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17 Dec 2008 : Column 798W—continued
| N umber of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Protection for Badgers Act 1992, sections 1(1), 1(3), 2(1)(a), 2(1)(c), 4, 5, and 10 (8) in England and Wales for the years 2003 to 2007( 1, 2, )( 3) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions: Wilfully killing badger Wilfully injuring badger Wilfully taking badger Wilfully attempting to kill badger Wilfully attempting to injure badger Wilfully attempting to take badger Ill-treating badger Digging for badger Selling live badger Offering to sell live badger Unlawfully marking badger Unlawfully attaching ring tag or marking device to badger Possessing or controlling thing derived from dead badger Possessing or controlling live badger Failing to comply with condition of licence. Source: OCJR—E & A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit. | ||
Bees
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the possible effects of the use of wireless technology on bee populations. [243949]
Jane Kennedy: DEFRA has made no assessment of the possible effects of the use of wireless technology on the bee population.
British Waterways
Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate he has made of the effect of the sale of British Waterways’ property portfolio on the finances of British Waterways; [243141]
(2) what plans are in place for selling the property portfolio of British Waterways; and if he will make a statement; [243146]
(3) what the timetable is for the sale of British Waterways’ property portfolio; [243222]
(4) if he will bring forward proposals to compensate British Waterways for the reduction in annual income from its property portfolio if its property is sold. [243267]
Huw Irranca-Davies
[holding answer 16 December 2008]: The Treasury operational efficiency programme review will consider the scope for improved asset management across Government and will provide an update on progress by the April 2009 Budget. The scope
of this review will include British Waterways’ non-operational property portfolio, and business model, to consider how its assets might best deliver public value. The review will also consider any implications of options considered for the long-term funding of British Waterways’ statutory responsibilities carefully. No conclusions have yet been drawn regarding any possible disposal of British Waterways’ property portfolio.
Charities
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to which charities his Department has provided funding of more than £100,000 in each of the last three years; and how much was provided to each. [242425]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 11 December 2008]: The Department does not hold such information centrally. The level of detail requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Christmas
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent on (a) departmental Christmas parties and (b) staff entertainment in the last three years. [243761]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA does not pay for Christmas parties for staff. The core Department’s financial system does not recognise the expenditure categories of staff entertainment or entertainment.
Consumer Council for Water
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason he has decided to review the Consumer Council for Water. [244108]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Government wish to ensure the best arrangements are in place for consumer representation for water and sewerage customers and are considering whether the new arrangements put in place for the energy and postal sectors on 1 October 2008 may also offer an improved service for the water sector.
We are considering the options, which include passing responsibility for handling complaints not resolved by water companies to a new redress scheme for water consumers, and merging the Consumer Council for Water with Consumer Focus; or retaining the existing arrangements.
There will be detailed public consultation on a number of possible scenarios before a decision is made.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what role the Consumer Council for Water has in the regular Ofwat review of charges. [244109]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The role of the Consumer Council for Water is to ensure that the views of water consumers are recognised, considered and acted upon.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many new (a) laptops, (b) mobile telephones and (c) personal digital assistant devices his Department bought for the use of departmental Ministers following each change in Ministers since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [240310]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA was formed in June 2001, and the Department supplies Ministers with laptops, mobile phones and PDAs on request.
Under current contracts, all departmental computer equipment is owned by IBM, and configured only to work on the DEFRA platform. Departmental mobile phones are under contract with Vodaphone, and IBM maintains all the departmental PDAs which are configured to only work to departmental e-mail addresses.
All equipment issued is returned at the end of any ministerial tenure, and reconfigured and reused within the Department wherever possible. One mobile phone, two PDAs, and three laptops are currently being used by departmental Ministers.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on Ministerial hospitality in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08, expressed in current prices. [241245]
Huw Irranca-Davies: From information held centrally the core Department spent the following sums on ministerial hospitality for the years in question expressed in current prices taking 2004 as the base year:
| Expenditure (£) | |
Departmental Property
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on maintaining its domestic properties in each of the last five years. [242290]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 10 December 2008]: The Department has expended the following amounts on maintaining its residential dwellings in each of the last five years:
| £ | |
The figure for 2005 includes the Department’s contractually agreed contribution to the Warwick Horticultural Research Institute’s (HRI) cost in backlog maintenance of its cottages at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. Prior to the transfer to the new ownership in March 2004, the dwellings were held by DEFRA and were used to house staff working for the HRI.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much expenditure his Department incurred in respect of (a) Balmoral Transport Service, (b) MC Chauffeurs and (c) Stratstone in 2007-08; and to what purpose. [241192]
Huw Irranca-Davies: From information held centrally, the expenditure information requested is as follows:
| Supplier | Purpose | Expenditure (£) |
Flood Control
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 27 October 2008, Official Report, column 614W, on flood control, what the (a) original planned and (b) actual completion date of completed flood protection schemes was in each of the last five years; and what the original planned completion date was of each flood protection scheme which had not been completed by that date. [240665]
Huw Irranca-Davies: From 2004 to 2008 the Environment Agency’s National Capital Programme Management Service (NCPMS) was responsible for a total of 146 completed projects. Of these, 83 were completed early or on time and 63 were completed after the expected date. Information prior to 2004 is not available as records were not held centrally.
Details of the projects have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what additional flood defences commissioned since the floods in July 2007 his Department (a) has had built and (b) is having built. [241294]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Since the floods in July 2007 49 projects have been completed by the Environment Agency and 143 projects are under instruction. This includes many places which were flooded in the summer of 2007.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he has taken to increase the level of preparedness of the public to manage incidents of flooding in the course of implementation of the recommendations made in the Pitt report on flooding. [242795]
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 setting out implementation to date and further actions shortly.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to announce a programme for the implementation of the recommendations contained in Sir Michael Pitt’s final report on the 2007 floods. [242800]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Government’s detailed response to the Pitt review will be published shortly.
Floods and Water Bill
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when his plans for the proposed Floods and Water Bill is to be published. [242716]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 December 2008, Official Report, column 39W.
Genetically Modified Organisms
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many individual test sites were involved in the Part B consents for experimental releases of genetically modified organisms under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 1992 and the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (England) Regulations 2002; how many consents were granted and still valid in England between January 2000 and the present; and if he will place in the Library a list of all such sites. [242465]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The information my department has available regarding individual test sites is the number of different six-figure grid references notified by consent holders, which amounts to 562 in England. Some of these sites were used more than once under a particular consent or the same site was notified for use under more than one consent.
41 consents have been granted in England since January 2000 of which four are still valid. Details of these can be found in the list of all the part B consents granted under Directive 90/220/EEC on the DEFRA website at:
Those granted under Directive 2001/18/EC can be found at:
A list of active part B consents with their test sites can be found on the DEFRA website at:
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to support at EU level proposals for competent authorities to create GM-free zones. [242650]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 16 December 2008]: Earlier this month the EU Environment Council adopted a set of written conclusions on various GM-related issues, including GM-free zones. The relevant text of the conclusions states that:
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