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23 Apr 2009 : Column 826W—continued
Waste and Resources Action Programme
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Waste and Resources Action Programme has a statutory basis. [270197]
Jane Kennedy: The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is not set up under statutory authority. It is a company limited by guarantee, established under the Companies Act 1985 with rules prohibiting it from distributing a profit. Grant is paid to it by DEFRA under section 153(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as varied by the Financial Assistance for Environmental Purposes (No. 2) Order 2000 Statutory Instrument No. 2211.
Waste Disposal
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department has taken to promote anaerobic digestion as a means of managing the disposal of household waste. [269977]
Jane Kennedy: Anaerobic digestion is our preferred option for treating food waste—it has significant environmental benefits over other options for treating food waste, with the energy generated also offsetting fossil fuel power generation, and counting towards our renewable energy targets. Anaerobic digestion may be particularly cost-effective for food waste if separately collected.
Anaerobic digestion is a key component of the Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy, to be published in June. It will significantly help the UK to meet its binding targets in respect of renewable energy generation, reductions in carbon emissions and diversion of biodegradable municipal waste.
We now need to drive forward the development of practical ways to achieve a major increase in the use of anaerobic digestion. A new Anaerobic Digestion Task Group has been set up, drawn from a broad range of stakeholders to develop an Implementation Plan, which will set out the practical measures that Government and stakeholders can individually and collectively take to increase use of anaerobic digestion.
Government financial support already available to encourage greater uptake of anaerobic digestion includes:
Electricity from anaerobic digestion being now eligible for two ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) per megawatt hour.
Providing around £10 million over the next three years for the anaerobic digestion demonstration programme.
We wish to see a much greater uptake of anaerobic digestion by local authorities, businesses and farmers, but it is local authorities, rather than DEFRA, who are responsible for deciding how waste is managed, as part of their local waste management strategies.
Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 27 January 2009, Official Report, columns 334-35W, on waste disposal: fees and charges, whether joint waste authorities will be able to bid to participate in pilots for charges for the collection of household waste. [270144]
Jane Kennedy: A Joint Waste Authority (JWA) would be able to put forward a proposal to pilot a waste incentive scheme in its area if it had responsibility for waste collection.
Waste Management
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what dates his Department’s Waste Strategy Stakeholder Group has met since it was established. [269980]
Jane Kennedy: Since its establishment, the Waste Strategy’s Stakeholder Group has met on six occasions:
20 July 2007
30 November 2007
25 February 2008
22 May 2008
2 September 2008
3 February 2009.
Whales: Conservation
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent steps the Government has taken on the establishment of a permanent South Atlantic Sanctuary; what steps it plans to take at the June 2009 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Madeira; and if he will make a statement. [270054]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK has consistently supported proposals for the creation of a south Atlantic whale sanctuary and will do so again if such a proposal is made at the next annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Madeira in June 2009.
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in countries which do not engage in whaling on coastal whaling; and if he will make a statement. [270055]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK has not held any recent discussions with our counterparts in countries which do not engage in whaling on coastal whaling. However, the UK participated in the intersessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and Small Working Group in Rome in March, where the issue of coastal whaling was discussed, and UK officials have also had discussions with EU counterparts. We have stressed throughout that we could not agree to the setting of catch limits for coastal whaling unless these were fully supported by the IWC’s Scientific Committee and such catch limits formed part of a package, the adoption of which we considered to be beneficial to long-term whale conservation.
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department’s policy on coastal whaling is; and if he will make a statement. [270056]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK continues to have concerns about potential proposals by Japan to introduce a new type of ‘small type coastal whaling’ into the schedule of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). Unlike Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling, which the UK supports, coastal whaling is essentially commercial, with distribution throughout Japan.
We are also concerned that if one country is allowed to carry out coastal whaling, then other countries would argue that they should be allowed similar provisions, ultimately outside direct control of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). We have voiced these concerns in the context of recent discussions on reform of the IWC and shared them fully with our European partners.
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on voting on the international moratorium on commercial whaling; and if he will make a statement. [270057]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK has not held any recent discussions with our EU counterparts on the international moratorium on commercial whaling. However, the UK Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met EU counterparts on 31 March 2009 to discuss the forthcoming annual meeting of the IWC in Madeira (IWC61).
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has made to the government of Iceland on its quotas for (a) minke and (b) fin whales in 2009; and if he will make a statement. [270058]
Huw Irranca-Davies: On 13 February 2009, the UK took part in a diplomatic protest (démarche) to Iceland in response to their previous Government’s decision to issue a new commercial whaling quota for 150 fin and 100 minke whales.
In a letter delivered to the Minister of Fisheries, the UK, together with the USA, France, Germany, Sweden and Finland, expressed our Government’s extreme disappointment in the decision to issue a quota, and commended the intention of the new government to re-evaluate this decision.
The UK will continue to impress upon Iceland the fact that its whaling operations are a source of conflict with the UK. We will consider further representation following the forthcoming election in Iceland.
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Japanese counterpart on the international moratorium on commercial whaling; and if he will make a statement. [270059]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The UK has not held any recent discussions with Japan on the international moratorium on commercial whaling. However, the UK confirmed its continued support for the continuation of the moratorium, and its opposition to Japanese whaling, at the recent intersessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission in March 2009, at which Japan was represented.
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many early medical abortions were performed in England by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service at the request of the NHS on women who gave addresses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland in each of the last four years, broken down by (i) the age of the woman and (ii) the length of gestation of the pregnancy; [269838]
(2) how many women who gave addresses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland were referred by National Health Service GPs to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service for an abortion in each of the last four years for which figures are available, broken down by (i) age of the women and (ii) the length of gestation of the pregnancy in weeks. [269848]
Dawn Primarolo: None. Women travelling from Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland seeking an abortion at a British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in England, under the Abortion Act 1967, as amended, make their own arrangements and pay for their abortion privately.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the change in the rate of abortions performed in England on women with addresses in the Republic of Ireland between 2006 and 2007; and if he will make a statement. [269839]
Dawn Primarolo: No assessment has been made of the reasons behind the decrease in total abortions for non residents between 2006 and 2007.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women aged (a) 18, (b) 17, (c) 16, (d) 15, (e) 14, (f) 13 and (g) 12 years old who gave addresses in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) the Republic of Ireland who had an abortion in England in (A) 2006 and (B) 2007 had had (1) one, (2) two, (3) three, (4) four and (5) five or more previous abortions in England. [269840]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is shown in the following table. The information cannot be shown in the format requested for confidentiality reasons and has been provided in line with the Office for National Statistics’ guidance on the disclosure of abortion statistics (2005).
| Abortions and repeat abortions( 1) in England and Wales to residents of Ireland aged under 19, 2006 and 2007 | ||
| 2006 | 2007 | |
| ‘—’ Suppressed value less than 10 (between 0 and 9) for reasons of confidentiality in line with Office for National Statistics Guidance on release of abortion statistics, 2005. (1) Place of previous abortion is not collected. | ||
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions were performed in England under the Abortion Act 1967 on women who gave addresses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland where the unborn child was suffering from cleft (i) palate and (ii) lip, broken down by (A) grounds for abortion, (B) the length of gestation in weeks and (C) the relevant health authority in each of the last 15 years. [269841]
Dawn Primarolo: There was no diagnosis code specifically for cleft lip and palate prior to 1995. In the 12 years between 1995 and 2007, there were fewer than 10 cases (between 0 and 9) where the principal medical condition for an abortion performed under section 1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act for residents of Ireland.(1) Less than 1 per cent. of abortions for non residents are performed under section 1(1)(d).
(1 )Cases of less than 10 (between 0 and 9) are suppressed for reasons of confidentiality in line with the Office for National Statistics’ guidance on disclosure of abortion statistics (2005).
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions were performed in England on women who gave addresses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by type of procedure. [269846]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is shown in the following table.
| Abortions in England and Wales to residents of Ireland by method, 2007 | ||
| Northern Ireland | Irish Republic | |
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions have been performed on women who gave addresses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland under the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967 in the last 30 years; and how many and what percentage of these abortions were performed in an emergency to save the life of the mother. [269847]
Dawn Primarolo: In the 30 years between 1977 and 2007, there were 47,552 abortions performed in England and Wales on residents of Northern Ireland and 140,556 performed on residents of the Irish Republic. Less than 10 (between 0 and 9) of these were performed under section 1(4) of the Abortion Act, in an emergency to save the life of the mother.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer to the then hon. Member for Ilford, North of 16 July 1996, Official Report, columns 494-96, on abortion, what the characteristics were of the statistically most likely candidate in (a) England and (b) each health authority for an abortion in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006 in terms of (A) the marital status of the woman, (B) the age of the woman, (C) the gestation of the pregnancy, (D) the number of previous children borne by the woman, (E) the number of previous abortions undergone by the woman and (F) the legal grounds under which the abortion was performed. [270593]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is shown in the following tables.
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