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3 Mar 2009 : Column 1398W—continued
Treaty of Lisbon
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Metropolitan Police have informed her of accusations of malfeasance they have received about the Lisbon Treaty ratification against (a) the Prime Minister and (b) other members of the Cabinet; and if she will make a statement. [251061]
Mr. Coaker: The Secretary of State for the Home Department has not been informed by the Metropolitan Police Service of any such accusations of malfeasance in relation to the ratification of the Lisbon treaty.
The UK ratified the Lisbon treaty on 16 July 2008, following Royal Assent to the EU (Amendment) Act, which was received on 19 June 2008. The Act was passed after 25 days of detailed consideration in both Houses.
War Crimes
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance she has issued to police forces on steps to be taken following an arrest of a person suspected to be guilty of an offence related to the violation of the laws or customs of war; and if she will make a statement. [257443]
Mr. Coaker: Guidance on this issue is a matter for the Metropolitan Police Service and the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service. They have an agreed national protocol in place for the handling of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what additional funding will be made available through the EU’s economic recovery plan to rural development, with particular reference to training in environmental improvement. [258816]
Huw Irranca-Davies: As part of the proposed European Economic Recovery Plan, the Commission is proposing a €1.25 billion package of measures to be delivered through Member States’ Rural Development Programmes, of which €1 billion will be dedicated to rural broadband infrastructure projects and €250 million to projects in support of the ‘new challenges’ agreed as part of the recent CAP Health Check (climate change, renewable energy, water management, biodiversity and dairy sector restructuring). No agreement has yet been reached in the Council of Ministers on this package. The Commission is proposing that this funding should be allocated in proportion to existing shares of rural development funding. The United Kingdom would therefore receive around €15 million in total. No decisions have yet been made on how this funding might be used, if the package is agreed.
Bovine Tuberculosis
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) cattle infected by bovine tuberculosis and (b) calves born to cows infected by bovine tuberculosis have been slaughtered in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how much was paid in compensation to their owners. [251282]
Jane Kennedy: The following table shows the number of cattle slaughtered under bovine tuberculosis (TB) control measures either as test reactors or direct contacts, and the amount of compensation paid, in England, in the last 10 years.
Data on the number of calves slaughtered because they were born to cows affected by TB is not centrally collated in electronic format and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| Number of cattle slaughtered( 1) | Compensation paid( 2) (£ million) | |
| (1) Data regarding the number of cattle slaughtered as test reactors or direct contacts are taken from the Animal Health Database (Vetnet). Data for 2006-07 are provisional and subject to change as more data become available and as a result of data validation and cleansing. (2) Compensation includes payments to farmers for ‘reactors’ and ‘direct contact’ animals which are compulsorily slaughtered. For 1999 onwards these data have been taken from the DEFRA Oracle Financial System. 1998 data are drawn from the 1998 report of the Chief Veterinary Officer and are not directly comparable to later years. | ||
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy for his Department to sign the Information Commissioner's Personal Information Promise. [258952]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The Government welcome the promise as a commendable initiative to raise awareness of the importance of effective data protection safeguards, particularly for those organisations with no similar commitments already in place.
The Government take data protection very seriously. Following the Cabinet Office review of data handling procedures in Government, departments have implemented a raft of measures to improve data security.
The Ministry of Justice is considering actively with the ICO how the promise might add additional value to those measures we have already signed up to. These include the information charters, the recommendations of the data handling review and the Thomas/Walport review and, of course, our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act and other legislation and regulations.
Departmental Sick Leave
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department or its predecessors were on sick leave for (a) over 30 days, (b) over 50 days and (c) over 100 days in each of the last five years. [256324]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The information requested for the core Department is shown in the following table.
| Number of staff | |||
| Total working days absent in year | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Information for the Executive agencies and for earlier years could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.
DEFRA has a policy to promote health and wellbeing and reduce sickness absence for its employees. It manages long term sickness absences by facilitating timely employee access to occupational health advice, medical or wellbeing interventions. Individuals are also encouraged to return to work through the use of occupational health expertise that enables them to undertake a structured programme of recuperative duties. This helps employees return to full working hours and duties as quickly as possible.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department were recorded as having been on sick leave for over 12 months on 31 December in each of the last five years. [256631]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The information requested for the core Department is as follows:
| Number | |
Information for the Executive agencies and for earlier years could be provided only by incurring disproportionate cost.
DEFRA’s strategy for managing employee sickness absence over 12 months is to ensure that individuals receive necessary occupational health interventions. Their managers also receive timely medical and human resources advice and information. Employees are further supported in returning to work by undertaking a structured programme of recuperative duties, agreed with their manager and the occupational health service. This helps them return to full working hours and duties as quickly as possible.
Drinking Water
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of litres of bottled (a) sparkling and (b) still water consumed in England in each year since 2000; and what percentage was supplied in bottles made of (i) plastic, (ii) glass and (iii) other materials. [259495]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The following table shows the estimated number of litres of mineral water purchased in the UK in each year since 2001.
| Total UK purchases of mineral water (Million litres) | |
| Source: Expenditure and Food Survey. | |
From 2006, the Expenditure and Food Survey switched to a calendar year basis. It is not possible to resample earlier data on the same basis. It is also not possible to account accurately for wastage during consumption. DEFRA has no compatible population figures on which to calculate purchases on a national basis, therefore it is not possible to provide similar estimates for purchases in England. However, the following table shows the estimated average number of litres of mineral water purchased per person in England in each year since 2001.
| Purchases of mineral water per person/year in litres in England | |
| Source: Expenditure and Food Survey. | |
DEFRA does not collect statistics which distinguish between sparkling and still water or the way water is packaged.
Entry Level Stewardship Scheme
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to introduce new cross-compliance measures into the entry level stewardship agreement. [258820]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Compliance with single payment scheme cross compliance requirements has been a requirement for environmental stewardship agreements entered into from January 2007. Cross compliance changes, to be introduced in January 2010 as a result of the recent CAP health check agreement, will apply to these environmental stewardship agreements. A public consultation on the health check changes will be launched later this year.
Environment Protection
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received on the cost of implementation of those provisions of the Stockholm Convention relating to environmental protection. [258833]
Huw Irranca-Davies: We have received no recent representations on the cost of implementation of those provisions of the Stockholm Convention relating to environmental protection.
Farmers’ Markets: Finance
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding is available under the England Rural Development Programme to support the establishment of farmers' markets in 2008-09. [260183]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Under axis 1 of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) funding is available for opening new marketing opportunities for agricultural and forestry products, putting the emphasis on quality. Under axis 3 of the RDPE, funding is available for the promotion of tourism activities linked to quality regional and local food culture. It is for each region to determine whether the establishment of farmers’ markets is a priority for them.
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