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21 Oct 2008 : Column 161W—continued
Council for Food Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how the newly established Council for Food Policy Advisers will work with EU partners. [227010]
Jane Kennedy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 6 October 2008 that he will be establishing a council of advisers on food policy. The Council will advise the Government on food affordability, security of supply and the environmental impact of food production.
Details of how the Council will work with EU and global partners will be discussed when the Council has been convened. The Council’s primary focus will be on food production, distribution and consumption in the UK, but it will also consider the impacts of global trends.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who the members are of the Council for Food Policy Advisers; and how they were selected. [227011]
Jane Kennedy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 6 October 2008 that he will be establishing a council of advisers on food policy. The Council will advise the Government on food affordability, security of supply and the environmental impact of food production.
Further details including the membership of the Council will be announced in due course.
Departmental Air Travel
James Duddridge:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) of 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 27W, on carbon emissions: Government departments, if he will place in the Library figures for the air mileage
incurred through departmental travel reported to his Department in order to calculate each departmental payment to the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund, for each participating government department, public body and agency in each year since the establishment of the Offsetting Fund, broken down by (a) domestic, (b) short haul and (c) long haul flights. [222200]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I will place in the Library of the House the air mileage(s) incurred and reported to DEFRA in order to calculate each departmental payment to the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund (GCOF), for each participating Government Department, public body and agency for the financial year 2006-07. The figures are broken down to short haul and long haul flights as domestic flights were not captured. Figures for the financial year 2007-08 are close to completion, and I will place these figures in the Library of the House when they are available.
Departmental Civil Service Agencies
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many agencies were sponsored by his Department or its predecessors in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 1997-98. [228511]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The ‘Next Steps Report 1997’ (Cm3889) provides information on all executive agencies as at 31 December 1997. Copies are available from the Library of the House. The most up-to-date list of executive agencies is published in the Cabinet Office publication ‘The List of Ministerial Responsibilities’. The latest version, incorporating recent ministerial changes, will be published shortly. Copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Departmental Public Participation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many citizens' juries his Department has held since 1 July 2007; what the cost was of each; what issues were discussed at each event; and how many (a) Ministers and (b) members of the public attended each event. [227474]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Department has held one citizens' jury since 1 July 2007:
Ducks
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to regulate the farming of ducks. [227910]
Jane Kennedy: The welfare of ducks is provided for in the general provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007. DEFRA also has a welfare code. There are no specific EU wide standards for duck welfare.
Environment Protection
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in implementing the conclusions of the review of enforcement in environmental regulation; and if he will make a statement. [228493]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 20 October 2008]: DEFRA's Fairer and Better Environmental Enforcement Project is building on the conclusions of the review of Enforcement in Environmental Regulation. The project is exploring, in discussion with other Departments, the potential for environmental regulators to use the civil sanctions enabled by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008, which implements key recommendations of the Macrory report, ‘Regulatory Justice: Making Sanctions Effective’. The project is also considering whether additional powers would assist the criminal courts in their role of sentencing serious environmental offenders proportionately and effectively. Any proposals that might result from this work will be the subject of full public consultation.
Environment Protection: Coastal Areas
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what sea defence projects are planned to be implemented in the next three years. [227849]
Jane Kennedy: The major new defence, refurbishment and beach management projects in Environment Agency and Local Authority programmes that are expected to provide improved protection against coastal erosion or sea flooding within the next three years, include the following locations:
Bexhill beach, East Sussex;
Cleveleys, Lancashire;
Denge beach, Dungeness, Kent;
Dymchurch, Kent;
Felixstowe, Suffolk;
Jaywick, Essex;
Pevensey Bay, East Sussex;
Stannah, Wyre Estuary;
Weston Super Mare, North Somerset.
The Environment Agency will fund other sea defence projects in the next three years that will deliver improved protection when they are completed, in 2011-12 and thereafter.
Fireworks: Noise
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many local authority enforcement actions have been taken against excessive noise from fireworks on private property in the last three years. [227820]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Department does not keep statistics on enforcement action taken by local authorities on statutory nuisance from noise under Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Statistics on local authority enforcement action for statutory nuisances under Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are kept by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, who collect them on a voluntary basis from local authorities.
Fisheries
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to introduce primary legislation to implement the recommendations of the Report of the Review of Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Legislative Project 2006, as recommended in the report; which recommendations of the Review of Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries 2000 have been implemented; and if he will make a statement. [228052]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review 2000 made 195 recommendations, 49 of which require changes to existing primary legislation. The Government accepted the majority of these 49 recommendations and made a commitment to introduce new legislation when parliamentary time so permitted.
The subsequent Review of Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Legislative Project identified that proposals to address obstructions to the free passage of fish in inland waters could be introduced through powers to implement the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC). A consultation on these proposals will be issued shortly.
Those recommendations, accepted by Government and identified as needing change to primary legislation and subsequently identified as critical by the Review of Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Legislative Project 2006 informed chapter 3, part 7 of the draft Marine Bill, published in April this year. These remain an integral part of the Marine Bill, which will be introduced subject to the availability of parliamentary time.
Most of the recommendations which the Government accepted, and which do not require new primary legislation have been completed: for example, the introduction of wider range of payment methods for rod licences, and elver/eel catch returns. Others, while being addressed, will take longer to complete, such as addressing the problem of siltation arising from agriculture. A copy of the complete table will be made available in the House of Commons Library.
The Government are committed to ensuring that salmon, trout, eels and freshwater fish should be managed in a modern way; to protect stocks for sustainable fishing, to protect habitats and reflects the importance of angling to the rural economy in England and Wales.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the stock of native migratory and freshwater fish, broken down by species, in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [228053]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Native stocks of migratory and freshwater fish are subject to extensive annual monitoring by the Environment Agency through the collection of catch statistics, programmes of river surveys, and other scientific sampling. These data are used to assess significant changes in stocks at the river catchment (or individual stillwater) level so that appropriate management interventions can be made. ‘Stock’ estimates are only collated at a national level for salmon (table 1).
The Environment Agency recently published a snapshot review of the status of the migratory and freshwater fisheries of England and Wales “Our Nations’ Fisheries”.
This report concluded that numbers of coarse fish (which includes 21 species) are increasing in many of our rivers, and sea trout are also generally doing very well. However, stocks of salmon and eel are depleted and this is thought to be due, in part at least, to environmental changes affecting the fish during the marine phases of their life cycles.
For salmon, detailed stock monitoring data are published annually in a report on the status of stocks and fisheries in England and Wales. Catch data for salmon and migratory trout, for both net and rod fisheries, are also published annually (totals provided in table 1). Such data are not systematically recorded and collated for other migratory and freshwater fish species. The aforementioned reports are available on the Environment Agency website at:
| Declared catches | ||||
| Estimated number of spawning fish returning to England and Wales | Salmon (Number)( 1) | Sea trout (Number)( 1) | Eels, yellow and silver only (Weight in tonnes)( 1) | |
| (1) Catch statistics do not provide a reliable measure of changes in stock size unless changes in exploitation rates are taken into account. | ||||
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