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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1286W—continued
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: Horses
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what restrictions apply to owners of (a) horses and (b) foals who have land within nitrate vulnerable zones. [248674]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The new rules established by the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 will only be enforced in relation to agricultural holdings, and enterprises claiming subsidy under the single payment scheme, if they are located in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ). This means that if horses (including foals) are kept on these holdings or enterprises, the manure produced by the animals is subject to the NVZ rules. If, however, the horses are kept on holdings/enterprises which are not agricultural (e.g. livery yards), then the owners do not need to comply with the rules.
Rural Development Programme
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 30 October 2008, Official Report,
columns 1183-6W, on the Rural Development programme, if he will provide the figures requested where England Rural Development programme legacy payments were made after 1 January 2007. [241026]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
The following table shows the value of England Rural Development programme (ERDP)
socio-economic scheme legacy projects for which each Regional Development Agency is committed to fund since 1 January 2007. The ERDP closed for applications under those schemes in June 2006. Funding for the legacy projects comes from budgets for RDPE 2007-13.
| Regional development agency | Up to £5000 | £5001 - £100,000 | £100,001 - £1 million | £1 million plus | |
The following table is a correction to the answer of 30 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1183-6W, as it relates to funding commitments under Axis 1, 3 and the Leader Axis of the Rural Development programme for England made by the East of England Development Agency since 1 January 2007.
| Regional Development Agency | Up to £5000 | £5001 -£100,000 | £100,001 -£1 million | £1 million plus | |
Sharks: Conservation
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proposals his Department plans to put forward at the next European Fisheries Council on measures to protect sharks and other endangered or threatened species from the impact of over-fishing. [244198]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
The UK Government expressed support for the conservation principles underpinning the European Commission’s original proposals on elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays). At the 2008 European Fisheries Council which was held on 17-19 December, the UK Government achieved a balanced package of technical and conservation measures which discourages further the targeting of vulnerable sharks, skates and rays while also recognising the importance of
avoiding unnecessary discards. The final agreed package also reflects that the UK achieved a balance between the need to conserve elasmobranchs for the long term with the need to safeguard the livelihoods of the UK fishing fleets and their local communities whose viable future depends on the sustainable exploitation of these stocks.
The 2009 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for sharks were significantly reduced to reflect the vulnerable state of these species. Spurdog was cut by 50 per cent. and porbeagle by 25 per cent. In addition to reduced TACs, appropriate technical measures were also introduced such as setting maximum landing sizes to protect larger females and encouraging the timely release of these animals to aid their future survival and subsequent recovery of the stock.
The final package for skates and rays included a TAC for area VI and VII set at the historic baseline, but without the anticipated 15 per cent. TAC cut applied. Contrary to UK expectations, the 25 per cent. by-catch provision was only retained for vessels over 15 m long in
the North sea and not in other areas. Also within this package, common skate, undulate rays and white skate caught in relevant nominated International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) zones(1), and angel shark in all European Community waters, should not be retained on board. The proposal requires that catches of these species shall be promptly released unharmed.
(1) Area IIa and IV: Common Skate; Area VIId: Common Skate, Undulate Ray; Area VI a-b, VII a-c, e-k: Undulate Ray, Common Skate, Norwegian Skate and White Skate
Water Charges
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the average annual water bill in each region in each of the last five years. [248493]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The following table sets out the average water bill for each water company in England and Wales for the last five years.
| Average water bills | |||||
| Average bills ( £ ) (2008-09 prices) | |||||
| Water and sewerage companies | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
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