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Avian Influenza: Amendment to the General Permitted Development Order 1995 to allow Temporary Buildings or Extensions

The Minister for Housing and Planning (Yvette Cooper): Changes to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 for England came into force today introducing a new permitted development right to help mitigate the current increased risk of Avian Influenza ('bird flu').

Following the recent outbreak of avian influenza on a farm in Suffolk, Defra have taken measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including the culling of all birds on the infected premises, putting in place a 3 km protection zone and a 10 km surveillance zone around the infected area and a restriction zone covering approximately 2090 km2 of North East Suffolk and South East Norfolk. In all of those zones, bird keepers are required to house their birds or, if that is not practical, otherwise isolate them from contact with wild birds.

In order to help deal with the current increased risk of avian influenza nationwide, the Government have decided to assist poultry farmers and owners of other captive birds by granting planning permission in the whole of England for temporary and reversible works to shelter poultry and other captive birds from contact with wild birds. Landowners will be allowed to erect a building with a ground area of up to 465 square metres, or extend an existing building by up to 50 per cent. Any such development will be permitted to remain standing for as long as it is necessary to protect poultry and other captive birds from avian influenza, but not beyond 12 months. After such time the structures will either need to be removed and the land restored to its original condition or to any condition as agreed between the local planning authority and the developer or planning permission for a permanent structure will need to be sought.

The amendment will also cover Conservation Areas, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks. Legislation protecting Listed Buildings and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) will continue to apply.

Constitutional Affairs

Criminal Legal Aid Reform

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Vera Baird): On 12 February the Legal Services Commission (LSC) published the following papers which take forward the Government's legal aid reform programme set out in Legal Aid Reform: the Way Ahead:

Police Station: Boundaries, Fixed Fees and New Working Arrangements— Consultation Paper;

Market Stability—Response to Consultation;

A Consultation plan for Duty Solicitor Call Centre and CDS Direct; and

Best Value Tendering for Very High Cost Cases (VHCC)—Consultation Paper.

‘Legal Aid reform: the Way Ahead’ was published on 28 November 2006. It followed the extensive consultation we undertook on the proposals set out in the final report by Lord Carter of Coles, published on
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13 July 2006. We very carefully considered and are continuing to consider the suggestions and concerns expressed by practitioners during the consultation. We have already made changes to the timing, sequencing and detail of some of Lord Carter's proposals.

We value the input of practitioners and interested parties on the ongoing reform of legal aid. We are grateful to all those who contributed to the recent consultation on market stability, and encourage all those with an interest to contribute both to the current consultations, and to the consultation on the Duty Solicitor Call Centre and CD2S Direct which will begin in March 2007.

Copies of the papers published on 12 February are available on the Legal Services Commission's website at

http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/criminal/consultations.asp

and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Culture, Media and Sport Departmental Expenditure Limits and Administrative Cost Limits for 2006-07

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): Subject to Parliamentary approval of any Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Culture Media and Sport's Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be increased by £58,769,000 from £1,808,003,000 to £1,866,772,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resource and capital are set out in the following table:

Departmental Expenditure Limits and Administration Budgets
£000
	Change		New DEL
	Voted	Non-voted	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource DEL	1,560	34,914	179,519	1,405,151	1,584,670
Of which:
Administration budget(1)	-	-	53,270	-	53,270
Near-cash in RDEL	1,560	34,914	171,001	1,230,060	1,401,061
Capital(2)	12,294	10,001	38,759	341,073	379,832
Less Depreciation(3)	-	-	-5,942	-91,788	-97,730
Total	13,854	44,915	212,336	1,654,436	1,866,772
1 The total of administration budget and near-cash in resource DEL figures may well be greater than total resource DEL, due to the definitions overlapping. 2 Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in Estimates and accounts but which are treated as Capital DEL in budgets. 3 Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

Take up of £39,800,000 Programme End Year flexibility

Transfer of £3,080,000 to Ministry of Defence for DCMS' contribution to the funding of the meteorological services.

A reduction of £200,000 from the Departmental Unallocated Provision, that was incorrectly scored in the Winter Supplementary Estimate.

The administration cost limit has remained at £53,270,000

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The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from

Take up of Capital End-Year Flexibility of £10,000,000

Transfer of £12,249,000 from the DCLG for Olympic costs.

Defence

Departmental Expenditure Limits Changes Arising from Spring Supplementary Estimates 2006-07

The Secretary of State for Defence (Des Browne): Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the Ministry of Defence departmental expenditure limit (DEL) will be increased by £539,530,000 from £33,611,177,000 to £34,150,707,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on Resources and Capital are as set out in the following table:

	Changes		New DEL
	Voted	Non-voted	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource	555,530	-250,000	33,553,497	550,550	34,104,047
Near cash in RDEL	450,530	-	22,898,385	318,984	23,217,369
Capital	89,000	-	7,446,916	744	7,447,660
Depreciation(*)	-100,000	250,000	-7,181,000	-220,000	-7,401,000
Total	539,530	-	33,819,413	331,294	34,150,707
(*)Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

the draw down of part of the Department's Unallocated Provision (DUP) of 250,000,000 Indirect Resource DEL to meet Top Level Budget Holders' latest forecasts of depreciation and cost of capital;

a transfer in of £3,080,000 from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport as their contribution to the National Meteorological Programme and Severe Weather Warning Service;

to increase Request for Resources 2 by £298,200,000 Resource DEL and £89,000,000 Capital DEL to reflect the costs of peace-keeping in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and the Global Prevention Pool;

a transfer of £42,000,000 from RfRl to RfR2 to cover depreciation and cost of capital costs;

In addition there is a transfer within RfRl from Resource DEL Indirect (non-cash) to Resource DEL Direct (near cash) of £150,000,000.

The changes to Resource DEL and Capital DEL will lead to an increased net cash requirement of £550,331,000.

Deputy Prime Minister

Departmental Expenditure Limit 2006-07: Deputy Minister's Office

The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott): Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office departmental expenditure limit (DEL) for 2006-07 will be increased by £587,000 from £1,960,000 to £2,547,000 as set out in the following table:

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		£’000s
		New DEL
	Voted	Voted	Non-voted	Total
Resource DEL	587	2,547	0	2,547
Of which: Administration Budget	587	2,547	0	2,547
Near cash in RDEL	587	2,547	0	2,547
Capital
Depreciation(*)
Total	587	2,547	0	2,547
(*)Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL, since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from the Machinery of Government Changes comprising of £100,000 from Communities and Local Government and £487,000 from the Cabinet Office.

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The administration budget for the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office will be £2,547,000. This resource will be used for the costs of its administration.

Education and Skills

Spring Supplementary Estimate 2006-07

The Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Alan Johnson): Subject to Parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, the Department for Education and Skills Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL), (including the Office for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools (OFSTED) which has a separate Estimate) will be increased by £139,575,000 from £59,602,990,000 to £59,742,565,000 the administration cost budget will be increased by £5,500,000 from £272,561,000 to £278,061,000.

Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

DfES	Resources				Capital(***)
	Change	New DEL	Of which: Voted	Non-voted	Change	New DEL	Of which: Voted	Non-voted
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
RfR 1	242,109	51,999,450	35,001,134	16,998,316	13,241	5,853,146	3,373,907	2,479,239
RfR 2	-115,601	1,113,542	1,113,542	0	0	426,425	426,425	0
RfR 3	220	145,796	145,796	0	0	0	0	0
OFSTED	206	204,206	204,206	0	-600	0	0	0
Sub Total	126,934	53,462,994	36,464,678	16,998,316	12,641	6,279,571	3,800,332	2,479,239
(**)Of which Admin Budget	5,500	278,061	278,061	0	0	0	0	0
Near-cash in RDEL	-414,308	52,185,665	35,174,731	17,010,934	0	0	0	0
(*)Depreciation	-707	-35,606	-9,175	-26,431	0	0	0	0
Total	126,227	53,424,888	36,453,003	16,971,885	12,641	6,279,571	3,800,332	2,479,239
(*)Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from the total DEL, in the table above, since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.
(**)The total of ‘Administration budget’ and ‘Near-cash in resource DEL’ figures may well be greater than total resource DEL, due to the definitions overlapping.
(***)Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in Estimates and accounts but which are treated as Capital DEL in budgets.

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