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19 Nov 2008 : Column 474W—continued
Departmental Buildings
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) of 27 October 2008, Official Report, column 610W, on departmental buildings, whether his Department is paying empty property business rates in relation to 1A Page Street. [236041]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Department having claimed the empty property rates relief permitted by legislation, is now paying empty property business rates in respect of this vacant building.
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 6 November 2008, Official Report, columns 654-56W, on domestic waste, what advice has been given to the local authorities by (a) his Department and (b) the Waste and Resources Action Programme on how to meet the targets to reduce residual household waste. [236035]
Jane Kennedy: In order to reduce the amount of residual household waste for disposal, local authorities can promote a range of sustainable activities. These include waste prevention, encouraging re-use, home composting and increasing recycling. Local authorities are actively promoting all these options. WRAP offers a wide range of guidance and practical support to local authorities on these issues.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 4 November 2008, Official Report, column 401W, on the Waste and Resources Action Programme, whether the awareness programme included discussions of issues relating to (a) alternative weekly collection, (b) household waste collection and (c) charging for the collection of household waste. [236040]
Jane Kennedy: The awareness programme involved meetings at which WRAP staff updated individual political stakeholders on the full range of WRAP’s activities. This included the four priorities in WRAP’s current business plan: food waste, packaging waste, quality of materials and providing advice to local authorities on devising effective collection schemes.
Floods: Essex
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent steps have been taken to strengthen flood protection measures in Essex. [235799]
Jane Kennedy:
In the last year, the Environment Agency has invested approximately £22.7 million in Essex. This includes work on defence improvements, maintenance and the construction of new schemes. The Environment Agency has invested in strategic plans and
the detailed appraisal of schemes to be constructed in future years. Improvements have been made to the accuracy and availability of flood warnings and the Essex multi-agency flood plan has been improved.
Inspections
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Animal Health Executive Agency has spent on training its inspectors in each of the last five years, broken down by training programme. [237197]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 18 November 2008]: Animal Health (AH) became an Executive Agency of DEFRA on 1 April 2005 and can only report full year spend for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08. AH do not hold figures of training by programme; this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The overall spend figures are shown in the following table:
| £ | |
| Note: AH was called the 'State Veterinary Service' upon its inception on 1 April 2005 and was joined by the Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate, the Egg Marketing Inspectorate and the Wildlife Licensing and Registration Service to together become ‘Animal Health' on 1 April 2007. Source: These data were sourced from the Corporate Finance and Human Resources teams, both located in Animal Health Corporate Centre at Worcester. | |
Public Relations: Forestry Commission
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Forestry Commission has spent on (a) external public affairs and (b) public relations in each of the last five years. [236523]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Forestry Commission in England engages in a wide range of external communications activities including the promotion of forestry policy and the benefits of sustainable woodland management. It also promotes the public forest estate both as a sustainably managed asset and a major resource for public access and recreation. Promotion and communication of these activities is delivered though a wide range of channels including the media, publications, events, marketing of visitor attractions and on the internet. Indicative costs for this work over the last five years are:
| £000 | |
Recycling
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if the Environment Agency will take steps to increase the transparency of
the final destination of materials collected for recycling once the materials are transferred from local authorities to waste disposal companies. [235138]
Jane Kennedy: The Environment Agency is in the process of issuing guidance to Waste Disposal Authorities (WDA) clarifying that they should report details of the final destination of the waste (i.e. the name and address of the final destination facility in the UK) in their existing quarterly Waste Data Flow (WDF) return. A number of WDAs are already providing comprehensive final destination details.
Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickle) of 4 November 2008, Official Report, column 401W, on waste disposal: council tax, whether the charges levied through waste incentive pilot schemes will be classified as a form of taxation for the purposes of the national statistics. [235851]
Jane Kennedy: The Office for National Statistics has responsibility for determining the classification of income for the purposes of national accounts.
Waste Management
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department has issued on the co-mingling of commercial and domestic waste at the point of collection. [235929]
Water: Meters
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what modelling his Department has done on the impact of water metering on low income groups; and if he will make a statement; [235659]
(2) what his Department’s policy is on the future of water metering; and if he will make a statement. [235660]
Jane Kennedy: The Government’s water strategy for England “Future Water” was published in February 2008. In that report, an independent review was announced to advise on metering and charging. The review, led by Anna Walker, is currently under way and a call for evidence was issued on 14 November.
Severn Barrage: Nature Conservation
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects a Severn Barrage would have in terms of identifying compensatory habitats under the EU Habitats Directive. [235338]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.
A high level review of the feasibility of a number of possible compensation and mitigation measures has been undertaken in this first phase of the feasibility
study. This review will be published as part of a public consultation early in the new year, subject to an internal review of the feasibility study.
Should the decision be taken to go ahead with the second phase, then more work is anticipated within the study next year on the scope to mitigate environmental impacts through the construction and operation of tidal power scheme options, and on compensatory measures for impacts that cannot be mitigated.
Northern Ireland
Terrorist Activity
3. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of levels of terrorist activity in Northern Ireland. [235740]
Paul Goggins: The 20(th) IMC report confirms that Dissident Republicans remain a serious and continuing threat, intent on killing police officers. The report also makes clear, that while some loyalists want to make progress, this is disappointingly slow, particularly with regard to Decommissioning.
Departmental Policy Priorities
6. Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department’s policy priorities are for 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [235744]
Paul Goggins: My Department’s main objective is to support devolved Government in Northern Ireland and to devolve policing and justice when requested to do so by the Assembly. The Northern Ireland Office’s Strategic Objectives for the CSR2007 period are published on the NIO website.
Saville Inquiry
7. Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions the Government has had with Lord Saville or his inquiry staff on the Bloody Sunday report and the time taken to finalise it. [235745]
Mr. Woodward: Northern Ireland Office officials regularly meet inquiry staff to discuss corporate governance issues, including financial forecasts. Following news of the recent delay, senior NIO officials met the Inquiry Secretary to discuss urgent measures to control future costs.
Policing and Justice
8. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent representations he has received on the devolution of policing and justice matters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [235746]
Mr. Woodward: Following yesterday’s historic agreement between First and Deputy First Minister on the devolution of policing and justice the Government continue to engage with political parties to help complete devolution in Northern Ireland.
12. Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on the devolution of policing and criminal justice matters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [235752]
Mr. Woodward: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor).
9. Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made on the devolution of policing to the Northern Ireland Assembly. [235748]
Mr. Woodward: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor).
Republican Paramilitary Activity
10. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the recent report by the Independent Monitoring Commission on levels of republican paramilitary activity. [235750]
Paul Goggins: The 20(th) IMC report underlines the significant progress that Northern Ireland has made away from conflict and towards a more normal society. While they have no public support, the threat from dissident republicans is high and they remain determined to kill or injure police officers.
Northern Ireland Executive
11. Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect on the operation of the planning system in Northern Ireland of the fact that the Northern Ireland Executive have not met recently. [235751]
Paul Goggins: The operation of the planning system is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland. I am sure that, when it meets, the Executive will give a high priority to issues that have an impact on economic and social development in Northern Ireland.
Prisoners
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the total prison population in Northern Ireland is. [235791]
Paul Goggins: At 17 November the total prison population in Northern Ireland was 1,556.
Transport
Aviation: Crew
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of drug and alcohol testing relating to persons in charge of an aeroplane; and if he will make a statement. [234912]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 introduced alcohol limits for persons performing specified aviation functions, including acting as a pilot of an aircraft. The prescribed limit for pilots is 20 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. In addition the Act empowers the police to test persons performing aviation functions if they have reasonable suspicion that they are over the alcohol limit or are otherwise impaired by drink or drugs.
Since the introduction of this Bill a number of pilots have been convicted of exceeding the prescribed limit for alcohol. However, there is no evidence of widespread alcohol or drugs abuse by pilots. Nor have there been any accidents or incidents involving UK airlines that have been found to have resulted from alcohol or drugs use by pilots.
Aviation: EU Action
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what plans there are for harmonising type approval of aircraft across the European Union; and if he will make a statement; [237003]
(2) what the cost to the applicant to obtain type approval from the Civil Aviation Authority for a new model of aircraft for use in the UK was for each of the last 10 such approved applications; and how long the application process took to complete in each case. [237004]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Under EC Regulation 216/2008 the type certification of the majority of aircraft manufactured or registered in EU member states is the responsibility of the European Aviation Safety Agency. This has been the position since 2003 when the agency came into being. However, certain aircraft types listed in annex II to the regulation are not covered by the agency’s remit. The aviation authority of the member state in which any such aircraft is registered remains responsible for its type certification or, in the case of aircraft not eligible for a type certificate, the approval of a permit to fly. At this time there are no plans for harmonising for the certification requirements for these aircraft.
The Department for Transport does not hold detailed information relating to the time taken by the CAA to process each application for a type certificate or a type approval for permits to fly nor the charges made. Such information will be available from the CAA.
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