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9 Mar 2009 : Column 6W—continued
Fisheries: Western Sahara
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effect on UK-registered vessels fishing in waters off Western Saharan waters of the declaration of an exclusive economic zone covering such waters. [260843]
Huw Irranca-Davies: As yet no assessment has been made of the impact that this declaration will have on UK registered vessels.
Flood Control
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many flood risk management projects his Department has identified for implementation but not yet progressed; what estimate has been made of the cost of each such project; and if he will make a statement. [259959]
Huw Irranca-Davies: 30 projects with a construction budget of over £250,000 have been identified for implementation in the 2007-08 Medium Term Plan. Two of these projects are currently not being progressed.
Ipswich Flood Defence Management Strategy Civil works is on hold as it is rescheduled for implementation in 2011-12 as part of the delivery of the Ipswich strategy. This project has a budget of £544,500.
The Ashburton Ballard Stream Improvements project has closed as the scheme is not economically viable. This project spent £31,500 on the pre-feasibility study.
Floods: Canvey Island
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions the Environment Agency has had with Castle Point councillor Ray Howard on development on flood risk areas on Canvey Island in the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [260871]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 6 March 2009]: Councillor Howard is a long serving member of the Anglian (Eastern) Regional Flood Defence Committee. In fulfilling this role Councillor Howard has frequent discussions with Environment Agency officers regarding a wide range of flood risk management issues which include development in flood risk areas, such as Canvey Island. Councillor Howard has recently written to the Environment Agency on this matter.
Genetically Modified Organisms: Somerset
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2009, Official Report, columns 523-4W, on genetically modified (GM) organisms: Somerset, (1) what steps have been taken to protect seed imports destined for commercial crop production from GM contamination in the light of the oilseed rape crop contamination in South Somerset; [260685]
(2) what the separation distance between the oilseed rape crop in South Somerset found to be contaminated with a GM trait in 2008 and the neighbouring crop of oilseed rape was; [260686]
(3) whether the crop neighbouring the oilseed rape crop in South Somerset found to be contaminated with a GM trait in 2008 was a winter variety; [260687]
(4) what steps have been taken to prevent further GM contamination in the area surrounding the original contamination site; [260688]
(5) what distance was maintained between the GM contaminated crop and surrounding crops. [260689]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The DEFRA GM Inspectorate works with conventional seed importers to review their procedures for avoiding GM admixture. We are now considering together with the authorities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland what steps are needed to further minimise the possibility that GM seed might be sown accidentally in the UK.
The crop grown by the farmer in Somerset from seed with a low GM admixture was of a winter oilseed rape variety. The other trial crop of conventional oilseed rape that he grew at the same time was of a spring variety. These crops were grown immediately adjacent to each other within the same field. No other oilseed rape crops are thought to have been grown in the surrounding area to a distance of approximately four miles.
The affected farmer has taken and will continue to implement appropriate measures to reduce the presence of GM oilseed rape volunteer plants. A management plan for this has been agreed between the farmer, the seed company involved and the GM Inspectorate.
Litter: Costs
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the cost of clearing litter from (a) roads, (b) railways, (c) footpaths, (d) beaches, (e) national parks and (f) other public spaces in the last 12 months. [261363]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 6 March 2009]: DEFRA does not keep figures on the costs of clearing litter from the public spaces requested.
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to local authorities of removing chewing gum from (a) streets and (b) other public places was in each of the last five years. [261436]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 6 March 2009]: DEFRA does not keep figures on the cost to local authorities of removing chewing gum.
Litter: Expenditure
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding his Department has given to the Keep Britain Tidy campaign in each of the last five years. [261362]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 6 March 2009]: The following table shows the grant funding to ENCAMS (also known as Keep Britain Tidy) over the last five years. As well as campaigning on litter, ENCAMS provides research and technical advice to Government.
| £ million | |
Nature Conservation
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons the higher level stewardship target area statements for areas outside the East of England region do not list endangered (a) bees, (b) beetles and (c) other invertebrates as qualifying features. [260292]
Huw Irranca-Davies: There are 110 published target areas for the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme in England. These are based upon data and evidence and show the areas where the scheme is best able to deliver the environmental outcomes that it was designed to deliver.
The reason behind the apparent anomaly between the East of England target area statements and those in other regions, is that the East of England contains several target areas which include significant areas of arable land that support populations of rare invertebrates. Therefore there is specific reference to these within the target area statements. In most other regions the majority of arable land, and the rare invertebrates that depend upon it, are found outside the target areas.
Outside target areas HLS can still be very important so each region has identified themes to address HLS priorities. The supporting regional theme statements give detail on these priorities and, in regions where rare invertebrates are present, these are specifically mentioned as qualifying features.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what species of (a) plants and (b) animals are believed to have become extinct in Britain within the last 25 years; and if he will make a statement. [260699]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Determining whether or not a species has become extinct is not an easy task. The approach taken in the UK can be summarised by reference to the guidance drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (2001):
Extinct (ex). A taxon is extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual. Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon’s life cycle and life form.
The default time frame used in the UK to determine when a species has become extinct, is when there has been no record of the species in the last 50 years. Occasionally, for very well-recorded species, a shorter time frame is appropriate.
The following table records the best available data:
| Name | Extinct | Extant —d ate of last record |
| (1) Possibly extinct. (2) The pool frog has since been reintroduced and is part of an ongoing reintroduction scheme. (3) May be extinct. 4 Extinct in the wild. Note: We cannot be certain that there have been no other extinctions because we do not have a complete inventory of species in the UK and not all groups are well recorded. | ||
Rural Enterprise Scheme: Hemel Hempstead
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people in Hemel Hempstead constituency have received funding from the (a) Rural Enterprise Scheme, (b) Processing and Marketing Grants Scheme and (c) Vocational Training Scheme in each year since their introduction; and what the duration was of the funding received from each scheme. [261188]
Huw Irranca-Davies: No one in the Hemel Hempstead constituency received funding from any of these schemes which formed part of the England Rural Development Programme. The programme closed on 31 December 2006.
Transport
Blue Badge Scheme
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's timetable is for implementation of its Comprehensive Blue Badge Reform Strategy. [260838]
Paul Clark: As announced in our Strategy document, we are developing a five-year implementation plan for completion of the whole programme. Individual elements of the programme will come on-stream over that five-year period.
Bus Services: Concessions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the merits of extending the national free concessionary bus pass scheme as it applies to disabled people to peak operating hours; and if he will make a statement. [261085]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport recently commissioned research on the cost and impact of options for extending the current statutory minimum concessionary travel scheme. Based on this research, the Department estimates that it would cost around an extra £22 million per annum to extend the concession to enable peak hour travel for eligible disabled people.
There are no plans at present to extend the statutory minimum to cover travel before 9.30 am. Local authorities have the power to extend their local concessionary travel schemes to include journeys in the morning peak if they so wish. Local authorities are best placed to make this decision based on local needs and circumstances. Any decision to extend the England-wide entitlement would have to be fully funded locally and would require careful consideration of the full impact.
Bus Services: Hampshire
Sir Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when a decision will be made on the bid by Transport for South Hampshire for community infrastructure funding for the development of a busway on the former Gosport to Fareham railway line. [261440]
Paul Clark: The Departments for Transport and Communities and Local Government (with advice from the Homes and Communities Agency) are currently considering the full business cases for schemes in this round of the Community Infrastructure Fund. It is expected that the successful bidders will be announced later this month.
Cycling: Helmets
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what timetable he has set for the publication of his Department's review of the wearing of cycle helmets. [261798]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has commissioned a research project looking at a range of road safety and cycling issues. This will examine the following topics:
Road user safety and cycling data;
Cycling infrastructure;
Attitudes and behaviours;
Bicycle helmets.
The project has been commissioned from a consortium led by the Transport Research Laboratory.
The contract began on 21 August 2008 and will run for 24 months. The Department expects to publish the final reports in autumn 2010.
Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make all people living in West Chelmsford constituency eligible to register for the local residents scheme for the Dartford Crossing. [261778]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has no plans to extend the area eligible for the local discount scheme at the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing.
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