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10 Dec 2007 : Column 25W—continued
Departmental Corporate Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many occasions he has accepted corporate hospitality in the last 12 months. [171315]
Jonathan Shaw: Any hospitality that I may have accepted in the last 12 months has been declared in the Register of Members' Interests.
Departmental Disabled
Danny Alexander:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which buildings
occupied by his Department (a) are and (b) are not fully accessible to people with disabilities; and if he will make a statement. [163952]
Jonathan Shaw: No central data are held of the number of buildings occupied by my Department, which are or are not considered to be fully accessible to disabled people.
Where there are access difficulties for disabled people, my Department makes appropriate reasonable adjustments to it's arrangements for the recruitment and employment of staff, and the services and functions it delivers to its users in accordance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1005.
Departmental Land
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what land surplus to his Department’s requirements it is (a) selling, (b) leasing and (c) intending to (i) sell and (ii) lease; and what the (A) size and (B) name of each relevant site is. [168852]
Jonathan Shaw: A statement of the Department’s surplus land and properties currently available for sale and to let, included known future disposals, is set out in the table.
| Property details | ||||||
| Property no. | Property name | Town | Postcode | Tenure | NIA (Sq m) | Land (Ha) |
Departmental Public Bodies
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) percentage and (b) amount his Department has required each of the public bodies for which he is responsible to reduce its budget for 2007-08 from the level planned at the beginning of the financial year; what options he is considering for further savings in public expenditure; and if he will make a statement. [167179]
Jonathan Shaw: My Department has not required any of the public bodies for which the Department is responsible to reduce budgets for 2007-08 since these were set at the beginning of the financial year.
Budgets for 2008-09 are currently being considered by Ministers with the aim of being finalised in the new year.
Departmental Visits Abroad
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on overnight accommodation for Ministers overseas in the last year. [171340]
Jonathan Shaw:
Details of the cost of overseas travel, including the cost of travel and accommodation are contained in the Overseas Travel by Cabinet Ministers list. The latest list for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 was published on 25 July 2007.
Details for the 2007-08 financial year will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year. All travel is made in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Domestic Wastes: Packaging
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate he has made of the (a) proportion and (b) tonnage of waste from household collection which is made up of packaging waste; [170536]
(2) what estimate he has made of the tonnage of packaging waste from household collection which is (a) recovered and (b) recycled annually; and if he will make a statement. [170537]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 3 December 2007]: 4.7 million tonnes of packaging ended up as household waste in the UK in 2006. This accounts for an estimated 18 to 21 per cent. of household waste.
No estimate has been made by my Department on the tonnage of packaging waste which is recovered or recycled specifically from household sources.
However, the total amount of packaging waste recovered and recycled in 2006 was around 6.3 million tonnes.
Energy: Conservation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what has been the total level of expenditure on his Department's market transformation programme since its inception. [169936]
Joan Ruddock: Since DEFRA was formed in 2001, it has provided just over £13.5 million to its Market Transformation Programme over the seven years between 2001 and 2007. Annual expenditure levels are set out in the following table:
| £ | |
Environment Protection
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 120W, on environment protection, if he will break down the Environment Agency’s maintenance expenditure on activities other than dredging, aquatic weed removal, grass cutting, tree removal and pollarding. [171707]
Mr. Woolas: In 2006-07 the proportion of the Environment Agency’s flood risk management maintenance expenditure on activities other than dredging, aquatic weed removal, grass cutting, tree removal and pollarding was as follows:
| Percentage | |
|
Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Automation and Control | |
Environment Protection: Lighting
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government has taken to promote the use of energy saving light bulbs. [171835]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 6 December 2007]: The number of efficient light bulbs in UK homes rose from 26 million in 2000, to 110 million in 2006. However, we recognise that more can be done to encourage their use.
We are working with retailers, manufacturers, energy suppliers and the Energy Saving Trust, to voluntarily phase out inefficient light bulbs by 2011 in the UK, ahead of our European partners.
This is supported by the “EU Energy” and “Energy Saving Recommended” labels, which provide consumers with appropriate information on the energy efficiency of products.
Replacing bulbs with energy efficient alternatives will save up to 5 million tonnes of CO2 from electricity generation per year by 2012 and will also help reduce householders’ energy bills.
Fish: Animal Welfare
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Marine Bill will include provisions to improve the welfare of fish caught for human consumption. [171100]
Jonathan Shaw: There are no plans for the Marine Bill to include provisions on the welfare of fish caught for human consumption.
Fisheries: Navy
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what contribution he receives from the devolved administrations on the costs of the contract for the Royal Navy Fishery Protection Service; and if he will make a statement. [170913]
Jonathan Shaw:
The Royal Navy provides fisheries protection services to the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) in the waters around England and Wales. The cost of the provision of this service is borne by the MFA. The Welsh Assembly Government contribute 6 per cent. of the overall cost by a PES transfer to the
MFA. There are no other contributions from the devolved administrations for this service.
Neither the Welsh Assembly nor the Northern Ireland Assembly received separate funding for this service upon devolution, and therefore make no contribution to the resources used on the MFA's behalf by the Royal Navy.
The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA), an Agency of the Scottish Executive, provides fishery protection services to the Scottish Executive in the waters around Scotland. The SFPA operates its own patrol vessels. As the SFPA does not use the Royal Navy Fishery Protection Squadron, it makes no contributions to the cost of the Squadron.
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