a Environmental Protection Act 1990—illegal deposit | |
| Number | |
| Average fines for illegal dumping | |
| Number | |
Flycapture, the national fly-tipping database, was set up in 2004. Data held on Flycapture indicate local authorities are taking a wide range of enforcement action. Prior to April 2005 the ‘actions taken’ page of the Flycapture database was not mandatory and therefore the picture is patchy. However, data from 2005-06 indicate that local authorities reported 1,479 prosecutions for illegal dumping. The total amount paid in fines for this period is reported to be £268,243.
This Department does not hold national data on prosecutions taken for the illegal transport of waste.
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