Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 2 May 2007
International Development
Burma
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance the Government are providing to projects promoting human rights and democracy in Burma. [135640]
Mr. Thomas: DFID provides significant support to projects to help the people of Burma access their human rights and build the foundations for sustainable democracy. Our programme includes a wide variety of activities, such as capacity-building for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), training for journalists, work to involve poor people in decision-making about issues that affect them, and support for the empowerment of poor women. In addition, the British embassy in Rangoon is carrying out extremely valuable work to build local capacity.
DFID is about to start work on the implementation of a £3.0 million programme designed to expand and strengthen DFID’s work to support increased prospects for a successful transition to democracy and respect for human rights in Burma. The programme will increase opportunities for Burma’s people to engage in political decision-making processes at local level affecting their welfare, livelihoods and governance.
Departments: Disciplinary Proceedings
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many grievance procedures have been initiated in his Department in the last 12 months. [135158]
Mr. Thomas: DFID’s grievance procedure is fully compliant with UK legislation and applies to civil servants working in the UK and overseas. We also apply it, unless local law dictates otherwise, to staff appointed in country (SAIC) who work under local contracts. In the last year, 13 grievance procedures were initiated in DFID, as set out in the following table.
| Number | |
Departments: Intimidation
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many complaints of bullying have been investigated in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many complaints have been upheld. [134825]
Mr. Thomas: DFID’s grievance procedures are fully compliant with UK legislation and apply to civil servants working in the UK and overseas. We also apply them to our locally appointed staff overseas, who work under local contacts, unless local law dictates otherwise.
DFID investigated less than five complaints of bullying in the last 12 months. Due to the small number, a breakdown by number, employment status and outcome is not made public on the grounds of confidentiality.
Departments: Renewable Energy
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much energy in kilowatt hours was purchased by his Department from renewable sources in the most recent year for which figures are available. [135000]
Mr. Thomas: DFID is committed to meeting the new sustainable operations on the Government Estate targets including the mandatory requirement to source at least 10 per cent. of energy from renewable sources.
During 2006-07 DFID consumed 6,991,124 kilowatt hours of electricity; approximately 95 per cent. of which was from renewable sources. From the start of 2007 the proportion from renewable sources is 100 per cent.
International Assistance
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if his Department will assess the merits of reporting against the underweight indicator in the public service agreement as one of the agreed indicators for millennium development goal 1. [135630]
Hilary Benn: DFID is currently developing the indicators for the new public service agreement (PSA) on international poverty reduction which will cover the period April 2008 to March 2011. The final indicators will be subject to approval by the Treasury and will be dependent on wider discussions across Government.
The elimination of poverty in poorer countries through the achievement of the millennium development goals still remains our overarching goal. The PSA will therefore draw indicators from the set of millennium development goals and the inclusion of a specific indicator covering the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age is part of our current proposal.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Climate Change
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 766W, on climate change, what the publication date is for the final report of the independent review into the activities of the Meteorological Office Hadley Centre. [134591]
Ian Pearson: The final report on the independent review into the activities of the Meteorological Office Hadley Centre is due to be published by early summer.
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if he will make it his policy that, at the forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Bangkok, temperature data be made available as part of the summary for policy makers; and if he will make a statement; [135052]
(2) why temperature data over the last 10,000 years were excluded from the Final Draft International Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers. [135053]
Ian Pearson: [holding answer 1 May 2007]: The forthcoming meetings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Bangkok will comprise the ninth session of IPCC Working Group III and the 26th( )session of the IPCC. The first meeting will accept the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) and approve its Summary for Policymakers (SPM). The second meeting will accept the actions by the sessions of IPCC Working Groups I, II and III, review the IPCC terms of reference and discuss future work.
The reports of the IPCC are written by hundreds of scientists from across the world and provide an assessment of peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature on climate change. The IPCC does not carry out new research. As such, all the data contained within the IPCC's reports are already available in published literature and are independent of Government.
The SPM summarises the findings of the underlying report. The SPM is drafted by scientists and agreed by all Governments at the IPCC plenaries. The agreement of the SPM helps to communicate the IPCC outputs to Governments. No one Government, organisation or individual has sole responsibility for any part of the report.
Livestock: Waste Disposal
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps he is taking to mitigate the adverse environmental effects of fallen stock collection and incineration and the associated carbon dioxide emissions; [134334]
(2) how much carbon dioxide was released into the environment as a result of (a) fallen stock collection, (b) the burning of fallen stock and (c) the rendering of fallen stock in each year between 2004 and 2006. [134336]
Mr. Bradshaw: My Department has made no assessment on the amount of carbon dioxide released as a result of fallen stock collection and disposal. However, total UK greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture fell by 16.4 per cent. between 1990 and 2005—the latest year that estimates are available.
The Animal By-Products Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002 prohibits the burial, dumping or open-burning of fallen stock (with few exceptions) and is in place to protect public and animal health. Incineration and rendering provide a safe and controlled way of dealing with the disposal of animal carcasses.
There are various animal health and environmental controls that incinerator operators must follow when disposing of fallen stock. These can be found on the DEFRA website.
Sewage: Renewable Energy
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) supported into energy production through (i) fermentation, (ii) microbial fuel cells, (iii) anaerobic digestion, (iv) gasification and (v) pyrolysis of sewage. [134790]
Ian Pearson: My Department has not commissioned or supported any research into these methods of energy production, as they are well established and successful technologies.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what incentives are in place to encourage water companies to invest in energy production from sewage waste. [134792]
Ian Pearson: The Government's key mechanism for encouraging renewable electricity generation is the renewables obligation (RO) which will provide around £1 billion per year of support to the renewables industry by 2010. Sewage gas and (subject to certain conditions) biomass waste, which could be sewage or sewage sludge, are eligible under the RO.
Water Charges
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) standing charges, (b) cost per litre and (c) other charges levied by each water company in England and Wales are on individual households (i) with and (ii) without water meters. [134672]
Ian Pearson: Ofwat is the economic regulator of the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. It approves companies' charges schemes each year and provides detailed information in its water and sewerage charges report. Ofwat will publish its 2007-08 report on 16 May.
The volumetric rate for metered customers is calculated on the basis of cost per cubic metre. The following tables summarise the charges that are levied by water companies for 2007-08 on households both with and without water meters.
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