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4 Dec 2007 : Column 1085W—continued
Mr. Malik: UN agencies and international NGOs active in Somalia report that up to 500,000 people, almost exclusively civilians, have been displaced as a result of the conflict in the south—197,000 since the beginning of October. They are mostly accommodated in temporary encampments close to the capital Mogadishu, and face shortages of shelter, food, water and, especially but not exclusively for those injured in the fighting, healthcare. A further 50,000 have been displaced by the border conflict between Somaliland and Puntland in the north. Total displacement of the Somali population, including those affected by earlier conflict and natural disasters, is estimated by the UN to be 1 million. Agencies delivering relief supplies face regular harassment, extortion and bureaucratic obstruction, and the International Community, including the UK, has made strong representations to the Somali authorities to enable relief work to flow freely.
So far in 2007 DFID has committed £8.6 million to help those worst affected by the fighting and the ongoing humanitarian needs, including £1 million since mid-October. We keep in close contact with UN agencies and our partners on the ground to ensure that DFID’s humanitarian response fits the immediate needs of the most vulnerable. Our humanitarian adviser visited part of the affected area last week, to assess the situation. He will make another visit to the worst affected area during the next week, after which we will consider what further urgent support we might provide.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Disease Control
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers were prosecuted for breaches of biosecurity in each of the last five years. [168720]
Jonathan Shaw: Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of animal health legislation, including any resulting prosecutions, and report annually to DEFRA. A consolidated report is laid before Parliament each year.
Prosecutions relating to biosecurity may arise from breaches under a range of legislation including; the Animal Gatherings (England) Order 2006, the Disease Control (England) Order 2003, the Transport of Animals (Cleansing and Disinfection) (England) (No. 3) Order 2003, emergency animal health measures such as those to control outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza, and the equivalent Welsh legislation.
The number of prosecutions resulting from biosecurity breaches reported in 2005 and 2006 are as follows:
| Prosecutions arising from breaches of biosecurity | |
The reports provided by local authorities prior to 2005 do not identify which prosecutions relate to biosecurity offences specifically. The following table lists the number of prosecutions brought each year under the aforementioned legislation:
| Number of prosecutions under relevant Orders | Prosecutions arising from 1981 Animal Health Act but not defined further | |
The figures given in the aforementioned tables are for all prosecutions; they cannot be broken down to farmers alone.
Agriculture: Lancashire
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many claimants there are under the single payment scheme in Ribble Valley constituency; and how many farms this represents. [170001]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 3 December 2007]: Detailed analysis of the number of claimants there are under the Single Payment Scheme in Ribble Valley constituency and the number of farms this represents is not available. Once the remaining scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure full payment of the single farm payment to farmers in England in December 2007. [168190]
Jonathan Shaw: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has a formal target to pay 75 per cent. by value of valid 2007 single payment scheme (SPS) claims by 31 March 2008 and 90 per cent. by 31 May 2008.
The Government’s primary concern remains that the SPS system should be robust and stable, so that RPA can deliver an improved, reliable service to the farming industry. A range of measures are being undertaken to that end and we are determined that the timing of 2007 SPS payments neither undermines those efforts nor introduces unacceptable disallowance risks. However, Ministers have agreed that RPA will aim to make more full payments to more farmers earlier than last year.
Animal Welfare: Codes of Practice
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 28W, on animal welfare: codes of practice, what the membership is of the working group on gamebirds; and what the areas of expertise of each member are. [170137]
Jonathan Shaw: Members of the working group include representatives of the game bird industry, welfare groups and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. They were chosen because of their expertise in the various husbandry and management techniques involved in the breeding and rearing of game birds, so ensuring that all welfare-related issues were fully debated.
Animal Welfare: EU Action
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held in Luxembourg on 22 to 23 October 2007, when he expects a legislative framework to implement the animal health strategy to be implemented; and if he will make a statement. [170948]
Jonathan Shaw: The Commission is currently consulting the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on its Communication on “A new Animal Health strategy for the European Union”. During 2008, the Commission is expected to produce an action plan setting out specific proposals to implement the strategy in the period up to 2013.
Arable Farming: East of England
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the financial state of arable crop farming in the Eastern region. [168764]
Jonathan Shaw: The following table shows Farm Business Income(1) for arable farms between 2003-04 and 2006-07 in the eastern region. Income forecasts for 2007-08, to be published at the end of January 2008, will reflect the value of the 2007 harvest.
(1) For non corporate businesses, Farm Business Income represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings. For corporate businesses it represents the financial return on the shareholders’ capital invested in the farm business.
| Farm business income for cereal and general cropping( 1) farms in the eastern region | |||
| £ | |||
| March/February | Cereals | General cropping | All farm types |
| (1) Farms greater than 0.5 Standard Labour Requirement Source: Farm Business Survey. | |||
Avian Influenza: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent on accommodation for his Department’s officials at Ickworth Hotel, per room, during the recent visit in connection with the avian influenza outbreak in Suffolk; for how long officials stayed in the hotel; and how many officials stayed there. [169409]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 29 November 2007]: Animal health staff stayed at the Ickworth Hotel at the agreed Government rate of between £95 and £110 per room. Thirty officials stayed at the hotel for a total of 90 nights’ accommodation between 13 and 23 November. Altogether, 1,653 nights’ accommodation were booked in the area from 13 November at more than 20 hotels.
In an emergency, a large number of staff from around the UK need to be found hotel rooms near to the local disease control centre at very short notice which can be less than a day. DEFRA employs the services of an external provider to ensure that the most appropriate accommodation is secured and provides the best value for money for the taxpayer as these costs are met under current arrangements passed on to the industry.
Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture: Finance
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what level of funding he plans to provide to the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [170896]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department has committed the following minimum levels of funding to CEFAS over the next five years:
| Minimum funding (£ million) | |
An additional £1.1 million has also been committed to support CEFAS's ongoing transformation.
Construction: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government has taken to encourage the building and construction industry to cut carbon emissions in its activities. [168791]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 27 November 2007]: I have been asked to reply.
We are currently developing, with the building and construction industry, a joint industry/government strategy for sustainable construction. A draft strategy was published in July and is currently available online at:
Public consultation on this strategy closed on 30 November and the government response will be published by the end of February 2008.
Departmental Assets
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what Departmental assets are planned to be sold in each financial year from 2007-08 to 2010-11; what the (a) description and (b) book value of each such asset is; and what the expected revenue from each such sale is. [164494]
Jonathan Shaw: For reasons of commercial sensitivity it is not possible to itemise the net book value and expected sale revenue of each asset currently planned for disposal. However the Department is taking professional advice to ensure value for money and to maximise the return on these disposals.
The Department currently anticipates total receipts from the sale of assets of approximately £9 million in 2007-08; £36 million in 2008-09; £10 million in 2009-10 and £5 million in 2010-11. The disposals planned for the latter three years will form part of the Department’s Asset Management Strategy to be published in December this year.
Estimates of sale proceeds are subject to fluctuations in the property market and cannot be guaranteed, nor can it be stated with certainty exactly when these sales will take place.
It should also be noted that the figures apply to the wider DEFRA network, not just to the core Department. The assets in question are surplus or under-utilised land and property. The largest anticipated sale is that of DEFRA-owned land and buildings at Guildford, and we expect this to account for approximately one third of the income from asset disposals over the period 2007-08 to 2010-11.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent by his Department on management consultants working on projects in the West Country since 2002. [168627]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 27 November 2007]: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I refer the hon. Member to Tables 7, 8, and 9 (pp190-195) of the Department’s departmental report 2007 (Cm 7103), presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in May 2007.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what efficiency savings projects his Department put in place under the spending review 2004 targets; on what date each was initiated; how much each was expected to contribute to the target; how much was saved by each; and if he will make a statement. [164151]
Jonathan Shaw:
The projects that comprised DEFRA's efficiency portfolio are set out in our efficiency technical note. Each project has a baseline
year against which savings are measured. This was published on the H M Treasury website in December 2005
Progress against our SR04 targets is reported in our departmental report . The most recent (published in June 2007) is at
An update on progress will be included in the DEFRA autumn performance report due to be published on 13 December.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress his Department is making towards meeting the Gershon efficiency savings targets. [166463]
Jonathan Shaw: Progress against our SR04 targets is reported in our departmental report. The most recent (published in June 2007) is at:
An update on progress will be included in the DEFRA autumn performance report due to be published on 13 December.
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