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26 Mar 2009 : Column 581W—continued
Deer
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make an estimate of changes in the roe deer population in the last five years. [265144]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In 2005 the Tracking Mammals Partnership reported that observations on roe deer made by British Trust for Ornithology volunteers undertaking the Breeding Bird Survey increased by 56 per cent. between 1995 and 2005. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust National Gamebag Census records for roe deer increased by 34.1 per cent. between 1995 and 2003. However, it is not certain how well these observations correspond to changes in abundance.
Recent extrapolated estimates of national abundance of roe deer in England by the Central Science Laboratory, the Deer Initiative and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation range between 90,000 and 324,000, but it is not possible to conclude which of these is most accurate because surveys of deer abundance are not conducted nationally or regionally. However, the British Deer Society collects national deer distribution data on a five-yearly cycle. Analysis of their latest results, by the Central Science Laboratory, suggests that roe deer may have expanded their national range by 5.2 per cent. between 2002 and 2007.
Departmental Bank Services
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with which banks his Department has or has had contracts for the provision of financial advice, for the financial year 2008-09. [262760]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In the financial year 2008-09, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not held any contracts for the provision of financial advice with any bank.
Departmental Electricity Generation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) capital and (b) maintenance expenditure his Department has incurred on standby diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of his Department's estate in each year since March 1997. [266410]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 25 March 2009]: The Department does not hold records of capital spend prior to 2002, and there has been no such expenditure on stand-by generators for the period April 2002 to March 2009.
The total expenditure on maintenance of stand-by generators for the period April 1997 to March 2009 is £52,500. We are unable to provide an annual breakdown of this figure.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many public consultations his Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was. [259576]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has conducted 81 consultations over the last 12 months. Details are set out in the following table. Details of the costs of the consultations are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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