---

6 Mar 2009 : Column 1874W—continued

Climate Change

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what policy objectives the provisions of section 76 of the Climate Change Act 2008 are intended to meet. [252392]

6 Mar 2009 : Column 1875W

Jane Kennedy: In line with good practice, the Government expect that authorities will use all the powers available to them proportionately and sensibly, hand in hand with effective communications and support for residents.

All authorities will continue to have to meet existing requirements to collect household waste. In addition, local authorities have a duty, under section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA), to keep land under their control clear of litter and refuse.

Section 76 of the Climate Change Act 2008 provides clarification as to the legal status of the section 46 notice.

Dogs

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of the operation of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; and if he will make a statement. [259350]

Jane Kennedy: In 2007 we undertook a review of the dangerous dogs legislation. DEFRA consulted all chief officers of police in England and Wales to find out their views on how effective the dangerous dogs legislation is, what could be done to improve enforcement and whether any parts of the law need to be changed.

Responses indicated that police forces would benefit from further guidance on the existing legislation and DEFRA aims to publish this soon.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs against how many people orders have been made under section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 in each year since 1997. [259534]

Jane Kennedy: Records of such orders are only held by the individual courts which issued them. No central record is kept and to collect the information would incur disproportionate cost.

6 Mar 2009 : Column 1876W

Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in what circumstances waste collection authorities may refuse to collect domestic waste from households. [252732]

Jane Kennedy: Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) empowers waste collection authorities to specify the conditions of their waste collection service.

Section 46 of the EPA also requires the authority to inform the recipients of their service of those conditions by way of a Section 46 notice.

The precise circumstances would therefore depend upon the locally determined conditions as specified.

Farmers: Manpower

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers there were in each agricultural sector in England in each year since 1997. [260137]

Jane Kennedy: The figures on the following tables show the number of farmers, partners, directors and their spouses (if working on the holding) by farm type in England. The farm types for 1997 to 2000 are presented separately from the 2001 to 2008 types because of differing farm type definitions.

Total farmers, partners, directors and spouses by farm type (based on predominant activity) in England 1997 to 2000
	1997	1998	1999	2000
Cereals	29,179	29,870	28,232	31,406
General cropping	19,561	18,687	18,171	17,163
Horticulture	14,140	13,643	13,239	15,562
Pigs and poultry	7,433	7,235	6,777	8,483
Dairy	35,104	34,405	33,216	31,418
Cattle and sheep (LFA)	15,299	17,071	16,956	17,007
Cattle and sheep (lowland)	42,146	42,057	43,300	48,872
Mixed	19,415	19,918	18,567	19,400
Other types	24,144	25,270	24,904	31,620
All types	206,421	208,156	203,362	220,931

Farmers, partners, directors and spouses by farm type (based on pre dominant activity) in England 2001to 2008
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Cereals	35,100	34,298	33,835	34,527	33,672	33,929	34,818	35,402
General cropping	18,766	17,346	16,578	16,286	14,812	14,654	13,619	12,843
Horticulture	17,247	16,762	15,932	15,978	14,826	14,734	13,494	13,263
Specialist pigs	2,949	2,999	2,743	3,030	3,349	3,111	3,418	3,625
Specialist poultry	7,335	7,356	7,177	7,792	9,514	8,911	9,002	9,877
Dairy	30,178	30,425	28,918	28,057	26,168	25,706	21,082	20,122
LFA—grazing livestock	17,752	19,184	18,501	19,188	18,843	21,266	20,657	20,194
Lowland—grazing
Livestock	45,766	48,090	47,815	53,380	53,219	50,306	46,779	45,827
Mixed	22,825	23,364	22,796	19,366	19,720	18,991	15,875	15,915
Other types	35,913	25,697	24,828	26,756	28,837	32,163	40,258	42,436
All types	233,828	225,520	219,123	224,362	222,961	223,770	219,004	219,505
Notes: 1. Includes full and part-time farmers, partners directors and spouses (if working on the holding). 2. Figures prior to 2000 are for main holdings only. From 2000 onwards main and minor holdings are included. 3. Farm type categories were altered in 2001. 4. A register improvement exercise was undertaken in 2001. Labour figures prior to this are not directly comparable with later results. Source: June Agricultural Survey

6 Mar 2009 : Column 1877W

Food

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the percentage of (a) meat, (b) eggs, (c) bread, (d) wheat, (e) fruit, (f) vegetables and (g) milk consumed which was produced domestically in each year since 1997. [257436]

Jane Kennedy: Estimates of the percentage of meat, eggs, fruit, vegetables and milk consumed and which
6 Mar 2009 : Column 1878W
were produced domestically are provided in table 1. These figures are based on volumes of production and trade.

This information is not available for bread production. However data on the tonnage of wheat grain used for milling and the proportion of wheat grain that is home grown is collected and is shown in table 2. This is also based on volumes but is for the crop year rather than calendar year. The grain will be milled into flour for a range of purposes including bread, biscuits and cakes. It is not possible to provide information that distinguishes home grown wheat grain milled for bread flour.

Table 1: Estimate of the percentage consumed from domestic production for various commodities
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Meat	75	76	74	72	72	69	67	65	66	67	65
Liquid drinking milk	98	97	98	98	99	99	99	99	99	99	99
Eggs	92	94	93	89	88	85	82	83	85	81	77
Wheat	91	90	91	92	88	91	91	94	91	92	90
Fruit	8	7	9	8	8	7	6	6	7	6	7
Vegetables	63	69	69	69	65	61	60	59	57	57	55

---