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31 Mar 2008 : Column 490W—continued
Carbon Offsetting Fund
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy for payments from the Department for Communities and Local Government towards the Carbon Offsetting Fund to be used to support offsetting or renewable energy projects in local communities in the UK. [194769]
Mr. Woolas: There are currently no viable energy efficiency or renewable energy UK offsetting projects due to our membership of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS).
This is because the UK prefers to meet its targets through direct emission reductions, rather than offsets.
Chemicals: Waste Disposal
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which municipal waste disposal sites received chemical waste generated by Monsanto in the latest period for which data are available. [195192]
Joan Ruddock: Wastes are categorised as hazardous, non-hazardous or inert. Specific waste streams are then sub-categorised using the European Waste Catalogue. The term “chemical waste” is not a category that is currently in use.
The Environment Agency authorises waste types that are appropriate for landfilling but does not normally authorise individual and specific waste sources. The Environment Agency is therefore not able to state categorically which of 1,500-plus operational and closed landfill sites in England and Wales have received chemical waste from Monsanto.
Consignment notes held by waste management facilities would record the source of the waste. Prior to 2005, the Environment Agency was sent copies of these consignment notes, but the cost of extracting the
required information from these records would be disproportionate. The Environment Agency retains these records for four years so would not be able to provide a full account of wastes deposited by Monsanto even if data were readily available.
Climate Change
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what research he has evaluated to develop his policy on anthropogenic climate change; [196405]
(2) what assessment he has made of the reliability of the scientific evidence on which each of the four Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports has been based; and if he will make a statement; [196408]
(3) what assessment he has made of the reliability of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports in developing his policies on climate change. [196409]
Mr. Woolas: The scientific basis for understanding anthropogenic climate change is extremely strong. DEFRA evaluates the evidence provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its comprehensive reports, as well as through DEFRA and Ministry of Defence funded climate research undertaken by the UK's world-leading Met Office in Hadley Centre, in Exeter; and through ongoing contact with other climate researchers in the UK and elsewhere.
Four assessment reports have been completed in 1990, 1995, 2001 and the latest in 2007. The UK fully supports the work of the IPCC and regards its assessments as providing the most authoritative view of climate change. The IPCC assessments have fully informed the development of domestic climate policy and the UK position in international climate negotiations.
Hundreds of UK scientists were involved in the preparation of the fourth assessment report and DEFRA supports lead authors and review editors to participate in IPCC writing groups.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has received on the Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change; and if he will make a statement. [196406]
Mr. Woolas: DEFRA has received no representations on the Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.
Departmental Pensions
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of staff in his Department were making additional voluntary contributions to their pensions in each of the last two years. [193566]
Jonathan Shaw: 599 members of staff in core-DEFRA and those Executive agencies covered by the core-Department's terms and conditions: Animal Health, Marine and Fisheries Agency, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Government Decontamination Service and Pesticides Safety Directorate (9.75 per cent. of total number of staff employed in core-DEFRA and the named Executive agencies) were making additional voluntary pension contributions through deductions from their pay in February 2007. This has decreased to 544 members of staff (9.74 per cent. of total number of staff employed in core-DEFRA and the named Executive agencies) who were making additional voluntary pension contributions through deductions from their pay in February 2008.
Domestic Wastes: Contracts
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) subject and (b) cost was of each research contract (i) his Department and (ii) WRAP have commissioned on household waste since 2001. [192176]
Joan Ruddock: The Waste and Resources Research Programme (now renamed the Waste and Resources Evidence Programme since the publication of DEFRA’s Waste and Resources Evidence Strategy 2007-11 in September 2007) only started commissioning research projects from the summer of 2005. The following table lists those projects that have some association with household waste issues.
Details of the research contracts on household waste that were commissioned by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) can be found on its website at:
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