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19 Mar 2008 : Column 1130W—continued
These figures are on the principal offence basis. Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
In addition, the number of individuals who were prosecuted under section 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 for offences involving specimens covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora during the same period, can be viewed in the following table.
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
Organic Farming: Subsidies
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was awarded from the public purse to the Co-operative Wholesale Society's farming division via countryside and land stewardship schemes and other Government-administered farm, environmental and landownership support schemes in respect of the Society's Stoughton farming estate within Harborough District and the Borough of Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire in each year for which figures are available. [190127]
Jonathan Shaw: Payments to Stoughton estate:
| £ | ||||
| All payments to Stoughton Estate | Countryside stewardship | Entry level stewardship | Other Government administered schemes( 1) | |
| (1) Other Government administered schemes includes FWPS, Slaughter Premium Scheme, LP, OFS | ||||
It is not possible to extract the amount paid to the Stoughton Estate through the Single Payment Scheme without incurring disproportionate cost.
Packaging: Carbon Emissions
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the level of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production, distribution and disposal of (a) plastic carrier bags and (b) paper bags of equivalent size; and if he will make a statement. [194895]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 17 March 2008]: Assessments by the Waste and Resources Action Programme put the emissions associated with the production, distribution and disposal of the 13 billion plastic carrier bags given out every year in the UK at around 234,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.
We do not have a carbon emissions figure for paper bags of equivalent size. However, many studies have shown that paper bags have the potential for greater environmental impacts, as they require more energy to produce, transport and recycle.
This is why the Government’s goal to phase out single-use carrier bags applies to both plastic and paper bags.
Refrigerators: Recycling
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of (a) chlorofluorocarbon, (b) hydrofluorocarbon and (c) hydrocarbon recovery rates arising from the recycling of fridges in the latest period for which figures are available. [194893]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 17 March 2008]: Recovery rates are not recorded for these categories separately.
For 2006, around 2.7 million fridges and freezers were collected for treatment in England and Wales. Around two million of these contained ozone-depleting substances when manufactured. Their treatment resulted in over 440 tonnes of ozone-depleting substances (e.g. chlorofluorocarbons) being recovered for destruction.
Figures for 2007 are not yet available.
Refrigerators: Waste Disposal
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of fridges disposed of by (a) fragmentisers and (b) approved authorised treatment facilities since the introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive; and if he will make a statement. [194891]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 17 March 2008]: DEFRA has not made any such estimates. All separately collected waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)—including fridges—must be treated by approved authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) in accordance with the published guidance on best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques. Some of these AATFs may be fragmentisers.
Under the WEEE Directive, fridges are included in the “large household appliances” category. AATFs record the amount of each WEEE category that they have treated but only those that are specialist fridge treatment plants record the number of fridges that have been treated. Figures for the number of fridges treated by fragmentisers or by AATFs in total are therefore not available.
Seeds: EC Action
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects of incremental costs for seed registration; and if he will make a statement. [193237]
Jonathan Shaw: The statutory fees relating to seeds registration are those charged by the national authorities in respect of costs reasonably incurred in carrying out official measures for the purposes of The Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 2001, as amended.
Fees were last revised in May 2006 following a major redesign of the official measures. This resulted in estimated savings in overall costs to the industry of £1 million a year.
The fees are currently subject to review and consultation with interested parties. Consultation proposals include a mixture of increases, and decreases to existing fees, and take account of the industry's ability to pay.
Sharks: Conservation
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps his Department is taking to secure an international ban on shark finning; [194903]
(2) if he will make it his policy to press for an international moratorium on shark hunting. [194904]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA is against the practice of finning sharks and discarding the bodies back into the sea. We are committed to reducing illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, where finning is thought to be practiced with resulting impacts on shark populations, by actively implementing the proposals of the High Seas Task Force in order to help identify and eliminate illegal fishing activity.
Our aim is to achieve the sustainable use and conservation of shark species at national-level. We will also work to influence the European Commission, both at EU-level and beyond where the European Commission represents member states in fora such as Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO) and the Convention on International trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The European Commission intends to adopt a communication on an EU plan of action for the conservation and management of sharks in December 2008. I believe this will provide an opportunity for the European Community to take an ecosystem approach to the management and conservation of sharks in EU waters and internationally. I intend to work with DEFRA officials, the commission and other member states towards this.
Sustainable Development: Products
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) which bodies his Department consulted during the development of the framework for the Energy-using Products Framework Directive; [193956]
(2) what plans he has to meet interested stakeholders in the three week consultation period following the consultation forum on the Energy-using Products Framework Directive held on 29 February. [193958]
Joan Ruddock: Following receipt, on 31 January, of the Commission’s proposed implementing measure on boilers and water heaters under the Framework Directive on the Eco Design of Energy Using Products (EuP), the Market Transformation Programme (MTP) sent a copy of the proposals to a distribution list of several hundred stakeholders. These included any business or trade association that had previously expressed an interest in receiving information on developments on heating. The MTP asked for comments within three weeks to prepare a position for the Consultation Forum meeting on 29 February.
DEFRA officials held a large stakeholder meeting on 4 February to discuss both the proposals in the consultation paper on domestic heating and to receive feedback from industry on the Commission’s proposals on boilers and water heaters. In addition, officials have held a number of ad hoc meetings with key stakeholders from the boiler and water heater industry, (including a site visit to better understand the boiler supply chain) to discuss the implications of the proposals on boilers and water heaters for the UK.
DEFRA officials will continue to engage with stakeholders on this issue following the consultation forum held on 29 February.
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Energy-using Products Framework Directive does not disadvantage small and medium-sized manufacturers. [193957]
Joan Ruddock: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 7 March 2008, Official Report, columns 2877-8W to the hon. Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh).
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the likely effects of the Energy-using Products Framework Directive on equipment currently installed in homes; and what estimate he has made of the number of room thermostats and programmers which will become redundant each year. [193959]
Joan Ruddock: The Government’s Market Transformation Programme is currently assessing the full range of possible impacts of the implementation of the Energy Using Products Directive, based on the Commission’s current proposals.
DEFRA has not made any assessment of the number of room thermostats and programmers which become redundant each year. We estimate that around 1.5 million boilers are changed each year. The opportunity may be taken to replace some of the controls when a new boiler is installed, in which case the old controls may be considered redundant.
Trapping
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2008, Official Report, column 49W, on trapping, what plans he has to commission research into alternatives to snaring. [194534]
Joan Ruddock: DEFRA has previously funded research into the use of padded leg-cuffs and is currently funding research into the use of fertility control to manage over abundant wildlife. The Independent Snares Working Group highlighted the limited information on the humaneness of snares and DEFRA acknowledged this in its Snares Action Plan. DEFRA has, therefore, recently commissioned research to determine the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales.
Waste and Resources Action Programme: Finance
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Waste and Resources Action programme’s budget was in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2007-08; and what its budget will be in 2008-09. [194908]
Joan Ruddock: Total funding allocated to the Waste and Resources Action programme from DEFRA’s funding streams for the years requested is as follows:
| Year | Total (£) |
Waste Disposal: Plastics
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate he has made of the volume of waste plastics to be sent from the UK to China for processing in each of the next five years; [194561]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect changes in the amount of UK plastics waste taken by China will have on the UK’s performance in recycling. [194562]
Joan Ruddock: No such estimate has been made. Based on HM Revenue and Customs figures, it is estimated that in 2006 (the last year for which figures are available) the UK exported 441,000 tonnes of plastic. This figure will include recyclable materials collected from all sources including households, commerce and industry. However, records are not held of the destination country of exports of UK non-hazardous plastic waste for recycling.
The Environment Agency has published a range of guidance on the international shipment of waste. This is available on its website.
The UK currently recycles or recovers approximately 19 per cent. of all plastic consumed and this is set to increase to over 25 per cent. by 2010. In terms of processing capacity within the UK, according to studies carried out by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the indication is that the UK has, in fact, excess capacity to process plastic waste. Many plants are investing in new capacity or updating and consolidating existing plants, some with support from WRAP. WRAP also has a number of projects designed to maximise the amount and quality of recyclate, including plastics, used in UK manufacturing operations.
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what alternatives exist to the disposal of UK waste plastics by China. [194563]
Joan Ruddock: It is illegal to export waste (including waste plastics) from the UK to other countries, such as China, for disposal, but it can be exported for reuse or recycling (recovery).
The Environment Agency has published a range of guidance on the international shipment of waste, including guidance on the controls that apply to exports for recovery. This is available on its website.
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