| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
21 Jun 2007 : Column 2086W—continued
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of single farm payment scheme claims have been paid for (a) 2005 and (b) 2006 (i) in part and (ii) in full in (A) North West Cambridgeshire, (B) the East of England and (C) England and Wales. [143511]
Barry Gardiner: In England, as of 13 June 2007, 20 claimants have not received a payment for the 2005 Single Payment Scheme (SPS).
As of 13 June 2007, 105,415 farmers have received either a full or partial payment under the 2006 SPS year. This total includes 101,890 full and 3,525 partial payments, representing 96.7 per cent. of the estimated total claimant population of 109,000.
RPA’s target is to pay 96.14 per cent. of the total value of the fund by 30 June 2007.
Detailed analysis of all the payments made under the SPS is not yet available. Once the remaining scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.
The National Assembly for Wales is responsible for administering the SPS in Wales.
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of farmers are yet to receive their full single payment scheme payment for (a) 2005 and (b) 2006 in (i) the UK, (ii) the South West and (iii) Cornwall. [144230]
Barry Gardiner: In England, as of 13 June 2007, 20 claimants have not received a payment for the 2005 single payment scheme (SPS).
As of 13 June 2007, 105,415 of farmers have received either a full or partial payment under the 2006 SPS year. This total includes 101,890 full and 3,525 partial payments, representing 96.7 per cent. of the estimated total claimant population of 109,000.
RPA's target is to pay 96.14 per cent. of the total value of the fund by 30 June 2007.
Detailed analysis of all the payments made under the SPS is not yet available. Once the remaining scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.
Carbon Dioxide: Environment Protection
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likelihood of reaching the target of a 60 per cent. carbon dioxide reduction by 2020. [144242]
Ian Pearson: The measures in the Energy White Paper, and those they build on, are expected to achieve a reduction of up to 26 per cent. in carbon dioxide over 1990 levels by 2020. This would put us on track to achieve real progress towards our goal of reducing carbon emissions by at least 60 per cent. by 2050.
Carbon Sequestration
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State of Trade and Industry on the development in the UK of technology for carbon capture and storage. [144188]
Ian Pearson: I regularly meet my Cabinet colleague to discuss a wide range of energy and environmental issues—including carbon capture and storage, where DTI and DEFRA both have a strong interest.
Carbon Trading Allowances
Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to introduce personal carbon trading allowances. [144195]
David Miliband: The Government are looking at the feasibility of personal carbon trading allowances and a range of other long-term options to help individuals feel more informed and involved in tackling climate change.
Commercial Whaling
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress his Department made at the recent conference of the International Whaling Commission on the moratorium on commercial whaling. [144203]
Barry Gardiner: Since the UK and the anti-whaling bloc had a simple majority at this year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), we were able to sponsor and secure a resolution reaffirming the continued need for the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling. This resolution subsequently served us well in the conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, enabling us to defeat proposals aimed at eventually allowing trade in whale products to take place.
Consumption: Sustainable Development
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made on the development of a national sustainable consumption programme. [144250]
Ian Pearson: Action to promote more sustainable consumption by citizens is being taken forward under a range of policies, including the recent Energy White Paper and the Waste Strategy.
In addition, to help develop policies further in future, DEFRA has been working on an environmental behaviour change framework, applying a social marketing approach to major areas of consumption. This work has included workshops organised by Green Alliance and a Stakeholder Forum covering 100 stakeholders from the public sector, business, NGOs, academia and marketing. The outputs from these discussions and further consumer research will help us to further develop this work later this year.
DEFRA has launched an online calculator that enables people to work out their carbon footprint. The calculator is part of DEFRA's Act on CO2 campaign which aims to make people aware of the link between their own everyday behaviour—including the consumption and use of products—and climate change.
Departments: Epilepsy
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people with epilepsy are employed by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [139107]
Barry Gardiner: DEFRA does not hold data on the number of employees with epilepsy. DEFRA requests staff to declare types of impairment on a disability declaration but does not keep data of specific conditions.
DEFRA has a Disability Factsheet Series that is available to all staff. One of these factsheets is a specific guide to epilepsy. The guide includes suggestions of what to discuss with a member of staff who has declared the condition and also the types of reasonable adjustments that may be made for individuals. It includes information of the causes and features of the condition as well as advice on what to do if someone has a seizure.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff funded by the public purse in the Rural Payments Agency are classified as people without posts. [141648]
Barry Gardiner: No staff in the Rural Payments Agency are classified as people without posts.
Departments: Public Participation
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what proportion of his Department’s administration costs was spent on running public consultations in 2006-07; [142738]
(2) how many civil servants in his Department worked on public consultations in the 2006-07 financial year; [142739]
(3) how many public consultations his Department has undertaken since its institution. [142740]
Barry Gardiner: Since its institution in June 2001 until December 2006, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has undertaken 581 public consultations.
The breakdown, per year, is as follows:
Each consultation is worked on by policy staff from the Department but information is not held about the proportion of the Department’s administration costs that are spent on running public consultations.
Similarly, information is not held centrally about the number of civil servants in the Department who worked on public consultations in the last financial year. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Surveys
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in the Library copies of his Department’s employee surveys for (a) 2006 and (b) 2007. [142029]
Barry Gardiner: Staff surveys are valuable tools used by Departments to help them improve performance. The results of the 2005 DEFRA survey are available on the civil service website at:
DEFRA’s approach has been to undertake a full staff survey every 18 months. As such, the most recent
published results are for 2005. A new staff survey is planned for June 2007 and these results will be published on the civil service website once the full analysis of data has taken place.
Departments: Travel Agents
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department and its agencies paid in travel agencies’ fees in each year since 1997. [139908]
Barry Gardiner: DEFRA came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally, the amount (including VAT) paid by core DEFRA in travel agencies’ fees in each financial year commencing with 2001-02 is shown in the following table.
| £ | |
Expenditure on travel agencies’ fees by DEFRA’s Executive agencies is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Dog Breeders: Regulation
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the monitoring and regulation of dog breeders by local authorities. [144202]
Mr. Bradshaw: Discussions between the Departments in 2005 concluded it was better to see how the Kennel Club’s Accredited Breeder scheme progressed before reviewing the existing regulations on dog breeding.
Domestic Wastes: Waste Disposal
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research (a) his Department and (b) the Waste and Resources Action Programme has commissioned or undertaken into the average costs of (i) alternate weekly collection and (ii) weekly collection of household rubbish. [143492]
Mr. Bradshaw:
A Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) research project is currently in progress, entitled “Cost and Performance—Collection Systems”. Phase 1 is analysing the cost models used by a number of consultants active in the municipal waste management sector, with the aim of comparing and estimating the costs of a number of common waste collection systems, including alternate week collection. Phase 2 will involve a detailed appraisal of the costs and performance of the more common kerbside
recycling and collection systems, again including alternate week collection. A full report will be available later this year.
DEFRA and WRAP have also funded work to appraise different waste collection options for particular local authorities, in some cases looking at alternate week collection, following requests from these authorities.
EU Inspire Directive
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the timetable is for the implementation of the EU INSPIRE Directive. [143486]
Ian Pearson: European Parliament Directive 2007/2/EC, establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE), came into force on 15 May 2007. Member states have two years to transpose it into national legislation.
A series of technical implementing rules will accompany the directive. These are currently being developed by several drafting teams under the auspices of the European Commission. They include Implementing Rules on the interoperability and, where practicable, harmonisation of spatial data sets.
The Implementing Rules will be subject to expert and public review. DEFRA and other Government organisations are participating in this process. In addition, as part of the process for developing the interoperability implementing rules, the Commission (with input from member states) will undertake analyses to ensure that the rules are feasible and proportionate in terms of their likely costs and benefits. They will be adopted between 2008 and 2012 and come into force between 2010 and 2019.
On 16 May 2007, the Commission published an INSPIRE Work Programme for development of the Implementing Rules during the transposition phase. This contained a roadmap for the development and implementation of the Implementation Rules.
The Implementing Rules will be adopted through the Comitology procedure. The first meeting of the INSPIRE Committee will be on 26 June 2007.
Fisheries: Bankruptcy
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of fishermen were declared bankrupt in (a) Cornwall, (b) the South West and (c) the UK in each year since 1979. [144237]
Mr. Bradshaw: My Department does not hold the information requested. Although data on the number of individuals filing for bankruptcy are collected, these are not at a sufficient level of detail to allow for numbers of fishermen to be identified.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |