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7 May 2009 : Column 401W—continued
Barnet
Ealing
Enfield
Harrow
Hillingdon
Bolsover
Chesterfield
Erewash
High Peak
North East Derbyshire
South Derbyshire
Wellingborough
Ashfield
Bassetlaw
Broxtowe
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency plans to publish its location-related datasets. [272453]
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Single Payment Scheme stage one appeals are being processed by the Rural Payments Agency; how many of them have been subject to processing for more than (a) 90 days, (b) 120 days and (c) 150 days; and if he will make a statement. [270106]
Jane Kennedy: At 28 April 2009 the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) had 117 Single Payment Scheme stage 1 appeals under consideration of which 73 had been considered for less than 90 days.
Nine cases had been considered for up to 120 days; a further six for up to 150 days and 29 for more than 150 days.
The RPA aims to consider an appeal and notify the decision within 90 days, however given the complexity of some of the cases, which require additional legal and policy advice, this is not always possible to achieve.
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much (a) matched and (b) unmatched funding available to England from the EU agriculture budget was not taken up in each year since 1997. [273277]
Jane Kennedy: DEFRA is not responsible for the administration of all of the funding available to England from the EU budget.
The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 9 July 2008, Official Report, column 1585W, on apprentices, what progress has been made on increasing the number of apprentices in his Department; and how many apprentices his Department employs. [251956]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has been actively looking for opportunities to recruit apprentices and to offer apprenticeship opportunities to existing DEFRA staff. The number of apprentices in DEFRA and its agencies at 31 March has increased to 16, of which 12 are part of the Pathfinder apprenticeship programme, and four are non-Pathfinder apprenticeships based at Kew Gardens.
DEFRA is actively looking for more opportunities in 2009-10 significantly to increase this number in core DEFRA and its agencies. An official has been allocated to this agenda, and is liaising with both the core Department and the agency network to ensure that DEFRA is doing all that it can to support this work. The Department is actively engaged with colleagues in Jobcentre Plus to identify ways in which development opportunities can be offered to unemployed citizens, in particular those sometimes viewed as ‘harder to reach’ such as the long-term unemployed.
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 farm holdings where dairy is the predominant activity in each year since 1997. [273421]
Jane Kennedy: The number of holdings where dairy is the predominant activity are shown in the following table for each year since 1997.
| Thousand holdings | |
| (1) Data prior to 2000 are for main holdings only. Figures from 2000 onwards include main and minor holdings. (2) Until 2006, cattle populations were derived from the annual June Survey of Agriculture. Since June 2007, they have been sourced from administrative data—the cattle tracing system. The farm types have been recalculated on this basis for June 2006 onwards. | |
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials in his Department are suspended; how many are suspended on full pay; for how long each has been suspended; and what the reasons are for any such suspensions. [270517]
Huw Irranca-Davies: There are currently four people within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who are suspended. Because it is such a small number, we cannot give further details because of the possibility of identifying individuals.
Suspensions are considered in line with DEFRA’s disciplinary policy and procedures. These reflect the central framework set out in the Civil Service Management Code and they are available to all staff via the Department’s intranet.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the (a) energy consumed by, (b) energy cost of and (c) carbon dioxide emissions from each category of IT device in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [269538]
Jane Kennedy: No measurements were taken or estimated in 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007.
In 2007 DEFRA commissioned its strategic supplier IBM to trial the use of ISO 14064 to provide an initial IT footprint assessment for the Department. This
provisionally identified for April 2008 that IT in use across DEFRA and all its Executive agencies had an annual footprint of:
(a) 12 million kwH
(b) Costing £1.08 million (at 9p per kwH)
(c) Emitting 6 ktonnes CO2
Subsequently as part of the Department’s response to the launch of the HMG Green ICT Strategy in July 2008, IBM were commissioned to undertaken a feasibility study of the actions the Department could take to meet the 2012 target for carbon neutrality for ICT in use across the estate and to prepare its roadmap. The study team was asked to provide a more detailed assessment of the ICT footprint for the Department to provide a robust baseline for the roadmap. Preliminary figures from the draft report issued in April 2009 indicate that for 2008-09 core DEFRA and all its Executive agencies have an annual footprint for IT in use of:
(a) 12.5 million kwH
(b) Costing £1.13 million
(c) Emitting 6.5 ktonnes CO2
An exercise has also been undertaken to re-align the April 2008 figures with the revised DEFRA organizational structure as at April 2009 and with an increased scope for the footprint that now includes telephony. This has established a footprint for 2007-08 of:
(a) 12.3 million kwH
(b) Costing—£1.11 million
(c) Emitting 6.4 ktonnes CO2
A breakdown of the above figures by device type is not currently available but a breakdown of energy consumption in million kwH is provided as follows of the broad device categories that were assessed i.e. work space assets used in the office, and data space assets e.g. servers and network assets used in the office and in off-site data centres.
| Million kwH | |||
| Original 2008 footprint study | Re-aligned 2008 footprint | 2009 footprint | |
Departmental Rail Travel
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department has issued to its staff on claims for travel in first class carriages on trains if there are no seats in standard class. [268443]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Rules relating to travel claims are set out in the Civil Service Management Code, which can be accessed at:
DEFRA’s travel policy is that staff are discouraged from travel in first class carriages on trains if the journey is less than 2.5 hours in duration. An upgrade is permitted when it is not possible to reserve a seat in standard class and no standard class seat is available.
All staff are encouraged to book tickets for travel at the earliest opportunity in order to obtain travel discounts and travel cost savings.
Elephants: Conservation
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent reports he has received of elephant poaching in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) signatory countries in contravention of CITES. [272851]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I am aware of continuing concerns about elephant poaching and the recent ivory seizure in Vietnam. The UK has helped fund both the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) and the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programmes under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). We expect to receive an update on illegal elephant trade at the next Conference of CITES Parties in 2010.
Farmers: Income
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2009, Official Report, column 816W, on farmers: income, how many farm businesses had an income of less than £10,000 in 2007-08. [273351]
Jane Kennedy: The following table shows the estimated number of farms with a Farm Business Income(1) (FBI) of less than £10,000 since 2003-04, based on the sample of farms included within the Farm Business Survey. Farm Business Income is the preferred measure of income but is not available for earlier years. Equivalent data are therefore also shown for Net Farm Income(2 )(NFI) for the entire period.
| Number of farms with less than £10,000 FBI | Number of farms with less than £10,000 NFI | |
| Source: Farm Business Survey, England(3) | ||
(1) Farm Business Income represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and directors and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings.
(2) Net Farm Income is defined as the return to the principal farmer and spouse alone for their manual and managerial labour and on the tenant type capital of the business. An imputed rent is deducted for owner-occupied farms as is a charge for other unpaid labour.
(3 )The Farm Business Survey sample covers businesses with a Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) of at least 0.5, i.e. a size considered sufficient to occupy a farmer for at least half their working time.
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