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8 Feb 2007 : Column 1079W—continued
Environment Protection: Walking
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will launch a public awareness campaign to encourage people to walk rather than using their cars for environmental reasons. [118025]
Mr. Tom Harris: I have been asked to reply.
The Department is about to launch a new environmental communication campaign. The focus of this national campaign will be on fuel efficiency and smarter driving, encouraging people to think about how their choice and use of car contributes to carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. We shall take stock of the impact of that activity before considering an expansion of the campaign to encourage modal change messages.
That campaign is additional to a sustainable travel campaign that we promote focused solely on the journey to and from school, which encourages parents and pupils to consider alternatives to the car.
We have also encouraged local authorities, who are responsible for providing pedestrian facilities to promote walking. The Department published guidance ‘Encouraging walking: advice to local authorities’ in March 2000 to assist local authorities in delivering more walking. We also expect to publish ‘Manual for Streets’ in the spring, which will prioritise the needs of pedestrians above other modes when designing transport facilities.
Fly-tipping
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) reported incidents of fly-tipping and (b) convictions relating to incidents of fly-tipping there have been in the last five years. [119358]
Mr. Bradshaw: Flycapture, the national database of fly-tipping incidents, was set up in 2004 by DEFRA, the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association, to record fly-tipping incidents dealt with by the Environment Agency and local authorities. Data on fly-tipping levels are, therefore, only available from April 2004 onwards.
Flycapture data show that, in England, 926,534 incidents were reported in the period from April 2004 to March 2005. There were 1,034,518 incidents reported from April 2005 to March 2006.
The number of defendants found guilty of offences under sections 33 and 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is shown in the following table. Data from 2006 will not be available until November 2007.
| Number of defendants found guilty of offences under sections 33 and 34 of Environmental Protection Act | |
| Source: Criminal Justice Systems Analysis, RDS—OCJR. IOS: 002-07 | |
MSC Napoli
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support his Department is giving to local authorities and other organisations dealing with the environmental damage caused by the beaching of the MSC Napoli. [112036]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 29 January 2007]: DEFRA is not providing financial support to local authorities as a result of this incident. Local authorities, and others, who have incurred costs as a result of pollution from a ship-source pollution incident may recover their costs by lodging a claim in court in accordance with the domestic law which applies the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims Convention, 1966 (LLMC).
My Department and its agencies are providing scientific support in implementing an environmental monitoring plan and are also part of the Environment Group which meets daily to consider the risks posed by the vessel.
DEFRA is also working closely with the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency to advise the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who are responsible for leading the response to the incident.
My Department has approved the use of oil dispersants in waters immediately adjacent to the vessel. This has enabled dispersion at sea of oil that has escaped from the vessel, limiting damage to birds and pollution on the shoreline. We are also co-operating with the agencies responsible for the collection and removal of litter.
Rare Species
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the (a) Pea mining bee (Andrena Lathyri), (b) Dark guest ant (Anergates atratulus), (c) Short-haired bumble-bee (Bombus subterraneus), (d) New Forest cicada (Cicadetta montana), (e) Ivell’s sea anemone (Edwardsia ivelli), (f) Black-backed meadow ant (Formica pratensis), (g) Nomad errans—a cuckoo bee, (h) Stenus palposus—a rove beetle and (j) Essex emerald (Thetidia smaragdaria maritima) are (i) extinct and (ii) extant in the UK. [118687]
Barry Gardiner:
So far as my Department is aware, there are no known colonies of any of these insect species listed in the UK, although all have occurred here in the past. Since the IUCN definition of extinction is currently an absolute concept, it can be
difficult to know whether species of small invertebrates still occur or not. The current known situation of these species is shown in the following table.
| Name | Current status |
Home Department
Adolescent Mental Health
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines on the treatment of adolescent mental health are applied in young offender institutions. [116834]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The NICE guideline “Depression in Children and Young People: Identification and management in primary, community and secondary care” was issued in September 2005. Primary care trusts are expected to apply this guideline in young offender institutions under their programme of clinical governance as they would to children and young people in the wider community.
British Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of food served in (a) buildings occupied by his Department and (b) UK prisons was of British origin in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006. [111124]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information required is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Child Curfew Orders
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders were issued in Suffolk in each year since 1997. [118650]
Mr. Coaker: The available information, relating to curfew orders given to persons aged 10 to 17 in Suffolk courts, is shown in the following table.
| Persons aged 10 to17 sentenced to curfew orders at Suffolk courts( 1) | |
| Number | |
| (1) Magistrates courts in Suffolk and the Crown court if committed by magistrates in Suffolk. (2) Curfew orders were introduced on an area by area basis from 1995. Note: Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown. Source: RDS-NOMS, Home Office | |
Crime: Somerset
Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the conviction rate was for (a) violent crimes and (b) all crimes recorded in (i) Avon and Somerset and (ii) England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. [112194]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer for 1 February 2007]: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of defendants prosecuted at magistrates courts, found guilty at all courts and convictions as a proportion of prosecutions for violent offences in Avon and Somerset and England and Wales, 1996-2005, are provided in the following table.
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