| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
12 Mar 2009 : Column 674W—continued
Security Guards: Recruitment
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the business case produced by the Security Industry Authority on the regulation of enforcement agents. [262623]
Bridget Prentice: The Security Industry Authority was asked by the Ministry of Justice to produce a business case to assist in the Department’s consideration of the available options for regulation of enforcement agents. On the basis that a number of options remain under consideration, I am unable to publish the business case at this time. Once my Department’s policy in this area is finalised, I will place a copy in the Library of both Houses.
Television: Licensing
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions for non-payment of the television licence fee there have been in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [262368]
Maria Eagle: Data showing persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for TV licence evasion in England and Wales, from 2005-07 are shown in the following table. The Criminal Statistics data for 2008 are due to be published in November 2009.
The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for television licence evasion, England and Wales, 2005-07( 1, 2) | |||
| 2005( 3) | 2006( 3) | 2007( 4) | |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) As well as television licence evasion, these data include proceedings for summary offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 to 1967. (4) These figures relate to the offence of television licence evasion under the Communications Act 2003. | |||
Wymott Prison: Manpower
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average prisoner to staff ratio at HM Prison Wymott was in each of the last five years. [262397]
Mr. Hanson: Information is only available since 31 March 2006 and is set out in the following table:
| Date | Ratio all staff to prisoners |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many organic farmers are registered in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) Dacorum. [261193]
Jane Kennedy: The number of organic producers registered with the Organic Certification bodies in the county of Hertfordshire, based on data collected at January 2008, is 11. In accordance with National Statistics confidentiality rules, data for Dacorum are not available due to the small number of growers in this area.
Validated information for 2009 is not yet available.
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been allocated under Axis 1 of the Rural Development Programme England for 2007 to 2013 for (a) vocational training and information actions for persons engaged in the agricultural, food or forestry sectors, (b) use of advisory services by farmers and forest holders, (c) setting up of farm management, farm relief and farm advisory services, as well as forestry advisory services, (d) modernisation of agricultural holdings, (e) improving the economic value of forests, (f) adding value to agricultural and forestry products, (g) co-operation for development of new products, processes and technologies in the agriculture and food sector and in the forestry sector, (h) improving and developing infrastructure related to the development and adaptation of agriculture and forestry, (i) restoring agricultural production potential damaged by natural disasters and introducing appropriate prevention actions and (j) supporting producers groups for information and promotion activities for products under food quality schemes. [261822]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Since the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) was formally approved in December 2007, the funding set out in the following table has been allocated to the respective measures (i.e. committed to projects or programmes of investment). This includes funding devolved to regional development agencies (RDAs) for social and economic support. A small sum allocated by Natural England to agreements under the Energy Crops Scheme is included under the modernisation measure.
A further sum of £21,735,557 has been allocated by RDAs to local action groups to implement axis 1 objectives through the Leader approach, but this is not broken down by measure.
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding has been allocated under Axis 3 of the Rural Development Programme England 2007 to 2013 for (a) diversification into non-agricultural activities, (b) support for the creation and development of micro enterprises with a view to promoting entrepreneurship and developing economic fabric, (c) encouragement of tourism activities, (d) basic services for the economy and rural population and (e) conservation and upgrading of rural heritage. [261823]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Since the Rural Development Programme for England was formally approved in December 2007, the funding set out in the following table has been allocated to the respective measures (i.e. committed to projects or programmes of investment). This includes funding devolved to regional development agencies for social and economic support. The sums allocated by Natural England to access agreements, and historic and traditional buildings, under the Environmental Stewardship Scheme are included under the tourism and conservation measures, respectively.
A further sum of £92,540,437 has been allocated by regional development agencies to local action groups to implement Axis 3 objectives through the Leader approach, but this is not broken down by measure.
| £ | |
|
(b) Support for the creation and development of micro enterprises | |
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount paid in export refunds in respect of (a) pig meat, (b) eggs and (c) poultry in each of the last five years. [262013]
Jane Kennedy: The total amount of export refunds paid for pigmeat, eggs and poultry in the UK over the last five years can be found in the following table:
| £ | |||||
| Sector | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many applications for Common Agricultural Policy export refunds were made in each project sector in the last 12 months. [262014]
Jane Kennedy: The number of export refund applications for each livestock sector in the UK over the last 12 months can be found in the following table:
| Sector | Refund a pplications |
Agriculture: Waste Disposal
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farm-based anaerobic digestion plants there are in England; and what estimate his Department has made for benchmarking purposes of the number of such plants operating in other EU member states. [260182]
Jane Kennedy: Figures for the number of farm-based anaerobic digestion plants in England are not collected centrally. To contribute to the development of policy on anaerobic digestion, DEFRA commissioned AEA Technology to undertake a study, “Assessment of Methane Management and Recovery Options for Livestock Manures and Slurries”. This was published in 2005 and quoted the following figures for anaerobic digestion plants in EU countries producing electricity:
| Country | Agricultural AD plants |
| (1 )Centralised anaerobic digestion. Note: Our current best estimate is that the figure for Great Britain is still correct. | |
Bees: Disease Control
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has undertaken research on the link between imidacloprid and bee health. [262295]
Jane Kennedy: As part of its pesticides research programme the Government are funding a number of projects in support of the development of the pesticides risk assessment process. A number of these specifically relate to the potential impact of pesticides on honeybees, both from wide scale professional use and home-garden use of insecticides. These projects are still in progress. Previous work on the risk posed to honeybees by systemic insecticides, such as imidacloprid, has fed into the international risk assessment models for honeybees.
The rigorous EU scientific process for approval of pesticide active substances and the supporting national processes for individual products protect human health and the environment, including wildlife, providing products are used in accordance with the approval and any related conditions of approval. This approval process takes account of the potential impact on bees. DEFRA will, of course, act immediately on any concrete evidence of adverse impacts of pesticides on bees which occurs in the UK.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |