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22 Apr 2008 : Column 1914W—continued
St. Pierre and Miquelon
St. Vincent
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Trinidad and Tobago
United Arab Emirates
USA (mainland)
Vanuatu
Vatican
Wallis and Funtuna.
(1 )Dogs, cats and ferrets prepared for PETS in, or returning under PETS to the UK from, the Republic of Cyprus may enter or re-enter the UK without quarantine. However, PETS compliant animals travelling from north Cyprus (the area north of the buffer zone) must be licensed into quarantine for six months on arrival in the UK. This must be arranged before the animal travels.
(2) Includes St. Barthelemy and St. Martin (French part of the island).
(3) No preparation or documentation is necessary for the movement of pets directly between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
(4) Although Jamaica is a qualifying country under the EU Regulation, Jamaican law currently prevents the involvement of that country in PETS. PETS-prepared animals may not enter Jamaica and animals may not be prepared for PETS in Jamaica.
(5) The import into UK quarantine of dogs and cats from Malaysia (Peninsula) is prohibited unless health certification provided by the Malaysian veterinary authorities is provided which confirms that the cat or dog:
(i) has had no contact with pigs during at least the 60 days prior to export; and
(ii) has not been resident on holdings where during the past 60 days any case of Nipah disease has been confirmed; and
(iii) has been subjected with a negative result to an IgC capture ELISA test carried out in a laboratory approved for testing for antibody against the Nipah disease viruses by the competent veterinary authorities on a sample of blood taken within 10 days of export.
(6) The Russian Federation consists of 88 subjects (regions). Please note that the following Republics are not part of the Russian Federation: Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Pig Meat
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of pig-meat products bought in England was (a) produced in England, (b) produced outside England and (i) packaged and (ii) labelled in England and (c) produced and packaged outside England in the latest period for which figures are available. [198599]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA does not collect data in this form.
Rackspace
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total value was of each contract awarded to Rackspace by (a) his Department and its predecessors and (b) its agencies in each of the last nine years. [197506]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally, no expenditure has been incurred by core-DEFRA with Rackspace. Information on any expenditure by DEFRA’s executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies with Rackspace is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Recreation Spaces: Urban Areas
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many pieces of land have been designated as a town green under the Commons Act 2006. [200073]
Jonathan Shaw: This information is not held centrally. No practical distinction is made in law between town and village greens. A survey of commons registration authorities undertaken in September 2007 recorded that, among the two-fifths of authorities responding, four new greens had been registered under section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 since it was brought into force on 6 April 2007.
Rural Areas: Housing
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the likely effects of ending central Government funding for the rural housing enablers on the number of affordable houses in rural areas. [199938]
Jonathan Shaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 3 March 2008, Official Report, column 2138W.
Veterinary Medicine
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to introduce changes to the Veterinary Medicines Directive. [198810]
Jonathan Shaw: The veterinary medicines directive (2001/82) was last amended by directive 2004/28. These changes were implemented in national legislation by the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2005. The European Commission has consulted stakeholders on proposals to change the requirements for varying national marketing authorisations in order to reduce the administrative burden on industry while maintaining the safety of animals, consumers and the environment. Discussions with member states on amendments to directive 2001/82 started recently.
The Veterinary Medicines Regulations are revoked and remade annually in order to keep them up to date and to provide a single piece of veterinary medicines legislation in the UK. The consultation on proposals for change in 2008 has started and comments are due by 9 June 2008. Details of the consultation are available on the veterinary medicines directorate's website:
Whales: Conservation
Tom Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations
his Department has made to the government of (a) Angola, (b) the Republic of Congo, (c) Equatorial Guinea, (d) Eritrea, (e) Ghana, (f) Malawi, (g) the Federal States of Micronesia, (h) Tanzania and (i) Vanuatu on the recruitment of each to the International Whaling Commission; and if he will make a statement. [199457]
Jonathan Shaw: The publication “Protecting Whales—A Global Responsibility” has been sent to over 60 countries, both anti and pro-whaling, including current and non members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), encouraging them to join the effort to protect these species.
Providing details of these countries and the letters sent to them could compromise our efforts to either persuade conservation minded countries to join the IWC and adopt an anti-whaling stance, or if thinking of joining the IWC with a pro-foreign and whaling stance, change their mind.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office posts will continue to lobby countries in support of the UK’s position, seeking to encourage new anti-whaling members to the IWC and endeavouring to change the opinion of Governments which currently support whaling.
Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government’s aims for the outcome of the forthcoming annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission are; at what level the UK will be represented; and if he will make a statement. [199280]
Jonathan Shaw: The UK will play an important role in the conservation and protection of cetaceans at the next annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to be held in Santiago, Chile in June 2008, which I plan to attend.
We will continue to support the IWC’s moratorium on commercial whaling and oppose all forms of whaling, other than limited whaling operations by indigenous people for subsistence purposes.
The UK will promote the non-lethal use of cetaceans (that is, whale-watching) and continue to highlight the unacceptable level of cruelty involved in current whaling operations, supporting proposals that increase welfare provisions. We will once again vote in support of the creation of Whale Sanctuaries.
Defence
Armed Forces: Housing
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent on (a) the married quarters estate and (b) single living accommodation in England and Wales in each year since 1997; and how much will be spent on each type in each year to 2013. [165873]
Derek Twigg: Information regarding maintenance and new build family housing for England and Wales only is not available in the format requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information is available for Great Britain from 2001-02 and is:
| £ million | |
Single living accommodation (SLA) is funded by several areas of the Department and total maintenance expenditure could be collated only at disproportionate cost. Information in relation to SLA modernisation programmes is only available from 2003-04 and is as follows:
| £ million | |
Following the comprehensive spending review, the Department is in the process of finalising budgets for individual years and it would be inappropriate to comment on what these budgets will be until that process is complete. We, however, anticipate spending over £8 billion over the next decade, including over £3 billion on the upgrade and improvement of accommodation.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many homes his Department sold in each local authority area of Scotland in each year since 1997; and what proportion of those homes were sold or otherwise transferred to the relevant local authority or a registered social landlord in each of those years. [197418]
Derek Twigg: Records of all Service housing sold in Scotland since 1997 are either not held centrally or no longer available. It will take a time to establish what information can be provided without incurring disproportionate cost and effort. I will write to the hon. Member.
Substantive answer from Derek Twigg to Danny Alexander:
I undertook to write to you in answer to your question on 1 April 2008, Official Report, column 785W, about the number of homes the Department sold in each local authority area of Scotland in each year since 1997 and the proportion that were sold or otherwise transferred to the relevant local authority or registered social landlord.
Information in the detail requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, I am able to provide details of Ministry of Defence properties sold in Scotland in each financial year since 2000-01, which are at Annex A.
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