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5 May 2009 : Column 6W—continued
Forestry Commission: Grants
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which grants allocated by the Forestry Commission are (a) not and (b) partially funded by the Rural Development Programme for England; and from which budgets each such grant is funded. [271749]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The following table lists the current and previous grant schemes that are currently administered by the Forestry Commission and for which payments continue to be made. All budget items marked ‘RDPE’ are paid from Axis 2 of the Rural Development Programme for England.
Litter
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) prosecutions have been made and (b) fixed penalty notices were issued by each local authority in West Sussex for (i) dropping of litter and (ii) dog fouling in each of the last three years. [272385]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The information requested is as follows:
The following table shows the figures on FPNs issued by each local authority in West Sussex for the dropping of litter and dog fouling. The figures are for the period 2006-07, the last year for which stats are available.
| Litter | Dog Fouling | |
| FPNs Issued | FPNs Issued | |
| Source: Annual data provided by all English local authority districts to DEFRA. | ||
Court proceedings data held by the Ministry of Justice for the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts for the offences dropping of litter and dog fouling in Sussex police force area for 2005-07 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Data held centrally cannot be further broken down to local authority level, thus Sussex police force area data have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the
offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts for littering and dog fouling offences in Sussex police force area, 2005-07 | |||
| Sussex police force area | Proceeded against | ||
| Offence | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Notes: 1 Data provided 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 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 Includes offences under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sections 87 and 94. 4 Includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions: Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.87. Depositing litter. Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.94. Failing to comply with a street litter control notice. Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 Sec.3. Dog defecates on designated land and person in charge of dog fails to remove faeces from land forthwith. Source: OCJR - E and A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Evidence and Analysis Unit | |||
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Forest of Dean of 2 March and 8 April 2009 on flooding and biomass crops, reference FD7571. [272561]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I have sought advice from Environment Agency officials about the letters from the hon. Member for Forest of Dean dated 2 March and 8 April on flooding and biomass crops and will respond shortly.
Wild Boar
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) in what circumstances wild boar may be fed meat; and if he will make a statement; [272564]
(2) what precautions the Food and Environment Research Agency has put in place to prevent the spread of disease among wild boar populations which are fed meat. [272565]
Jane Kennedy: Wild boar cannot normally be fed meat unless it is fed for research purposes and is done in accordance with an authorisation. DEFRA has issued a general authorisation for use of animal by-products for research purposes. The Secretary of State can also issue individual authorisations and can suspend or revoke authorisations.
Although the feeding of animal by-products to animals is a potential route of transmission of various diseases and is something that is not sanctioned in farming or domestic feeding practice, this isolated, short-term trial involving wild boar took place at a time when foot and mouth disease (FMD) and other exotic diseases were
not present in GB. As such, DEFRA is confident that this particular activity did not increase the risk of introducing FMD or other exotic disease. No additional measures, beyond regular surveillance of the feral wild boar by research scientists, are considered necessary.
The Food and Environment Research Agency does not currently feed any meat to any wild boar populations. In January 2009, as part of the agency’s research on managing wild boar populations, meat was used at a single research site.
House of Commons Commission
House of Commons: Video Recordings
Mr. Amess: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission in what circumstances the House authorities may prevent (a) a live video link to a meeting at the parliamentary estate from being made and (b) a meeting from being held on the parliamentary estate; and if he will make a statement. [272167]
Nick Harvey: The House authorities are guided by the regulations for the use of committee, conference, meeting and interview rooms which are approved by the Administration Committee and set out in the leaflet entitled “Committee Rooms, Conference, Meeting and Interview Rooms” which is available through the Members' Centre, attendants at reception desks and on the intranet. The regulations give guidance on the purposes for which Members may book these rooms. Within these regulations it is possible for Members to invite others to participate in meetings, either in person or via video link.
It is the responsibility of a Member who holds a meeting to ensure that the purpose for which the room has been booked is within the regulations.
Palace of Westminster
John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate the House of Commons Commission has made of the sums to be allocated for the renewal of facilities in the Palace of Westminster in each of the next six financial years. [271773]
Nick Harvey: Budgets for 2009-10 to 2011-12 only have been agreed at present, pending sign-off of a revised Accommodation and Estates Strategy following the completion of a condition survey of all buildings on the parliamentary Estate:
| £000 | |||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | |
These figures cover the House of Commons share of investments by the Parliamentary Estates Directorate across the whole Estate. A number of programmes involve more than a single building, some of which are shared with the Lords, making it difficult to identify separate figures for the Palace of Westminster alone.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much (a) electricity, (b) gas and (c) other fuel was used by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in each of the last 10 years. [267328]
Mr. Woodward: Available figures on fuel expenditure for my Department and its agencies are shown in the following tables:
| Northern Ireland Office fuel expenditure | |||||
| £000 | |||||
| 2007-08 | 2006-07 | 2005-06 | 2004-05 | 2003-04 | |
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