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11 Mar 2008 : Column 217W—continued
Data for 2007 are not available.
Trains: Fuels
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 28 February 2008, Official Report, column 1846W, on trains: fuels, for what reason her Department had not placed a copy of the research project assessing the potential role of biomethane as a renewable transport fuel in the Library by 4 March. [192463]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The report referred to is the Analysis of Biogas within the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation. Copies were placed in the House Libraries on 26 February (Library reference: DEP 2008-0564).
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Bees: Diseases
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what public funds and resources have been allocated to research into colony collapse disorder. [193045]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA is aware of the press reports last year about the serious situation in the USA in respect of cases of abnormally high levels of colony loss, described as colony collapse disorder (CCD).
Scientists and inspectors at DEFRA'S National Bee Unit (NBU) are continuing to monitor the situation in the USA and are in contact with experts in the UK and in Europe to keep abreast of developments. To date, we do not have evidence to suggest that there is something similar happening in the UK.
The limited number of cases of high losses which have occurred in the UK this season, for which there is no ready explanation, are being investigated in depth as part of the NBU's horizon-scanning work.
Business
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's planned expenditure on business support, promotion of enterprise and economic development is for each year from 2007-08 to 2010-11; and which elements of this expenditure are planned to be funded through regional development agencies' single pot. [179231]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 15 January 2008]: A full answer to the hon. Member's question could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
My Department is providing £75 million in 2007-08 to the Regional Development Agencies' (RDAs) Single Programme, which contributes to delivery of a range of Government policies, including those for business support, enterprise and economic development. RDAs' objectives for the next spending period, including those for business support, will be set out in their corporate plans which will be published in the spring.
In addition, there are other programmes and activities funded by DEFRA to deliver a range of objectives with businesses, the public sector and consumers. These include axes 1 and 3 of the Rural Development Programme for England (which provide assistance to make agriculture and forestry more competitive and sustainable and to enhance opportunity in rural areas), support on resource efficiency and waste (delivered through a number of bodies including the Carbon Trust, WRAP, Envirowise and NISP), the Agriculture Development Scheme (now closed to new applications) and activities carried out by English Farming and Food Partnerships, Food from Britain, the International Agri-technology Centre and the National Non-Food Crops Centre. Total spending on these programmes and activities in 2007-08 amounts to approximately £228.22 million. However, it is not possible to separate out the business support, promotion of enterprise and economic development elements of this spending without incurring disproportionate costs.
Decisions on the budgets for these programmes for the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 which follow the comprehensive spending review settlement last autumn have not been finalised yet. These are expected before the start of the new financial year.
Coastal Fishing
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in the introduction of measures to restrict inshore netting in order to improve stocks for recreational anglers. [193416]
Jonathan Shaw: Last year I announced a review of inshore netting restrictions and bass nursery areas, for the benefit of both inshore recreational angling and commercial fishing. I am also currently consulting on a draft recreational sea angling strategy which considers a package of measures for the development of recreational sea fishing. Once this consultation closes on 31 March 2008, DEFRA officials will meet stakeholders to agree how to take forward the review of inshore netting and bass nursery areas. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) has been commissioned to conduct various studies to help progress these reviews.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress his Department has made in its zero-based budget review under the comprehensive spending review. [191490]
Jonathan Shaw: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the Annex pertaining to my Department in “Meeting the aspirations of the British people: the 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review” (Cm 7277).
The summary results of DEFRA’s zero-based budget reviews were also published in “Defra Value for Money Delivery Agreement Comprehensive Spending Review 2007” which is available on DEFRA’s website.
Departmental Home Working
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people in his Department have been able to work from home in the last 12 months. [189784]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA does not keep centrally held records of staff who work from home and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Home working commences because it enables DEFRA to both recruit and maintain a diverse work force. Home working helps staff maintain a work-life balance. DEFRA is committed to helping its staff maintain a work-life balance and recognises that home working can help to reduce the need to travel to work thereby removing journey time and potentially reducing overall transport congestion and pollution as well as individual stress levels. Therefore, DEFRA believes that home working contributes not just to staff welfare but ultimately to the delivery of a high quality service to our customers. DEFRA supports home working and is taking steps to ensure that the necessary tools and technologies are in place to facilitate this as
part of its overall policy on flexible working. Home working can include the occasional day or days taken to complete a specific task or address a particular situation and is available to all staff subject to business needs. Alternatively it can be a permanent arrangement with regular home working days appropriate to the individual's situation.
Managers and individuals are encouraged to think creatively about working patterns so that efficient working can most easily be combined with other responsibilities and with employee's interests, responsibilities and personal circumstances.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the salary range is for each pay band of civil servants in his Department. [188801]
Jonathan Shaw: The following tables set out the minima and maxima for all of DEFRA's civil servants:
| Non-SCS pay ranges 1 July 2007 | |||
| £ | |||
| Pay Range | Eg Grade | Maxima | Minima |
| SCS pay ranges 1 April 2007 | ||
| £ | ||
| Pay band | Minimum | Recruitment and performance ceiling (RPC) |
This information covers people in core-DEFRA and the following DEFRA executive agencies:
Animal Health;
Pesticides Safety Directorate;
Veterinary Medicines Directorate;
Marine Fisheries Agency;
Government Decontamination Service.
It does not include DEFRA's agencies that have taken pay delegation (Central Science Laboratory, Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Rural Payments Agency and Veterinary Laboratories Agency).
For the senior civil service (SCS), Departments and agencies are responsible for their own reward arrangements within a framework and pay range values set by Cabinet Office. For non-SCS, Departments have delegated authority to tailor reward packages and pay range values to meet their own business needs.
Departmental Waste Disposal
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how frequently the residual waste bins of each of his Department’s buildings are collected. [192181]
Jonathan Shaw: The following arrangements exist in the 3 main areas; London Estate, York and Alnwick.
Waste is collected from the floors of each building each evening.
There is also a daily janitor service who will collect waste on request.
The waste then goes to the collection points at each building (in the basements) of Whitehall Place, Eastbury, Page Street and Millbank.
The waste is collected from these points daily with general waste being collected in the morning and paper and drink vessels collected in the afternoon.
Ink cartridges are collected daily from the floors and weekly from the collection points. Batteries and DVD are collected from the collection tubes in the reception and placed in the collection points in the basement area and collected on request.
Waste is collected from all floors each evening by the evening cleaning staff and on request through the day via the janitor.
The waste from the floors goes to three collection points at Kings Pool split into general waste, paper, cardboard and other recyclable waste.
The waste is collected from these three points: general waste on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Paper, cardboard and other recycled waste every Monday.
Toner cartridges and batteries are collected from each floor as and when they are left for collection. Plastics, cans and glass are collected from the Beverage Bays daily and placed in the collection point in the undercroft car park and collected by a local recycling supplier once a week.
Waste is collected from each floor each evening by the evening cleaning team.
The waste goes to a collection point at Lion House.
The waste is then collected each Friday.
Toner cartridges and batteries are collected from each floor as and when they are left for collection. Paper, plastic and cans are collected from the recycling bins as and when they are full and on request and taken direct to the local recycling centre.
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