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28 Feb 2007 : Column 1308W—continued

Pay band 3 is the highest pay grade in the SCS.

Grade 6 and below

There are nine separate pay grades at grade 6 and below, with both national and London pay ranges for each.


28 Feb 2007 : Column 1309W

The following table shows the current distribution of staff salaries and average bonus information for 2005-06 within the range of salaries requested.

Annual salary Number of staff Average bonus (£)

(a) under £20,000

1,889

469

(b) £20,000 to £29,999

3,303

658

(c) £30,000 to £39,999

1,182

900

(d) £40,000 to £49,999

688

1,106

(e) £50,000 to £59,999

485

1,481

(f) £60,000 to £69,999

158

2,664

(g) £70,000 to £79,999

58

4,840

(h) £80,000 to £89,999

18

6,674

(i) above £90,000

29

6,027


The number of staff at grade 6 and below who received a bonus was 3,373 and this represents 44 per cent. of staff in this group. The number of SCS staff who received a bonus was 148 and this represents 74 per cent. of SCS staff.

A further breakdown of these figures cannot be produced for staff confidentiality reasons.

Departments: Complaints

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints were received by his Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many have been received in 2006-07 to date. [121692]

Barry Gardiner: Complaints handling in the Department is not centralised. Information on the number of complaints received by the Department is not collected or collated.

The number of complaints that were received by Defra Executive Agencies is as follows:

Number

(a)

1997-98

(1)n/a

(b)

2001-02

(2)32

(c)

2005-06

(3)671

(d)

2006-07(4)

(5)578

(1) Defra was not established until 2001
(2) Of which 11 were to the Rural Payments Agency with a customer base of 75,000.
(3) Of which 487 were to the Rural Payments Agency with a customer base of 120,000.
(4) To date.
(5) Of which 426 were to the Rural Payments Agency with a customer base of 120,000

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in his Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98,
28 Feb 2007 : Column 1310W
(b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many have done so in 2006-07 to date. [121694]

Barry Gardiner: The number of staff who worked in dedicated complaints units in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and its executive agencies is as follows:

Core Defra Executive agencies RPA only( 1)

(a)

1997-98

n/a(2)

(b)

2001-02

Three part time(3)

6

(c)

2005-06

Two full time(4)

15

(d)

2006-07(5)

Two full time(4)

23

(1) Rural Payments Agency staff working in a dedicated customer relations unit, dealing with written complaints, official correspondence, appeals and telephone complaints. No other Defra Executive Agencies have dedicated complaints units.
(2) Defra was not established until 2001.
(3) Staff working on staff complaints arising from equal opportunity and related issues.
(4) One working on staff complaints and related issues, one working on complaints pursued through the ombudsman.
(5) To date.

Departments: Freedom of Information

Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of monitoring the time spent processing requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the purposes of the proposed fees regulations. [121725]

Barry Gardiner: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 February 2007, Official Report, column 866W by the Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Departments: Manpower

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006, Official Report, columns 28-30W, on civil servants, if he will break down the data on staff recruited to and leaving his Department by civil service grade; and if he will make a statement. [122030]

Barry Gardiner: Information on the grades of staff recruited to and leaving Defra since 2001 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Energy: Conservation

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will take steps to co-ordinate across Government the automatic turning off of electrical equipment in Government offices when that equipment is not being used. [122678]

Ian Pearson: Each Department has agreed to meet sustainable operations targets for the Government Estate on energy efficiency and carbon emissions. Departments are responsible for determining how they can best be achieved within their offices. Departments are also required to work with the Carbon Trust to identify energy savings and to purchase electrical
28 Feb 2007 : Column 1311W
equipment that meets standards defined in the “Quick-wins” list, which include requirements on power consumption in sleep-mode.

DFES currently have a system in place for its offices which automatically turns off computer base units at pre-set times. We are currently investigating the use of a tool to automatically shut down inactive computers at night and will share our information with other Government Departments.

Departmental performance against central Government estate targets, including carbon emissions and energy efficiency, is scrutinised in annual reports by the Sustainable Development Commission, the independent watchdog. The last report is available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/watchdog

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Higher Level Stewardship scheme applications were (a) received and (b) approved by (i) English Nature in each month from 2004 until the transfer of the scheme to Natural England and (ii) by Natural England since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [122485]

Barry Gardiner: The first Higher Level Stewardship agreements commenced on 1 February 2006 and were administered by the Rural Development Service (RDS) rather than English Nature. The environmental land management functions of the Rural Development Service then transferred, on 1 October 2006, to form part of Natural England.

The Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme accepts applications on a quarterly rather than monthly basis. The following table sets out applications received and approved by both the RDS and Natural England during the quarterly time frames the hon. Member refers to.

Quarterly cycle date Applications received Applications approved

Rural Development Service

February 2006

322

287

May 2006

304

269

August 2006

319

387

Natural England

November 2006

357

588

February 2007

114

385


The data contained in the table are a snapshot. As such, they will be subject to future change as Natural England finalises HLS processing. This particularly applies to the February 2007 agreements. There are still a number of cases to be finalised between applicants and Natural England, and figures will change accordingly.

Farmers: Income

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the annual change in revenues was in the (a) farming and (b) dairy farming sectors in each of the last five years. [122338]


28 Feb 2007 : Column 1312W

Barry Gardiner: The average output for farm businesses by farm type for the past five years in England is set out in table 1 as follows. The average change in output between these five years is set out in table 2. Farm business output is defined as the total livestock enterprise output plus total crops enterprise output plus adjustment for previous years’ crops plus miscellaneous output plus output from diversified activities plus sundry revenue plus single payment.

Table 1: Farm business output by farm type, England 2001-02 to 2005-06
£ per farm
March/February 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

Dairy

171,000

153,900

164,100

167,000

170,900

Grazing livestock (less favoured area)

73,900

79,100

69,200

66,100

64,800

Grazing livestock (lowland)

61,000

75,700

69,500

60,200

55,900

Cereals

135,700

144,900

197,300

177,700

175,600

General Cropping

229,300

235,800

275,000

290,500

249,500

Specialist Pigs

292,300

247,700

287,400

305,500

281,800

Specialist Poultry

296,000

425,400

521,000

540,000

557,500

Mixed

166,400

164,600

185,700

167,500

176,800

Horticulture

255,700

243,000

313,400

294,800

313,700

All farm types

155,900

159,400

186,900

180,300

180,100

Source:
Farm business survey

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