Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 4 June 2008
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Abandoned Vehicles
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statistics are collated by his Department on the number of abandoned cars. [208097]
Jonathan Shaw: Statistics on the number of abandoned vehicles are collated from WasteDataFlow and are published on the DEFRA website.
The statistics reveal a decrease from 223,500 in 2000-01 to 81,700 in 2006-07.
A copy of the data has been placed in the Library of the House.
Aggregates
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the tonnage of aggregates extracted in each year since 2002. [207696]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
Information on mineral extraction in Great Britain is available from the Annual Minerals Raised Inquiry undertaken by the Office of National Statistics for the Departments for Communities and Local Government and Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Information on aggregates extracted is set out in the following table.
| Aggregates (sand and gravel and crushed rock) extracted | ||||
| Million tonnes | ||||
| England | Wales | Scotland | Total | |
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of aggregates tonnage was recycled in each year since 1997. [207700]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
Estimates of the amounts of construction, demolition and excavation waste used as aggregates in England are available from the ‘Survey of Arisings and Use of Aggregates in England’ published by my Department. The survey is undertaken every two years. Information for the years 1999-2005 is as follows:
| Million tonnes | |
Flood Control: Vacancies
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many vacancies for (a) flood risk engineers, (b) flood risk planners, (c) flood risk project managers and (d) other flood risk management posts there are, in each region; and what steps his Department is taking to (i) recruit and (ii) retain people with relevant skills. [205608]
Mr. Woolas: Flood risk vacancies at the Environment Agency as of 14 May 2008 are broken down by region and can be found in the attached appendix. Figures for other operating authorities are not available centrally.
The Environment Agency runs a combination of national recruitment campaigns, targeted localised activity and annual schemes to attract civil engineering graduates and students for its Foundation Degree course in Rivers and Coastal Engineering.
The Environment Agency supports professional development enabling flood risk management engineers to achieve incorporated and chartered engineering status through the Engineering Council.
The Environment Agency has developed a new reward system to help recruit and retain employees with specialist skills; this will be implemented this year subject to relevant approvals.
| Appendix | ||
| Region | Positions | Vacancy |
Floods
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects Sir Michael Pitt to publish his final report on the summer floods of 2007. [208449]
Mr. Woolas: I expect Sir Michael Pitt to publish the final report in the period late June to early July.
Floods: Planning
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to conclude his Department’s review of emergency planning procedures and measures to be taken following the summer floods of 2007. [208448]
Mr. Woolas: DEFRA published a substantially revised Lead Government Department Plan, which sets out the responsibilities of DEFRA and others in relation to serious flooding, last December. A further revised version was issued on 22 May 2008. As revised, the plan takes account of lessons identified following the summer 2007 floods, the East Coast Tidal Surge of last November and the floods earlier this year, as well as issues raised in the Interim Pitt report.
DEFRA will continue to review and revise emergency planning procedures in light of any further recommendations from the Pitt Review and future flood events.
Horses: Animal Welfare
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2008, Official Report, column 464W, on horses: animal welfare, when he will place in the Library a copy of the file; what the reasons are for the time taken to place the file in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [207187]
Jonathan Shaw: Some of the papers were placed in the Library of the House on 3 June. The delay was caused by the need to identify those papers not to be published as they attract legal professional privilege.
Wales
Departmental Manpower
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many and what proportion of his Department’s employees are (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208403]
Mr. Paul Murphy: Information about the gender and ethnicity of Wales Office staff is published in our departmental annual report, available in the House Library or on our website at:
The Wales Office is a small organisation, which, in line with Cabinet Office guidance, does not specify the number of staff with disabilities for privacy reasons.
Wales Office staff are not required to provide any details of their sexuality, so information on this is not available.
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