Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 17 October 2006
Leader of the House
Additional Costs Allowance
Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House how many and what percentage of hon. Members used the additional costs allowance to pay for (a) rent and (b) interest on a mortgage in each year since 1997. [93280]
Mr. Straw: The information is not available in the form requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
A sample check in 2006 by the Department of Finance and Administration suggested that 20 per cent. of Members use the ACA to rent a property and 75 per cent. to meet mortgage interest costs.
Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House under what circumstances hon. Members may claim simultaneously the London supplement and the additional costs allowance; and if he will make a statement. [93285]
Mr. Straw: It has not been possible to claim the ACA and London supplement simultaneously since April 2005. Before April 2005, only Ministers and office holders could claim ACA and London supplement simultaneously.
Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House what percentage of hon. Members have claimed (a) the maximum amount of additional costs allowance available and (b) money from both the London supplement and the additional costs allowance in each year since 2001. [93286]
Mr. Straw: The percentage of hon. Members who have claimed the maximum amount of additional costs allowance in each year since 2001 is shown in the following table. The figures for 2005-06 are currently being compiled and will be published later this month.
| MPs claiming maximum ACA | |
| Percentage | |
The percentage of hon. Members who have claimed both the London supplement (LS) and the additional costs allowance (ACA) in each year since 2001, until the ability to claim both allowances was withdrawn in 2005-06, is as follows:
| MPs claiming maximum LS and ACA | |
| Percentage | |
Departmental Expenditure
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Leader of the House how much his Office has spent on taxis in the last 12 months. [93111]
Mr. Straw: The Leader of the House of Commons’ Office has spent £4,084.60 on taxis in the last 12 months.
Foreign Language Lessons
Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House how many hon. Members received free foreign language lessons funded by the House in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by language learned. [93385]
Mr. Straw: In 2005-06, 12 Members received foreign language lessons funded by the House. The number of Members who received lessons in each language is as follows:
| Number | |
Party Political Spending
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Leader of the House what plans there are to limit party political spending in individual constituencies outside the 12-month period immediately prior to a general election. [94026]
Mr. Straw: Sir Hayden Phillips is currently undertaking an independent review of the funding of political parties. He has been asked to aim to produce recommendations that are as much as possible agreed between the political parties with a view to legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Sir Hayden Phillips will be publishing an interim assessment later this week. He has been asked to report to the Prime Minister before the end of December 2006. The Government will carefully consider his final conclusions, including any proposals to limit party political spending in individual constituencies outside the 12-month period immediately prior to a general election.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has to limit the money that can be spent in election campaigns. [94028]
Mr. Straw: Sir Hayden Phillips is currently undertaking an independent review of the funding of political parties. He has been asked to aim to produce recommendations that are as much as possible agreed between the political parties with a view to legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Sir Hayden Phillips will be publishing an interim assessment later this week. He has been asked to report to the Prime Minister before the end of December 2006. The Government will carefully consider his final conclusions, including any proposals to limit the money that can be spent in election campaigns.
Communities and Local Government
Local Government Finance
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the implications are for local authorities of replacing capital grants with the power of prudential borrowing, which authorities have contacted her on this issue; and if she will make a statement. [93078]
Mr. Woolas: Since the prudential borrowing system began on 1 April 2004, local authorities have been free to borrow for capital projects without Government consent, provided that they can afford the loan charges without extra Government grant. However, the Government have continued to support the major part of authorities’ capital programmes, by a mixture of revenue grants for loan charges plus capital grants. Future levels of capital support and the mechanisms for delivering it are being considered in the Government’s current spending review.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made with the reform of local government finance. [93572]
Mr. Woolas: My right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister appointed Sir Michael Lyons to undertake an independent inquiry into local government finance, later extended to cover the future strategic role and function of local government. To date, Sir Michael has published two documents—a consultation paper and interim report in December 2005 and a discussion paper in May 2006, “National prosperity, local choice and civic engagement”. These are available on the Lyons Inquiry website (www.lyonsinquiry.org). Sir Michael is due to submit his final report to the Chancellor and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in December 2006.
The Government will not take any decisions on local government finance until it has had the chance to consider Sir Michael’s report and recommendations fully.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) powers and (b) duties are of local authorities in relation to enhancing areas of outstanding natural beauty; and if he will make a statement. [93283]
Barry Gardiner: Most, but not all, areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) are managed by their constituent local authorities. Local authorities have no powers specifically aimed at AONBs. However, they must follow their duty to have regard to the purpose of AONB designation in order to conserve and enhance the natural beauty.
Further information is available on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/issues/landscap/pdf/authorityduties-guidancenote.pdf.
Avian Influenza
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which non-poultry rare breeds would be excluded from a cull if an outbreak of avian influenza occurs; and whether all bird species on the Red List will be excluded from such a cull. [94193]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 16 October 2006]: In the event of an outbreak of avian influenza, our policy is to stamp out the disease as quickly as possible in accordance with the EU directive for the control of avian influenza (2005/94/EU). Culling of the affected flock and any dangerous contacts, together with stringent controls around the affected premises, is the best way of dealing rapidly with an outbreak.
However, for certain birds, subject to a veterinary risk assessment, the directive provides for a derogation from the requirement to cull.
This derogation extends to officially recognised rare breeds of poultry and other captive birds. Following discussions with the relevant societies for captive birds, the crested canary has been officially recognised for this purpose. It can also be applied to premises such as non-commercial premises, wildlife parks and zoos.
Conservation of endangered species is covered separately under the derogation. Species considered threatened under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of threatened species could benefit.
Badgers
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what evidential basis the randomised badger culling trials were stopped; and if he will make a statement. [94126]
Mr. Bradshaw: When the randomised badger culling trial (RBCT) was designed, statistical power calculations were performed which indicated that, to be sufficiently precise to detect a 20 per cent. reduction in tuberculosis (TB) incidence associated with either culling treatment, 50 “triplet years” worth of data would have to be collected.
In 2003, the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) detected a statistically significant result for the reactive element of the RBCT that indicated an increase in confirmed TB incidence in cattle in reactive areas compared to survey-only areas. Under agreed operating procedures the ISG was obliged to bring this to the attention of Ministers, who concluded that the
reactive culling operations should be discontinued. Reactive culling was suspended in November 2003.
By the end of the 2005 planned proactive culling operations, the target of 50 triplet year's of data collection had been achieved, and proactive culling therefore ceased. Surveying work continued into March 2006, by which time data for 51.6 triplet years had been collected.
Bovine Tuberculosis
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been raised (a) in total and (b) on average from selling the carcases of tuberculosis test failure cattle in each year between 2000 and 2006. [92921]
Mr. Bradshaw: The following table provides (i) the number of cattle slaughtered under bovine tuberculosis control measures in Great Britain and (ii) the amount received in salvage payments (after cost deductions for haulage, meat inspection etcetera) between 2000 and 2006. It is not possible to provide an average cost per carcase because not all cattle are slaughtered in licensed slaughterhouses for potential human consumption. Therefore, an average cannot be derived simply by dividing the total salvage payment by number of cattle slaughtered. It is not possible to extract the information required to calculate a meaningful average from the State Veterinary Service database.
| (i) Total number of cattle slaughtered under TB control measures( 1) | (ii) Total salvage payment from sale of carcases in £ million | |
| (1) Reactors, inconclusive reactors and direct contacts. (2) 2006 figures cover the period January to August only. Provisional data, subject to change as (i) further test data and (ii) further salvage receipts become available. (3) In 2001, the TB testing and control programme was largely suspended due to the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak. When testing resumed in 2002, resources were concentrated on herds with overdue TB tests which would have had a longer period in which to contract the disease. Also, the proportion of high risk herds tested immediately after the FMD outbreak was greater than that prior to the outbreak. As a result, the number of cattle slaughtered in 2001 and 2002 is not comparable with other years. | ||
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cattle showed lesions after slaughter in each year between 2000 and 2006. [92922]
Mr. Bradshaw: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle is confirmed by identification of visible lesions at post-mortem inspection and/or by laboratory testing of samples taken from carcases. The number of animals in which bTB was confirmed annually in Great Britain, between 2000 and 2006, is given in the following table.
| Number of confirmed TB reactors in GB | |
| (1) Provisional statistics for 1 January to 31 August 2006 only. (2) In 2001, the TB testing and control programme was largely suspended due to the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. When testing resumed in 2002, resources were concentrated on herds with overdue TB tests which would have had a longer period in which to contract the disease. Also, the proportion of high risk herds tested immediately after the FMD outbreak was greater than that prior to the outbreak. As a result, data for 2001 and 2002 are not directly comparable with other years. | |
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