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14 Mar 2008 : Column 709W—continued
The Environment Agency continues to drive its efficiency programme to develop better ways of working to reduce costs and deliver more for the environment. Environment Agency efficiency targets over the spending review period are £25 million per annum, of which some £15 million will be flood risk management.
Floods: Finance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to allocate funding in accordance with the Pitt Recommendations following the summer floods 2007. [192082]
Mr. Woolas: It has not yet been determined how the money to fund work arising from the Pitt review will be allocated. A decision is not expected until after the final report has been produced and the recommendations within it considered and prioritised. In the meantime we are pursuing the urgent recommendations from the interim report in December.
Warm Front scheme: Disadvantaged
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will assess the likely effect of the reduction of the annual funding for the Warm Front grant on the delivery of services to settlements of fewer than 10,000 people classified as (a) hard to reach and (b) hard to treat, with particular reference to the (i) waiting times for installation and (ii) the average amount customers will have to pay as a top-up. [191424]
Mr. Woolas: No direct assessment has taken place, and DEFRA has no plans to do so in future.
However, Warm Front will continue to target properties that are difficult to reach and treat to enable them to benefit from the scheme. This includes those in settlements of fewer than 10,000 people.
As confirmed in the Government's 5th Annual Report on the UK's Fuel Poverty Strategy published in December 2007, funding for the Warm Front scheme for 2008-11 period will be just over £800 million.
Litter
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to review the regulations over the timing of litter picking set out in the Environment Protection Act 1990; and if he will make a statement. [192141]
Joan Ruddock: Response times for street cleansing are set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (available from the DEFRA website) which was revised in 2006.
Sea Fishing: White Fish
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he has made a comparative assessment of the potential value of the recreational sea fishery for bass and the value of commercial landings of bass. [189945]
Jonathan Shaw: No. The potential value of recreational fishing for bass and the value of commercial landings of bass measure different things and therefore are not directly comparable. The potential value of recreational fishing for bass would include expenditure by anglers on items such as travel and accommodation, whereas the value of commercial landings of bass covers only the value of fish landed and does not take account of the economic contribution of related activity such as processing. However, in developing any management measures for stocks of interest to anglers, I would want to assess where possible the potential value of the measure to both recreational anglers and commercial fishermen.
I am currently consulting on a draft recreational sea angling strategy which considers a package of measures for the development of recreational sea fishing. The consultation closes on 31 March.
Whales: Nature Conservation
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 280W, on whales: nature conservation, when he will hold the meeting of like-minded anti-whaling countries; whether there will be any Ministers present; and if he will make a statement; [193206]
(2) whether he has written to any other countries to encourage them to join the International Whaling Commission; and if he will make a statement. [193210]
Jonathan Shaw: The UK commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) hosted a meeting of like-minded anti-whaling countries immediately prior to the inter-sessional meeting of the IWC on 5 March 2008 in Heathrow, London. There were no Ministers present. However, I do plan to attend the annual IWC meeting in Chile in June this year.
I have not yet written to any countries on the issue of membership. However, as stated in previous responses to questions from the hon. Member, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Hilary Benn) has recently written to 18 countries, encouraging them to join the IWC for the greater protection of whales.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what his objective is for the inter-sessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission to be held on 6 to 8 March 2008; and if he will make a statement; [193207]
(2) which countries are attending the inter-sessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission to be held on 6 to 8 March 2008; [193208]
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) agenda and (b) minutes of the inter-sessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission, of 6 to 8 March 2008; and if he will make a statement. [193209]
Jonathan Shaw: The UK’s policy on whaling did not change either in the build up to, or during the course of, the inter-sessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The UK continues to support the IWC Moratorium on commercial whaling and opposes all forms of whaling, other than limited whaling operations by indigenous people for subsistence purposes, to meet a defined and substantiated need.
The agenda from the meeting, the list of its attendees and the statements it generated are all currently available on the IWC website, with a full report from the chair to follow in due course.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Expenditure Limits
Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to his written statement of 19 February 2008, Official Report, columns 34-37WS, on the departmental expenditure limit 2007-08, what the reasons are for the drawdown on the reserve for matched funding in the spring supplementary estimate exceeding that forecast in the winter supplementary estimate by £74,729,000. [194572]
Phil Hope: The drawdown was to provide agreed match funding to ‘v’; v is a charity which helps introduce young people to volunteering.
The amount of £4,729,000 was in addition to the amount drawndown in the winter supplementary estimate and not in excess of it.
Voluntary Organisations: Contracts
Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what tendering process was undertaken for the contract to administer the Grassroots Grants programme. [194574]
Phil Hope: The Community Development Foundation (CDF) was appointed as the lead national partner administering the Grassroots Grants programme under the terms of a framework agreement between CDF and Cabinet Office.
A fair and open competitive procurement exercise in 2005, compliant with EU rules and UK Government policy and procedures, identified CDF as one of four partners to the framework agreement. These organisations can then be selected through a call-off arrangement to administer strategic and other grant programmes. The tender panel concluded that CDF should be first choice for projects that have a community interest.
In 2007 the Office of the Third Sector issued a formal Request to Participate to CDF under the framework agreement, and CDF submitted a detailed proposal that fully demonstrated their suitability as lead national partner for Grassroots Grants.
Defence
Air Force: Deployment
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average unit tour interval was for each (a) aircraft and (b) helicopter crew type in the Royal Air Force in the latest period for which figures are available. [193091]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The following table provides the latest average tour intervals between deployments for the crews of the aircraft and helicopter types specified. It should be noted that there may be variances for individual crew members.
| Weeks | |
| Average crew tour interval | |
Tour lengths for crew on different aircraft/helicopter types vary from three to 12
Armed Forces: Pay
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have (a) not received their salaries in full and (b) not received any salary payment in each of the last 12 months; what the total sums (i) underpaid and (ii) not paid were; and how much is outstanding. [175794]
Derek Twigg: The number of underpayments resulting from joint personnel administration system errors in the last 12 months is as follows:
The total sums underpaid, not paid and still outstanding are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, local cash payments are always available to individuals and in the vast majority of cases once a central pay error is identified, it is corrected within one or, at most, two months.
In accordance with the former Armed Forces Personnel and Administration Agency’s performance against key target 1 (timeliness of pay), as set out in its
annual corporate plan and annual report and accounts, 773 monthly salary payments, out of a total of more than three million, were paid late in financial year 2006-07, the last full financial year available. The definition of a late payment is when no money is paid into an individual’s account on the designated day for that month. In all cases where late payments will result in hardship, the unit to which an individual is assigned is authorised to make cash payments in lieu.
Delays or errors in individual payments can also occur as the result of late or incorrect inputs by unit human resources staff, and failures to follow the correct processes within the payroll area. This information is held centrally.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the in-service dates were of the (a) Mastiff, (b) Bulldog and (c) Vector vehicles. [193874]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The in service dates for Mastiff (tranche 1), Bulldog and Vector (tranche 1) were, 31 December 2006, 31 August 2006, and 31 March 2007 respectively.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports (a) were filed in each year since 2003 and (b) have been filed in the last 12 months for each armoured vehicle type . [193875]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: As reported by the users, the approximate number of equipment failure reports filed in each year since 2003 and filed in the last 12 months for each armoured vehicle type are:
| Vehicle Type | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 so far | Last 12 Months |
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