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10 Feb 2009 : Column 1812W—continued
As the deadline for returns is 30 April 2009, the abbreviation TBC used is to signify where finalised returns are yet to be confirmed/supplied.
Departmental Lobbying
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether Ministers in his Department received representations from (a) Lord Moonie, (b) Lord Taylor of Blackburn, (c) Lord Snape and (d) Lord Truscott in the last seven months. [255228]
Huw Irranca-Davies: No Ministers in DEFRA have received representations from any of these peers over the past seven months.
Departmental Working Hours
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the policy of his Department and its agencies is on granting staff time off in lieu for working (a) in lunch breaks, (b) in evenings and (c) at other times outside contracted working hours; and if he will make a statement. [252031]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA and its agencies operate ‘flexi time’ arrangements that allow staff to take time off in lieu for working above their contracted hours. This would include time off for working during lunch breaks and in the evenings.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many days off in lieu were granted to staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies for working (i) in lunch breaks and (ii) at other times outside contracted working hours, in the last year for which figures are available. [252032]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA and its agencies operate ‘flexi time’ arrangements. With the exception of CEFAS and CSL this policy allows staff to take up to three days time off in lieu per four week period for hours worked above their contractual hours. CEFAS and CSL currently allow their staff to take up to two days time off in lieu per four week period.
The working hours of employees is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the working arrangements of DEFRA’s NDPB’s is not available centrally.
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate his Department has made of the number of household waste bins fitted with radio frequency identification chips; [252412]
(2) what (a) advice and (b) guidance (i) his Department and (ii) the Waste and Resources Action Programme has given on the use of radio frequency identification devices attached to household waste containers. [252480]
Jane Kennedy: No such estimate has been made by DEFRA and neither DEFRA nor WRAP have issued any advice or guidance on the use of radio frequency identification devices.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the final report of the research project (a) WR0103—Household Waste Prevention Policy Side Research Programme, (b) WR0104—Lifestyle Scenarios: Futures for Waste Composition, (c) WR0106—Achieving Household Waste Prevention and Promoting Sustainable Resource Use Through Product Service Systems and (d) WR0506—Benefits of Third Sector Involvement in Waste Management. [252720]
Jane Kennedy: The projects (WR0103) ‘Household Waste Prevention Policy Side Research Programme’ and (WR0104) ‘Lifestyle Scenarios: Futures for Waste Composition’ referred to in the reply to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 18 November 2008, Official Report, column 303W, on Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal, are publicly available on DEFRA's website.
The draft final report for project (WR0506) ‘Benefits of third sector involvement in waste management’ was received by DEFRA at the beginning of December. Comments and feedback on the draft are being collated prior to the project team completing a finalised version
ready for publication before the end of March. The published report will be made publicly available on DEFRA's website.
Project report (WR0106) ‘Achieving Household Waste Prevention and Promoting Sustainable Resource Use Through Product Service Systems’ is proceeding through publication clearance procedures and will be made publicly available on DEFRA's website as soon as this is completed.
Economic Situation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions his Department has had with outside organisations to discuss policy on reducing the effect of the recession on matters within his Department's responsibility. [254054]
Huw Irranca-Davies: As one would expect, the Secretary of State, Ministers and officials have regular engagements with outside organisations and other Government Departments on a broad range of issues, many of which naturally incorporate discussion relating to the economy.
A list of the individual discussions could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Eco-Towns
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with (i) Ministerial colleagues and (ii) officials in the Department of Communities and Local Government on the siting of proposed eco-towns on land with environmental stewardship status. [251279]
Huw Irranca-Davies: 33 eco-town proposals have been subjected to a cross-Government review process in which DEFRA, the Environment Agency and Natural England played a full role alongside Communities and Local Government. This review considered the potential environmental impacts of each proposal in terms of water supply, wastewater treatment, water quality, flood risk management, waste management, biodiversity and landscape. A number of the eco-town proposals reviewed included land under Environmental Stewardship.
Environment Protection: Landfill
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which body is responsible for monitoring the (a) environmental impact of (b) adherence to gate-keeping procedures at landfill sites. [252653]
Jane Kennedy: The Environment Agency is the relevant regulator for England and Wales in respect of landfill sites, including monitoring of the environmental impact and adherence to gate-keeping procedures.
Farms: Income
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average farm income was in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland for each of the last 10 years. [254033]
Jane Kennedy: Information on the average Farm Business Income and Net Farm Income in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, for each of the last 10 years, is shown in the following table.
| Average farm business income | |||
| £ per farm | |||
| March to February | England | Wales | Northern Ireland |
| n/a = not available Source: Farm Business Survey(1) 1 The FBS sample covers businesses with a Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of at least 0.5, i.e. a size considered sufficient to occupy a farmer for at least half their time. | |||
Farm Business Income is the headline measure of the profitability of farm businesses. It represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and directors and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings. It is not available for years before 2003-04 given the way that data were recorded in earlier years. Scotland are in the process of adapting their Farm Business Survey to derive equivalent data.
| Average net farm income | ||||
| £ per farm | ||||
| March to February | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
Net farm income is defined as the return to the principal farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and on the tenant type capital of the business. It is net of an imputed rental charge on owned land and an imputed charge for unpaid labour.
Fines
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what administrative financial penalties may be levied by his Department and its agencies. [253596]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA (the core Department) does not have authority to levy financial penalties without the need to resort to court proceedings.
The Environment Agency, a non-departmental public body, can levy fixed penalty notices under the following legislation:
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005
The Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007
The Site Waste Management Plans Regulations 2008
The Environment Agency is also responsible for imposing civil penalties under the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2005 in England and Wales.
The Marine and Fisheries Agency has authority to impose administrative financial penalties for fisheries offences under the Sea Fishing(Enforcement of Community Measures)(Penalty Notices) Order 2008, SI 2008 No 984.
Due to the large number and the complexity of schemes administered by the Rural Payments Agency, I have instructed the Chief Executive to reply to you by letter.
Fisheries: Licensing
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will change the Single Area Licence requirement on Brixham fishermen to enable Brixham boats to be inspected at sea or at their nearest port of call before moving from one fishing area to another. [254977]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Single Area Licence condition was introduced to the South West beam trawl fleet in November 2008 and was considered necessary in order to safeguard the stocks of sole in the West Channel. This is of particular concern in International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) division Vile* where there is clear evidence of misrecording of area of capture, which has been admitted by industry representatives. The amount of quota available for fishing for sole in Vile* is quite limited compared to other areas and was cut by a further 15 per cent. this year on scientific advice. Catching sole in Vile*, and declaring that it is caught in another sector, will further deplete precious stocks and give false data to the scientists.
The new condition was discussed with fishing industry representatives prior to its introduction, and care was taken to try to ensure that it was workable and would have the desired effect. The condition sets out that beam trawler operators are prohibited from fishing in Vile* and any other ICES division in the same trip. They are also obliged to inform the call centre in advance of leaving port whether they intend to fish in Vile* or in any other ICES division. The scheme has worked well and the industry are complying with the condition. It has been agreed that a formal review will take place after six months of running, and the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) are maintaining close liaison with industry representatives on this measure.
The MFA have limited resources to inspect at sea across the whole of English and Welsh waters using the Royal Navy Fishing Protection Squadron. This resource is used to target vessels which pose the highest risk of non compliance, including visiting community vessels as well as UK vessels. It would be a poor use of resource to task the Navy to inspect very limited areas of operations in order to concentrate on checking vessels at boundaries between fishing areas for compliance with this particular licence condition.
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