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16 Dec 2008 : Column 558W—continued
Departmental Work Experience
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many individuals have worked in his Department on (a) paid work experience or internship placements and (b) unpaid work experience or internships in each of the past three years; on average how many hours a week were worked by such people in each year; what types of work each was involved in; what proportion were in full-time education; what proportion did not complete their set period of work experience; and how much those who received remuneration were paid on average per week in each year. [242115]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Placements within DEFRA are arranged locally between students and the area in which they are seeking to gain work experience. As a consequence, the information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Farming Links
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of (a) production and (b) distribution of the latest edition of Farming Link was; and how many copies were produced. [242705]
Jane Kennedy: The total cost for the November edition of Farming Link was £90,193 and included costs for design, editorial and online (£24,559), print (£30,634) and postage (around £35,000). The print run was 140,000 copies.
Flood Control
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) with reference to the answer of 27 October 2008, Official Report, column 614W, on flood control, what the (a) original and (b) most recently projected completion date of each flood protection scheme in each of the last five years is; and what the reasons are for the differences in each case; [242712]
(2) what the original completion date was for each of the Environment Agency's flood defence projects undertaken in the last five years; and what the latest expected completion date is in each case. [242713]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
From 2004 to 2008 the Environment Agency's National Capital Programme Management Service was responsible for a total of 146 completed flood management projects. Of these, 83 were completed early or on time and 44 were completed within two
months of the expected completion date. 19 projects were delayed by two months or more.
Information is not available for projects completed before 2004.
In most cases the projects are operational and protect houses before the final completion date of the construction works. For schemes completed within two months of the target date, the delays have been attributed to:
Poor weather conditions
High/low river flows
Planning permission
Legislative changes
Environmental permitting
A list of the schemes delayed for more than two months, including the original and expected/actual completion dates and the reasons for the delay, where available, have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many flood defence projects have been postponed in each of the last three years; and what the reasons were in each case. [242794]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
DEFRA has overall policy responsibility for flood risk management and provides funding for schemes to Operating Authorities (Environment Agency, local authorities and Internal Drainage Boards). The funding for flood risk has been administered by the
Environment Agency since April 2006. Information on potential projects is collected from operating authorities and the Environment Agency decides which projects to promote and their timing to meet the targets set by DEFRA. Since the projects are not formally approved until funding is confirmed none will have been postponed or have had their commencement delayed.
Flood Control: Databases
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will allow insurance companies and other interested parties access to the national coastal defence database. [242591]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Environment Agency has developed and now operates a National Flood and Coastal Defence Database (NFCDD).
Insurers are not provided with direct access to extract data from the NFCDD and requests for data are considered on a case by case basis.
NFCDD information is used to derive the Environment Agency’s national flood risk assessment and other products which are made available to insurers.
Floods: Maps
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department has taken to map surface water flooding as recommended by Sir Michael Pitt in his final report. [241296]
Huw Irranca-Davies: We have already taken a number of steps in response to Sir Michael Pitt’s findings and will be publishing a detailed response together with a prioritised action plan shortly.
Floods: Repairs and Maintenance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will review building regulations to ensure flood resilient repair following a flood; and if he will make a statement. [242593]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
Recommendation 11 of ‘The Pitt Review: Lessons learned from the 2007 floods’ was that:
“Building Regulations should be revised to ensure that all new or refurbished buildings in high flood-risk areas are flood resistant or resilient".
We will shortly be announcing the Government's response to the Pitt report.
Fly Tipping: Prosecutions
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fly-tipping offences have been successfully prosecuted under the provisions of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. [240894]
Jane Kennedy: Local authorities and the Environment Agency do not record prosecutions brought specifically under the provisions of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, which amended the EPA.
Forestry Commission
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the market value of the Forestry Commission. [242784]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I have not made an estimate of the market value of the Forestry Commission. Its published Great Britain/England accounts for the year ending 31 March 2008, and which are available in the Library of the House, value its assets at £612.7 million, of which £487.9 million is attributed to the forest estate that the Commission manages.
Genetically Modified Organisms
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Genetically-Modified Organisms Panel of the European Food Safety Agency to advise on the potential risks to health and the environment of genetically-modified organisms; if he will support proposals for reform of the panel; and if he will make a statement. [242648]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Earlier this month the EU Environmental Council adopted a set of written conclusions on GM issues. Among other things, these set out an agreed view on the operation of the risk assessment process for genetically-modified organisms, including in respect of the role played by European Food Safety Agency in providing expert advice. The UK supported the adoption of the conclusions, the full text of which is available at:
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consideration he has given to the provisions of the relevant concordat between the competent authorities in Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland when (a) negotiating and (b) voting in the Council of Ministers on matters of assessments and authorisations for genetically-modified organisms in Europe; and if he will make a statement. [243550]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The principles set down in the concordat continue to provide a clear framework for liaison between the four UK competent authorities on the matters covered by the agreement, including the assessment and authorisation of GMOs under EU Directive 2001/18.
Genetically Modified Organisms: Crops
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many inspections of genetically modified organism (GMO) test sites have been carried out by the GM Inspectorate relating to Part B consents in respect of experimental releases of GMOs under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 1992 and the GMO (Deliberate Release) (England) Regulations 2002 in England since January 2000; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each inspection report. [241623]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In total 718 inspections of GM release sites have taken place since January 2000.
The Central Science Laboratory’s GM inspectorate has made 341 growing season inspections since it assumed its responsibilities in June 2000. Each part B trial site is inspected at least once when the crop is in the ground, but additional inspections may be undertaken at sowing or at harvest, or where an incident has occurred at the release site. The reports can be found on the internet at:
In addition the GM inspectorate has made 337 inspection visits following completion of trials. I have arranged for copies of the reports from these visits to be placed in the Library .
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was responsible for all inspections prior to 1 June 2000 and since then has retained responsibility for inspections of GM clinical trial applications. I have also arranged for copies of HSE’s 40 inspection reports to be placed in the Library.
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many sites growing genetically modified organisms grant Part C authorisation for commercial cultivation under Directive 90/220 or 2001/18 have been sown since January 2000; and how many of these sites have been vandalised. [241625]
Huw Irranca-Davies: There has been no commercial cultivation of GM crops in England, but maize variety T25, which has a Part C consent, was one of the crops grown in the farm-scale evaluation (FSE) research trials. There were 68 plantings of T25 as part of the FSEs after January 2000, of which 23 were vandalised.
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many post-release monitoring reports of Part B consents in respect of the experimental releases of genetically modified organisms authorised under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 1992 and the GMO (Deliberate Release) (England) Regulations 2002 his Department has received since January 2000; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each report received. [241762]
Huw Irranca-Davies: My Department has received 205 post-release monitoring reports from consent holders since January 2000. These are available for inspection on the GMO public register held in DEFRA’s library. I have arranged for copies of them to be placed in the Library of the House.
Glass: Recycling
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will estimate the cost of introducing a deposit return scheme for glass bottles. [242798]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given 15 December 2008, Official Report, column 321W.
International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the UK voted for or against the decision made at the recent meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna to set a quota of 22,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna in 2009; and what the Government's position is on a quota for blue fin tuna catch. [243173]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The decision to set a total allowable catch (TAC) of 22,000 tonnes for the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic blue fin tuna fishery in 2009 was agreed by consensus at the meeting and therefore not subject to a vote.
While the UK would have ideally preferred the ICCAT to adopt a smaller TAC for blue fin tuna, the controls that have now been put in place for this fishery, coupled with the plan for contracting parties to demonstrate that they can comply with the plan or have their quotas suspended, mean that the fishery should now be effectively managed in order to prevent the over-fishing that has occurred in previous years.
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