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1 Feb 2007 : Column 457W—continued
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many valid
claims for 2005 Single Farm Payment remain to be paid in full; and when he expects these to be paid. [111604]
Barry Gardiner: There are 194 Single Payment Scheme claims in respect of 2005 that have not received any payment to date. 70 of these cases are pending the resolution of issues such as probate. The remainder of these 2005 claims are potentially eligible to be paid and are currently being processed.
In addition there are 221 claims where a top up payment might be necessary once a detailed review of each case has undertaken.
Given the individual circumstances applying to such cases it is not possible to put a timeframe on when they will all be completed.
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many 2005 single farm payments have not been fully paid; how much is due to the applicant awaiting the highest full payments; and if he will make a statement. [111773]
Barry Gardiner [holding answer 26 January 2007]: The Rural Payments Agency has estimated there are 194 Single Payment Scheme claims in respect of 2005 that have not received any payments to date.
70 of these cases are pending the resolution of issues such as probate. The remainder of these 2005 claims are potentially eligible to be paid and are currently being processed.
In addition there are 221 claims that have received a partial payment and are potentially due a final balance ‘top up’ payment.
These claims are being paid as soon as possible, but it is not possible to put a time frame on when they will all be completed.
The Rural Payment Agency is also checking approximately 20,000 2005 cases which include those involving queries raised by farmers to establish whether the correct payment has been made.
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on progress on the Government’s discussions with the European Union regarding disallowance of European Union expenditure as a result of the late payments made under the Single Payment Scheme in England. [111774]
Barry Gardiner [holding answer 26 January 2007]: The Government has explained to the European Commission why it believes late payment penalties in respect of the 2005 Single Payment Scheme would be inappropriate and, should the Commission make any relevant proposals in due course, will continue to defend the UK’s interests.
Soil Association
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what grant his Department has recently given to the Soil Association; and for what purpose. [111431]
Barry Gardiner:
DEFRA has made the following recent grant payments to the Soil Association and its
associated certification companies, Soil Association Certification Limited and ASCISCO.
(a) Payments made by DEFRA to Soil Association Certification Limited and ASCISCO as part of the partnership agreement with organic certification bodies in connection with the implementation of the EU Organic inspection regime:
(b) Grant payments to the Soil Association under the Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES) and Vocational Training Scheme (VTS)
Stewardship
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for how many new entrants to the (a) entry and (b) higher level stewardship schemes there is funding available in 2007. [111629]
Barry Gardiner: The budget for Environmental Stewardship will be allocated from the new Rural Development Programme covering the period 2007 to 2013, which is currently under consultation in the European Parliament.
The Government are committed to keeping Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) open to all eligible farmers and, provided the current level of interest continues, we should achieve our target of 60 per cent. of eligible land in England by the end of this year. The Government is equally committed to Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) and Natural England is working hard to process valid applications from both strands of Environmental Stewardship into agreements.
Tobacco
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much EU financial support was available for growing tobacco in each of the last five years; how much such financial support was available in 2007; which countries have received this support; and if he will make a statement. [111991]
Barry Gardiner: [holding answer 26 January 2007]: The information requested is set out as follows:
| Cost of premia paid under the EU tobacco regime | |
| € million | |
The main beneficiaries of the European Union (EU) subsidy have been Greece and Italy. Other producing member states include Poland, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal.
The UK does not produce tobacco and has always been critical of the support regime because of the cost and health implications. We believe that subsidies are at odds with the Community-sponsored Europe Against Cancer programme.
The successful reform of the EU tobacco regime in 2004 introduced “decoupling”, which means that the direct link between production and support is broken. This applies progressively from 2006 until 2010 when direct support for tobacco production will cease altogether.
Tree Planting
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government plan to increase the incentives for new plantations of trees; and if he will make a statement. [117536]
Barry Gardiner [holding answer 30 January 2007]: The English Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS) provides grants to establish new multi-purpose woodlands providing public benefits. The incentives offered through EWGS over the next few years will be influenced by the outcome of the refreshed England Forestry Strategy, the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 and the budget that is agreed for the Rural Development Programme for England 2007-13.
Water Framework Directive
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on how catchment areas will work under the new waste framework directive. [111535]
Ian Pearson: I assume the hon. Member’s question refers to catchments areas under the Water Framework Directive, rather than the waste framework directive.
The Water Framework Directive requires us to introduce a new water quality planning system, using geographical units called river basin districts, which are made up of whole numbers of catchments or “river basins”.
Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive requires that individual river basins be identified and assigned to river basin districts. We carried this out in our transposition regulations. The catchments in England and Wales have been grouped to form six river basin
districts and an additional four cross border districts, including two with Scotland and two with Wales.
Water: Shortages
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment he has made of the effect of hosepipe bans on the horticulture and gardening industry; [118036]
(2) if he will exempt those using efficient water saving irrigation methods from hosepipe bans. [118037]
Ian Pearson: Hosepipe bans are imposed by water companies under powers set out in the Water Industry Act 1991. While the Department has not made any specific assessment of the impact of such bans on the horticultural and gardening industry, officials have met with representatives of the Horticultural Trades Association to discuss the association's views on the subject. Our forthcoming public consultation on the review of the hosepipe ban powers in England and Wales will address the issue of concessions.
Wood Fibre
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps his Department is taking with the wood fibre and supply industry to identify sources of wood fibre other than coniferous roundwood and sawmill co-products; [111870]
(2) what support the Department is offering to the wood fibre and supply industry to develop new and sustainable wood supply chains. [111871]
Barry Gardiner: The 2004 UK Woodfuel Resource Study looked at the potential supply from sources including coniferous and broadleaved woodland, sawmill co-products, arboricultural arisings and short rotation coppice. In England it estimated that there was a potential resource of over 0.5 million tonnes of arboricultural arisings. In addition it is estimated that there is an annual increment of 4 million tonnes of wood, particularly from under-managed broadleaved woodland, that is not currently harvested.
The England Woodfuel Strategy being prepared by the Forestry Commission will make a number of recommendations aimed at increasing the demand for this wood fibre, which is in turn expected to help the development of supply chains, with potential benefits to all wood-using industries.
Through the Forestry Commission we work with the timber industry and timber-using businesses to raise awareness of the role and versatility of wood which is a sustainable resource. For example, supporting the Wood for Good campaign. Generating increased demand is likely to benefit the supply chain.
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the potential demand for wood fibre balance in the UK in each of the next two years. [111872]
Barry Gardiner:
I have not made any estimate of demand. Based on our forecasts of production and
knowledge extrapolated from past information on consumption we believe that it is unlikely there will be a significant change in demand in the short term. With less than 20 per cent. of UK wood and wood product consumption coming from trees grown in the UK, any changes in demand may have more impact on imports than on UK production.
Woodlands
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much coniferous woodland has been planted in the UK during the last 10 years. [117714]
Barry Gardiner: The total areas of conifer planting (new planting and restocking) over the last 10 years for each country and the UK total are given in the following tables.
| England | |||
| Hectares—thousand | |||
| Year ended 31 March | New planting | Restocking | Total |
| Scotland | |||
| Hectares—thousand | |||
| Year ended 31 March | New planting | Restocking | Total |
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