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2 Apr 2009 : Column 1288W—continued
Christmas
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether it is his Department's policy to offer staff (a) additional leave entitlement for Christmas shopping and (b) Christmas bonus payments. [262810]
Huw Irranca-Davies: It is not departmental policy, nor that of DEFRA's executive agencies, to offer staff either (a) additional leave entitlement for Christmas shopping or (b) Christmas bonus payments.
Coastal Areas: Climate Change
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the risk posed to seaside communities by rising sea levels; and if he will make a statement. [265498]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has a crucial role in understanding the impacts of future climate change on sea level rise in England; the National Assembly for Wales has a similar role in Wales. Much work is under way to understand fully the latest evidence on climate change. The UK climate projections 2009 will, in the coming months, offer a Marine Report providing an update on possible future sea level rise and surge.
The Environment Agency, in its coastal strategic overview role, is developing a better understanding of what coastal risk to people and properties means at a national level. Its National Flood Risk Assessment is currently being refined to report on the latest risks, and the rolling programme of shoreline management plans will also offer policies for tackling sections of shoreline in England, covering the next 100 years. DEFRA’s coastal change project is developing approaches to help communities adapt to coastal risk.
In terms of past reporting on the impacts from sea level rise, the Government commissioned Foresight Future Flooding (2004) which highlighted the following impacts:
There might be a rise in the expected average annual damages due to flooding from about £1.4 billion to as much as £27 billion by 2080 if action is not taken now.
Coastal erosion could increase substantially. The annual average damage might increase by a multiple of three to nine by the 2080s, although the worst case (£126 million per year) is still much less than current annual average damages for flooding.
Dairy Farming
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of dairy farmers in England in 2008. [267851]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 30 March 2009]: The following figures show the number of full and part-time farmers, partners, directors and spouses (if working on the holding) in England at June 2008 on holdings where dairy is the predominant activity.
| Number | |
|
Total farmers, partners, directors and spouses on dairy holdings | |
| Source: June Agricultural Survey. | |
Departmental Absenteeism
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff of his Department were recorded absent for non-medical reasons on (a) 2 February 2009 and (b) 3 February 2009; what estimate he has made of the (i) cost to his Department and (ii) number of working hours lost as a result of such absence; and what guidance his Department issued to staff in respect of absence on those days. [260579]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
Central records of non-medical absences are held for staff who are on special leave, maternity leave, paternity leave or career breaks. 270 staff in DEFRA, Animal Health, the Government Decontamination Service, the Marine and Fisheries Agency, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the Veterinary Medicines
Directorate were recorded as being absent for these reasons on 2 or 3 February or both. Information for the other agencies could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Staff who were unable to travel to the office because of heavy snow on these days were able to work from home using either their DEFRA laptop or web mail. A peak of 1,500 people were recorded on the Department's IT systems as having logged in concurrently from home during the week commencing 2 February. Staff who were unable to travel to the office or work from home may, with the agreement of their manager, have taken annual leave, flexible working hours leave or flexible hours credit, for which central records are not kept.
Guidance issued to staff referred to the following statement:
“Appropriate credit time may be given for any unavoidable delays in arriving at work or unavoidable absences from work due to transport disruption or other exceptional circumstances such as extremely severe weather or for early departure for the same reason”.
No estimate has been made of any cost to the Department or the number of working hours lost on these days.
Departmental Annual Reports
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266695]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Excluding staff costs, information held centrally shows that (i) DEFRA’s 2008 departmental report cost £18,102 in external production and publication expenses and (ii) DEFRA’s 2008 autumn performance report cost nothing to produce and publish (it was published only on the internet). An estimate of the staff costs involved could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Detergents
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to ensure that no cleaning products or ingredients of cleaning products used by his Department have been tested on animals. [261128]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA expects its providers of cleaning products or ingredients of cleaning products to test their products on animals only where there is a legal requirement to do so, and to comply with REACH (the EU regulation concerning the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals).
Departmental Food
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the (a) monetary value and (b) quantity of food disposed of from his Department’s premises in the last 12 months. [264584]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 19 March 2009]: From information held centrally, the amount of food waste generated in the period January 2008 to December 2008 was a gross figure of 29,829 kg. This waste was turned into compost through bio-chemical bacterial anaerobic action producing a net figure of 20,843 kg of compost. The compost generated from the waste collected at DEFRA sites is not sent to landfill but given away to charities and local gardening schemes.
Departmental Lost Property
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether officials in his Department who have lost laptops that were the property of his Department in the last 12 months have been charged the full value of replacement. [266229]
Huw Irranca-Davies: This Department’s IT services were outsourced to IBM in October 2004 at which point all IT equipment became the property of the new service provider. In instances where such equipment has been lost, officials have not been charged with replacement costs.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) capital and (b) resource funds his Department has brought forward from its (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11 budgets for use in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10; and what schemes this funding is being used to support. [265104]
Huw Irranca-Davies: As announced in the Chancellor’s pre-Budget report in November 2008, in 2009-10, DEFRA is planning to bring forward £20 million capital spending on Environment Agency flood risk management and £5 million for British Waterways capital spending on network infrastructure maintenance. No resource budgets are being brought forward.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266294]
Huw Irranca-Davies: As announced in the Chancellor’s pre-Budget report in November 2008, in 2009-10, DEFRA is planning to bring forward from 2010-11 £20 million capital spending on Environment Agency flood risk management and £5 million for British Waterways capital spending on network infrastructure maintenance.
Departmental Responsibilities
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what responsibilities have been assigned to the Minister for Animal Welfare in each of the last three years. [266961]
Jane Kennedy: Since 2005, three Ministers have been responsible for the animal welfare brief in DEFRA; Ben Bradshaw from 5 May 2006 to 5 May 2007, Lord Rooker from 6 May 2007 to 2 October 2008 and Jane Kennedy from 3 October 2008. Their current or past responsibilities are listed as follows:
Ben Bradshaw (5 May 2006 to 5 May 2007)
Air quality and noise
Animal health and welfare strategy
Animal Welfare Bill
Fisheries
Lead role on planning, regional, and local government issues
Local environmental quality
Marine issues (including Marine Bill and OSPAR)
SVS, VLA, VMD
Waste
Departmental Sustainable Development Minister
UK spokesperson at Agriculture Council
Lord Rooker (6 May 2007 to 2 October 2008)
Farming for the future programme
Rural Payments Agency
Food chain programme, stakeholder engagement and delivery chain core functions
Animal welfare core function
Exotic disease policy and delivery change programmes
Emergency response capability
Bovine TB programme
CAP reform and EU strategy programmes, evidence and knowledge base core functions
Better regulation
Endemic disease core functions
Veterinary policy and agencies
Animal health
Central Science Laboratory
Departmental administration
Responsibility and cost sharing programme
Jane Kennedy (3 October 2008 onwards)
Agriculture
Farming for the future programme
Rural Payments Agency
Food chain programme, stakeholder engagement and delivery chain core functions
Animal welfare
Exotic animal disease policy programme and emergency response capability
Bovine TB programme
Endemic animal disease core functions
Veterinary policy and agencies
Animal health
CAP reform and EU strategy programmes, evidence and knowledge base
Responsibility and cost sharing programme
Waste and recycling
Environment Agency
Minister for the Horse
Food and Environment Research Agency
Departmental Standards
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of measuring compliance with its targets under its public service agreements in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [266567]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Measuring progress on public service agreement targets is an intrinsic part of driving delivery of those targets. The only additional cost of measuring compliance with the targets comes from reporting delivery progress to Parliament, for which I refer the hon. Member to my answer to PQ 266695.
Departmental Training
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has provided voice coaching to any of its employees in the last 12 months. [260647]
Huw Irranca-Davies: ‘Voice coaching’ is not a term recognised in our internal management-information systems, so information is not available.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 7W, which Ministers attended each training course; what the name of each course was; and how much each course cost. [265657]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Ministers in DEFRA have taken the following personal training courses at public expense since 1 January 2008:
| Training course | Number of Ministers |
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