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10 July 2007 : Column 1367W—continued
Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will publish the research protocol agreed with Warwick university and others to examine the use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction test for the detection of bovine tuberculosis. [147421]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA publishes the objectives of all research projects it commissions on its science website, once the contracts have been signed. This will be the case with the planned project to validate Polymerase Chain Reaction methods to detect bovine tuberculosis to be undertaken co-operatively by Warwick university, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and University College London.
Bovine Tuberculosis: Research
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding his Department provided for the Woodchester studies of bovine tuberculosis and badgers in each of the last 10 years. [147395]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA fund a range of research work with the Central Science Laboratory's (CSL) research team based at Woodchester Park. The following amount of funding has been provided by DEFRA for the ecological and epidemiological study of the badger population at Woodchester Park:
1997-98: £260,877
1998-99: £278,408
Between 1999-2000 and 2002-03 the study was supported by two DEFRA projects. It has not been possible to disentangle the amounts spent on the ecological and epidemiological study of the badger population at Woodchester Park in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, however CSL estimate the following for 2001-02 and 2002-03:
2001-02: £268,000
2002-03: £268,000
Between 2004-05 and 2006-07 the project that supported this study also supported an investigation of perturbation. The following figures are an estimate provided by CSL of the amount of funding used for the study of the Woodchester Park badger population alone:
2003-04: £273,000
2004-05: £298,000
2005-06: £288,000
2006-07: £294,000
Cattle: Exports
Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 May 2007, Official Report, column 380W, on cattle: exports, what the journey time in hours was of all calves aged under 42 days exported to the Netherlands between 1 January and 30 April. [147730]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost to the Department.
Gwyn Prosser: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2007, Official Report, column 64W, on cattle: exports, how many UK calves aged under 42 days died during journeys from the UK to Spain between 1 January and 30 April; how many 24 hour rest periods per journey were provided during the transport of calves from the UK to various destinations in Spain; and if he will make a statement. [147731]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost to the Department.
Cheese: Production Methods
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the quantity of cheese manufactured in the UK from imported milk powder. [147420]
Jonathan Shaw: The estimate of the quantity of cheese manufactured in the UK from imported milk powder is unavailable.
Departments: European Union
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials in his Department are (a) involved in assisting European Council negotiations, (b) involved in assisting and advising the European Commission, (c) seconded to the European Commission, (d) involved in monitoring EU decisions, communications, regulations and directives, (e) involved in enforcing compliance with EU decisions, communications, regulations and directives and (f) involved in other work related to the European Council, Commission or Court of Justice. [146097]
Jonathan Shaw: Officials throughout the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are involved in a full range of EU business. 11 officials from the Department are currently seconded to the European Commission. The Department does not hold central records of the numbers of officials involved in EU business and a breakdown of the figures as requested would incur disproportionate cost.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2007, Official Report, column 1361W, on Departments: manpower, if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance given to those on the Priority Movers List. [146888]
Jonathan Shaw: A copy has been placed in the Library.
Departments: Pay
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working at his Department and its agencies in each year between 1997 and 2006; and what the total cost of those bonuses was. [146418]
Jonathan Shaw: Payment of non-consolidated performance bonuses reflects the principle across the civil service of rewarding performance increasingly through one-off payments rather than increases to basic salary.
Annual performance bonuses are paid to staff in the SCS for high performance sustained throughout the whole year.
Information on annual performance bonuses prior to November 2004 is available only at disproportionate cost, as a result of system changes.
For 2005 and 2006, the number of annual performance bonuses awarded and the total cost of these bonuses was as follows:
| Number of staff awarded bonuses | Total amount of bonuses paid (£) | |
The data relate to bonuses awarded to those in core-DEFRA and its Executive Agencies (excluding chief executives) in accordance with Cabinet Office arrangements.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in his Department in the last three years; and at what total cost. [146988]
Jonathan Shaw: Data prior to November 2004, is available only at disproportionate cost. For the period from November 2004 to November 2006, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) on 7 December 2006, Official Report, column 578W.
For the period from January 2007 to May 2007, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 25 June 2007, Official Report, column 69W.
For December 2006, the month not covered by the two replies above, In-Year and Annual Performance bonuses totalling £78,218 were awarded to 154 staff below the SCS, covered by core-DEFRA pay arrangements, i.e. staff in core-DEFRA, Animal Health, Pesticides Safety Directorate, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Marine Fisheries Agency and Government Decontamination Service.
Departments: Pensions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of staff in his Department are making additional voluntary contributions to their pensions; and what steps he has taken in the last 12 months to encourage more people to make such contributions. [147527]
Jonathan Shaw: 126 members of staff in core-DEFRA, Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Pesticides Safety Directorate, Marine and Fisheries Agency and Government Decontamination Service (2.2 per cent. of the total number of staff) currently make additional voluntary pension contributions through deductions from their pay.
Pension scheme members receive an annual benefit statement showing the pension built up to date, and also a projection of pension on retirement if the member continues in service to scheme pension age. The benefit statement provides details of the Civil Service Pensions website where staff can obtain further information, including on options for making additional voluntary contributions to boost their pension.
Departments: Performance Appraisal
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in 2006-07. [146917]
Jonathan Shaw: The 2006-07 Performance Management arrangements for staff in the SCS have been concluded.
For staff below the SCS in core-DEFRA and those agencies covered by the core-Department's performance appraisal arrangements (including Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Pesticides Safety Directorate, Marine Fisheries Agency and Government Decontamination Service) the process has still to be concluded.
However, to date (up to 30 June 2007), eight staff had not achieved an acceptable mark in their 2006-07 annual report.
Departments: Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department have taken (a) five or more, (b) four, (c) three and (d) two periods of sick leave of less than five days in the last 12 months. [147043]
Jonathan Shaw: The latest sickness absence information available is for the 12 months ending on 31 March 2007. During this period, the number of staff in DEFRA who took sick absences of fewer than 5 days was as follows:
| Number | |
These figures include staff who left the Department during or after this 12-month period and Rural Development Service staff before they transferred to Natural England on 1 October 2006.
Environment Agency: Expenditure
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the expenditure of the Shrewsbury Environment Agency's offices was in (a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005 and (d) 2006. [147668]
Mr. Woolas: The Shrewsbury office was the main office for the Upper Severn Area of the Midlands Region of the Environment Agency during the period in question. The catchment extends from Market Drayton and Oswestry in the north, Clywedog and Vyrnwy reservoirs in the west, Dudley and Wolverhampton in the east and south to Worcester and Ludlow.
The analysis of expenditure in the following table is by financial year, which runs from April to March:
| Spend (£ million) | |
Environment Agency: Flood Control
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Environment Agency about revising their flood risk assessment models; and if he will make a statement. [147433]
Mr. Woolas: My predecessor met with the chief executive and the head of flood risk management at the Environment Agency on 28 June and visited areas affected by the recent flooding. Risk assessment issues and the protection of vulnerable communities were discussed.
My Department works closely with the Environment Agency on improving assessment models through joint research and development work.
Environment Agency: Motor Vehicles
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cars are (a) owned, (b) leased and (c) hired by the Environment Agency for use by its (i) staff and (ii) board members. [146292]
Mr. Woolas: The Environment Agency has 89 owned cars within its badged fleet and 4,701 leased cars. The agency hired 3,435 cars during the 2006-07 financial year with an average length of hire of 2.6 days.
Farmers: Income
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the average annual earnings of farmers in (a) Ribble Valley, (b) the north-west and (c) the UK in each year since 1979. [147428]
Jonathan Shaw: Information is not available in the precise form requested and the Farm Business Survey is not able to provide figures for (a) Ribble Valley. The following table shows average net farm income per farm in (b) the north-west Government office region and (c) the UK in each year since 1980-81. Data are not available on a comparable basis for earlier years.
| Average net farm income | ||
| £ per farm | ||
| North-west | United Kingdom | |
| Source: Farm Business Survey | ||
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