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7 Jan 2008 : Column 64W—continued
The figures include convictions for the illegal killing, taking and injuring of wild birds, disturbing the dependent young of birds listed in schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and the possession of live and dead wild birds. It is not possible to identify separately convictions for illegal taking.
Carbon Emissions: Heathrow Airport
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the planned extension of Heathrow airport will contribute towards his Department’s emission reduction targets; and if he will make a statement. [174814]
Mr. Woolas: Government emissions reduction targets currently exclude international aviation emissions as there is no agreed way of allocating responsibility for these to individual countries.
However under the current proposal to include aviation in the EU ETS, emissions from the aviation sector would be capped at the level of average 2004-06 emissions, and carbon allowances would only be issued up to the level of this cap. Emissions over this cap will be covered either through mitigation within the sector or through the purchase of reductions that can be produced more cheaply and easily by other sectors. This would be the case regardless of whether this growth in emissions was from new airport capacity, the provision of new routes or extra services on existing routes. This approach means that growth in aviation (including Heathrow expansion) would be sustainable.
Flood Control
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made on the introduction of a flood risk management innovation fund. [171157]
Mr. Woolas: A £1.5 million fund has been set aside to support innovative flood risk management solutions. An open competition was launched in November 2005 and the six successful projects were announced in January 2007. These are being funded to:
develop an educational tool to improve public understanding of the difficult decisions that are sometimes required in the management of our coasts thereby assisting implementation of more sustainable long term management policies;
investigate the contribution of land management practices to flood management in the Staffordshire Washlands catchment of the Rivers Trent, Sow and Penk;
work with the farming community to provide tools to landowners to assist with adaptation to change on the Essex coast;
demonstrate and help communicate the benefits of floodplain woodland for flood management;
develop an innovative and sustainable community-based adaptation programme for the coast at Slapton in South Devon;
demonstrate the benefits of integrating flood mitigation and environmental approaches such as sustainability, zero carbon and zero waste within urban developments.
The projects are being undertaken by a variety of public and private organisations and further details are on the DEFRA website.
Floods: River Derwent
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the fluvial study of the lower Derwent to be published. [173448]
Mr. Woolas: A public consultation is planned for the draft lower Derwent strategy during the summer of 2008. The final strategy is expected to be published in the spring or summer of 2009, depending on the issues raised during the consultation.
However, more detailed hydraulic modelling for Derby is planned for the next financial year. If the preliminary results of this model are different from the information the Environment Agency currently has on the predicted flood risk, publication of the draft strategy will be delayed until the agency is confident that the results of the model accurately predict river levels. This could delay publication of the draft strategy by up to a year.
Fly Tipping: North East Region
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government have taken to reduce incidents of fly-tipping in the North East; and if he will make a statement. [173564]
Joan Ruddock: Tackling fly-tipping and wider waste crime is a priority for the Government. Our Waste Strategy for England, published in May 2007, makes clear that initiatives to boost waste prevention and recycling should be supported by fly-tipping strategies aimed at tackling the illegal dumping of waste.
The Strategy includes the Government’s Illegal Waste Activity Action Plan, which sets out what action is being taken and proposed in this area. This includes:
(i) Reviewing the controls in place to deal with the management and carriage of waste. The review aims to reduce levels of fly-tipping by making it easier for businesses to understand and comply with the regulations and make them easier for local authorities to use.
(ii) Developing legislation that will give local authorities and the Environment Agency the powers to stop, search and instantly seize vehicles being used to commit fly-tipping offences.
(iii) Introducing mandatory Site Waste Management Plans for construction and demolition projects above a certain value.
(iv) Funding the Environment Agency’s targeted campaigns to disseminate good practice to businesses and raise awareness of good waste management practices.
(v) Delivering Flycapture Enforcement, a training programme aimed at local authority officers and their legal teams to increase knowledge of the relevant legislation and develop skills in effective enforcement and prosecution of fly-tippers.
(vi) Work with stakeholders to consider how the Flycapture database can be enhanced or improved to help local authorities implement fly-tipping interventions.
DEFRA has also funded Environmental Campaigns (Encams) to deliver a programme of work on local environmental quality and fly-tipping issues in partnership with Government Offices. This work will support the poorest performing local authorities in each region through a combination of data analysis, best practice sharing and targeted seminars. It will also promote the introduction of fly-tipping targets within local area agreements.
In addition, DEFRA funded the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science to produce research on fly-tipping—“Fly-tipping: Causes, Incentives and Solutions”. This included good practice guidance on crime prevention techniques, including surveillance, and has been distributed to all local authorities in England.
Inland Waterways: Freight
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he has taken to incorporate provision for water-borne freight into his Department’s climate change agreements. [176094]
Mr. Woolas:
It is very unlikely that climate change agreements (CCAs) would be relevant to the water-borne freight sector. CCAs provide for a reduction in the climate change levy (CCL) when operators meet challenging energy efficiency targets. However, CCL is not charged on every kind of fuel: it only applies to commodities specified in schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2000 as taxable commodities (including electricity, gas of a kind supplied by a gas utility, liquid petroleum gas and solid fuels). Furthermore, where a taxable commodity is used in a ship operating in international waters it may be
eligible for exemption from CCL. Also, in order to qualify, the operator would have to engage in an eligible process, which is defined as either a process regulated under part A of the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 or meet specific energy intensity criteria. Water-borne freight is unlikely to meet either of these criteria.
Nitrate Sensitive Areas
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the effect upon residents and visitors in nitrate vulnerable zones of the proposals to ban slurry-spreading over winter. [176734]
Mr. Woolas: The partial regulatory impact assessment (RIA), published in support of the consultation on the implementation of the Nitrates Directive in England, provides details of my Department’s assessment of the impact, in terms of costs and benefits, of all of the proposed amendments to Action Programme measures that apply in nitrate-vulnerable zones (NVZs) in England, and how this impact would vary depending on the extent of NVZ designation.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the contribution the UK will make by 2020 to the EU target of 20 per cent. of energy to be derived from renewable sources. [173744]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 17 December 2007]: I have been asked to reply.
On the basis of measures set out in the Energy White Paper, we expect approximately 5 per cent. of the UK's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. Agreement has not yet been reached on the contribution that each member state will make toward the EU's 2020 target.
Reptiles: Imports
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will list imported reptiles by (a) wild caught, (b) captive bred and (c) ranched CITES listed categories imported into the EU in 2006. [172698]
(a) wild caught CITES listed reptiles imported into the EU in 2006 was 57,194;
(b) captive bred CITES listed reptiles imported into the EU in 2006 was 188,924;
(c) ranched CITES listed reptiles imported into the EU in 2006 was 68,764.
This leaves 95,059 reptiles from other sources of which by far the largest proportion was those where the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) database shows no source code.
The UK does not hold records on imports of non-CITES species into the EU.
Sustainable Development: Heathrow Airport
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether (a) Ministers and (b) staff were invited to participate in the project for the sustainable development of Heathrow; whether they participated; and if he will make a statement. [176958]
Mr. Woolas: Both Ministers and officials in DEFRA engage regularly with colleagues at the Department for Transport on matters relating to Heathrow which affect DEFRA lead policy responsibilities: notably on air quality, noise and climate change impacts.
Thames and Severn Canal
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to help residents whose property has been affected by the proposed Thames and Severn canal scheme. [172703]
Mr. Woolas: This is a matter for the local authority (LA). LA development plan policies for this canal seek to protect its line while allowing for piecemeal restoration. There are no specific proposals for full restoration at present. Once a planning application has been made, local authorities have set procedures for handling individuals or businesses affected by it.
Waste Disposal: Finance
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his latest estimate is of the funding for the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme in each of the next three financial years; what funding the BREW programme has had in 2007-08; and what funding was provided in each of the last two financial years. [173767]
Joan Ruddock: The Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme was set up to give £284 million additional landfill taxes back to business over three years (from April 2005 to March 2008) through funding for resource efficiency and waste projects. Funding allocated for each of the last three years is as follows:
| £ million | |
Subsequent funding of the BREW programme will be subject to future spending decisions, which will be carefully balanced with other departmental priorities in tackling waste and climate change.
Waste Disposal: Greater London
Martin Horwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Programme’s campaign on waste crime in London cost; how long the campaign lasted; how many incidents of fly-tipping
there were in each London borough targeted by the campaign in each month since 12 months before the campaign began; what the total cost of clean-up of fly tipping was in that period in each borough; what assessment he has made of the campaign’s effectiveness; and whether he plans to extend the (a) duration and (b) geographic reach of the campaign. [173783]
Joan Ruddock: The campaign funded by the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme is targeting waste crime across 16 local authorities in the South and East of London and North Kent. The campaign began in August 2006 and is due to close in December 2007 at a cost of £265,000.
The analysis of the campaign is currently taking place, including the impact on both the numbers of fly-tips recorded and the ongoing awareness of businesses to waste crime.
The BREW programme was set up to give £284 million additional landfill taxes back to business over three years (from April 2005 to March 2008) through funding for resource efficiency and waste projects. Future funding of the BREW programme will be subject to future spending decisions, which will be carefully balanced in line with departmental priorities.
I have arranged for the statistics requested to be placed in the Library of the House. The figures show the incident numbers and estimated clearance costs for each month from 12 months before the London and Kent BREW campaign started, until March 2007.
Incident numbers and clearance costs have been obtained from local authority entries to Flycapture, the national fly-tipping database. Clearance costs are estimates based on a national average cost assigned to each size of fly-tip.
Data for 2007-08 are not yet available.
Waste Management: Regional Development Agencies
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to bring forward proposals for regional development agency waste performance targets. [174311]
Joan Ruddock: The Government do not intend to set Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) detailed targets on waste performance. The Report of the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration made clear that in future, RDAs will play a more strategic role within the regions. In meeting their overall objective of regional economic growth, they will be required to adhere to the cross-cutting principle of sustainable development, setting out in their Corporate Plans how they intend to apply this to all their business to achieve their growth objective.
Waste Management: Standards
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) targets for and (b) outputs of each organisation in the business resource efficiency and waste partnership were for (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07. [175406]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 18 December 2007]: The Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Programme (BREW) was established in order to return £284 million of landfill tax back to business between 2005 and 2008. It provides this through a range of free advice and support aimed at increasing business resource efficiency and reducing the amounts of waste sent unnecessarily to landfill. While work is under way to plan for the goals in any future programme, there were no specific targets set for 2005-07.
The aggregated 2005-06 short-term outputs for the delivery bodies are shown in the following table. These show the impact of £18.5 million of the total £33 million funding for that year. Some savings will result from these interventions in future years, which are not counted here.
| Metric | In-year result |
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