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18 July 2007 : Column 380W—continued


Animal Welfare: Convictions

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with police forces in England and Wales on establishing a central database for people convicted of animal welfare crimes. [149479]

Jonathan Shaw: There have been no discussions between DEFRA and police forces in England and Wales on this issue. Data about people convicted of cruelty to animals are already stored in centrally held criminal records.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will press for action to be taken under the Berne Convention against countries where control of badgers is undertaken by methods banned under that convention. [150087]

Jonathan Shaw: Badgers ( Meles, meles) are listed as a protected species under appendix III of the Berne Convention, but they are not an endangered species. The Berne Convention provides for exceptions to be made so as to allow the use of means and methods of killing prohibited under appendix IV, subject to certain conditions. I am not aware that any country is breaching the Berne Convention with respect to badger control.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research he has evaluated on the proactive culling of badgers in Ireland in response to bovine tuberculosis; and what assessment he has made of the possible application of this policy to the UK. [149703]


18 July 2007 : Column 381W

Jonathan Shaw: We have reviewed the published findings of the Irish Four Areas badger culling trial (which were published in Preventative Veterinary Medicine in January 2005), as well as advice from independent scientists on whether the findings of the Irish research can be applied to the situation in England. The experience in the Republic of Ireland is not directly transferable to England because the badger population, farming practices and general environment are all very different. As a result, while we can learn from the Republic of Ireland’s experiences, directly applying such a policy here is not possible.

The independent advice, together with a statement from DEFRA’s chief scientific adviser, was published on the DEFRA website in March 2005 and can be found in the news archive at:

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Irish Government on a vaccination strategy to reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis. [149704]

Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA officials have visited Ireland several times to discuss the UK and Irish work programmes and areas of potential future collaboration, particularly regarding the design of badger field studies and licensing requirements for Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG). The Veterinary Laboratories Agency also has active research links with Irish researchers.

Milk Production

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the volume of milk production was in (a) Cornwall, (b) the South West and (c) England in each year for which figures are available. [149220]

Jonathan Shaw: Precise estimates of milk production in these regions are not readily available. However, the following table provides estimates of the volume of milk produced in Cornwall, the South West and England for the years 1979 to 2006 calculated by applying the average UK milk yield to the number of dairy cows in each region.


18 July 2007 : Column 382W
Milk production (million litres)
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly South West region England

1979

509

3,648

10,979

1980

519

3,698

10,970

1981

516

3,683

10,793

1982

557

3,904

11,396

1983

581

4,041

11,765

1984

555

3,813

11,043

1985

545

3,751

10,797

1986

563

3,827

10,983

1987

540

3,665

10,439

1988

524

3,584

10,184

1989

517

3,546

10,038

1990

531

3,630

10,290

1991

517

3,503

9,940

1992

517

3,461

9,800

1993

515

3,474

9,790

1994

531

3,598

10,054

1995

521

3,506

9,766

1996

526

3,515

9,889

1997

530

3,503

9,840

1998

508

3,356

9,484

1999

535

3,516

9,896

2000

513

3,332

9,418

2001

555

3,448

9,457

2002

536

3,424

9,495

2003

539

3,428

9,500

2004

520

3,267

9,055

2005

501

3,196

8,886

2006

503

3,157

8,775


Departments: Racial Harassment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which his Department is responsible have been (a) investigated and (b) upheld in the last 12 months. [149254]

Jonathan Shaw: During the last 12 months (for the period July 2006 to July 2007) there have been no complaints of racial abuse relating to staff for which this Department is responsible that have been either investigated or upheld.

The Department has an internal intranet site which details the departmental policy on bullying and harassment. The site also details further information and the procedures for dealing with complaints of bullying and harassment together with details of local contacts and support advisers who can give help and advice to staff.

Departments: Regulation

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what progress his Department has made towards meeting its target of making a 25 per cent. reduction in administrative burdens on business by the end of 2009; [148730]

(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to business of administrative burdens imposed by regulations from his Department in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement; [148731]

(3) what progress has been made by his Department towards its target of 25 per cent. reduction in administrative burdens on business by the end of 2009; and if he will make a statement; [149207]

(4) what estimate he has made of the cost to business of administrative burdens and regulations from his Department in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [149208]

Jonathan Shaw: The total administrative burden from the 362 DEFRA regulations which, as of May 2005 imposed such a burden, was assessed to be £527.8 million per annum. This represents the Department’s
18 July 2007 : Column 383W
administrative burden baseline. In our Simplification Plan “Maximising Outcomes, Minimising Burdens”, which was published in December 2006 and is available from the Library, administrative reductions of around £159 million were identified. This represents a reduction of 30 per cent. on the baseline. Progress since then will be reported in our 2007 plan which is due for publication in the autumn. However, the Department is progressing well toward meeting its net administrative burden reduction target of 25 per cent. by 2010.

The cross-Government administrative burden measurement exercise, which identified the baseline administrative burden, was carried out by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) on behalf of the Cabinet Office. The exercise used an internationally agreed model, recommended to the Government by business. As the first UK Government to take this radical approach to managing the regulatory burden, there are no comparable data before 2005 when the exercise was carried out.

Energy: Radio

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what comparative analysis he has made of the power consumed by listening to the radio using (a) a traditional analogue set powered by the mains, (b) a digital radio powered by the mains and (c) via a television receiving digital radio through a set-top box receiver; and if he will make a statement. [149719]

Joan Ruddock: The Government’s Market Transformation Programme (MTP) has tested a limited number of digital radios. The average energy needed to operate by those radios tested was around 8.5 watts. A typical traditional analogue radio requires 2 watts.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) recently tested four televisions to estimate the energy consumed by listening to digital radio via a television and set-top box receiver. These tests indicated that listening to digital radio in this way required between 60 and 183 watts. The actual energy used varied according to the type of television, the screen size and whether the screen was on or the display was black. Black screen display is only available for BBC radio channels.

‘Screen blanking’, which allows the selected radio station to be received in audio only, can reduce the energy consumption to around 25 watts. Although not yet widely available, we expect this technology to become more common in the near future.

Farms: Income

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average farm income was in (a) Cornwall, (b) the south west and (c) England of farms of size (i) less than 5 ha, (ii) 5 to 20 ha, (iii) 20 to 50 ha, (iv) 50 to 100 ha and (v) more than 100 ha in each year since 1979. [149218]

Jonathan Shaw: The following tables show average net farm income per farm in (a) Cornwall (b) the South West Government Office Region and (c) in England of farms of size (i) less than 5 ha, (ii) 5 to 20 ha, (iii) 20 to 50 ha, (iv) 50 to 100 ha and (v) more than
18 July 2007 : Column 384W
100 ha in each year since 1980. Data are not available on a comparable basis for 1979.

Table 1: Cornwall
Cornwall: average net farm income per farm (£/farm)( 1)
March/February years Less than 5 ha 5 < 20 ha 20 < 50 ha 50 < 100 ha 100 ha and over

1980-81

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1981-82

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1982-83

n/a

n/a

n/a

11,500

12,900

1983-84

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

1984-85

n/a

n/a

n/a

7,100

n/a

1985-86

n/a

n/a

n/a

10,400

18,700

1986-87

n/a

n/a

n/a

5,500

8,100

1987-88

n/a

n/a

n/a

18,800

12,100

1988-89

n/a

n/a

n/a

22,900

9,500

1989-90

n/a

n/a

n/a

11,000

7,000

1990-91

n/a

n/a

n/a

7,600

5,400

1991-92

n/a

n/a

n/a

9,100

4,400

1992-93

n/a

n/a

n/a

15,200

13,900

1993-94

n/a

n/a

n/a

20,300

27,700

1994-95

n/a

n/a

n/a

16,100

13,900

1995-96

n/a

n/a

n/a

19,500

27,200

1996-97

n/a

n/a

n/a

9,000

16,300

1997-98

n/a

n/a

n/a

-900

n/a

1998-99

n/a

n/a

n/a

100

-3,100

1999-2000

n/a

n/a

n/a

200

6,600

2000-01

n/a

n/a

n/a

-100

6,800

2001-02

n/a

n/a

n/a

9,300

36,000

2002-03

n/a

n/a

n/a

13,100

22,600

2003-04

n/a

n/a

n/a

13,300

25,600

2004-05

n/a

n/a

n/a

13,900

24,100

2005-06

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

21,100

n/a = Data not available, too few farms in sample.
(1) Minimum size threshold for inclusion in the FBS was as follows:
1980-81 to 1991-92—4 BSU (British Size Units)
(1 BSU = 2000 European Currency Units (now known as Euros) of Standard Gross Margin)
1992-93 to 1995-96—8 ESU (European Size Units)
(1 ESU = 1200 European Currency Units (now known as Euros) of Standard Gross Margin)
1996-97 onwards—0.5 SLR (Standard Labour Requirement)
Source:
Farm Business Survey

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