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22 Jun 2009 : Column 568W—continued


Dairy Farmers of Britain: Insolvency

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of (a) farmers and (b) farm businesses which are at risk of entering administration as a result of Dairy Farmers of Britain being taken into receivership. [281356]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Dairy Farmers of Britain had 1,800 members when they went into receivership on 3 June. The vast majority of those members have succeeded in finding new outlets for their milk. We were informed by the receivers (PwC) at a meeting on 17 June that 190 members have yet to find a new buyer, so PwC are collecting their milk at present.

Demos

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has any contracts with the think-tank Demos. [279507]

Dan Norris: The core-Department's financial system records expenditure in 2008-09 with Demos of £922.87 categorised as Training in People Management Skills.

Departmental Billing

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average number of days taken to pay an invoice by (a) his
22 Jun 2009 : Column 569W
Department and (b) each of its executive agencies was in each month since November 2008. [279526]

Dan Norris [holding answer 12 June 2009]: Following the statement by the Prime Minister at PMQs on 8 October 2008, central Government Departments were asked to
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make payment of SME supplier invoices within 10 days. From information held centrally the 10 day payment performance for all supplier invoices from November 2008 for the core-Department and Executive agencies and NDPBs that utilise core-DEFRA’s financial system is as follows:

Percentage
10 day performance
2008 2009
Organisation November Decembe r January February March Apri l May

Core DEFRA

33.5

77.1

99.8

99.8

99.4

99.7

99.9

Animal Health Agency

25.5

74.6

99.9

100.0

99.9

99.9

100.0

Natural England

99.5

99.4

99.5

99.6

99.9

99.8

99.7

Marine and Fisheries Agency

41.6

84.6

100.0

96.3

100.0

100.0

99.5

Gov. Decon. Service

35.7

67.3

100.0

99.5

100.0

DECC cost centres

28.1

81.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

99.5

100.0

Note:
GDS merged into FERA from 1 April 2009.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [277871]

Dan Norris [holding answer 3 June 2009]: From information held centrally, the core-Department's financial system records expenditure on hospitality in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 of £441,259 and £132,414 respectively.

Departmental Press

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) newspapers and (b) periodicals are delivered to the private office of each Minister in his Department; and at what cost in the latest period for which figures are available. [279426]

Dan Norris: For the period October 2008 to June 2009, DEFRA Ministers had the following newspapers and periodicals delivered to their offices:

Hilary Benn

Newspapers

Periodicals

Jane Kennedy

Newspapers

Periodicals

Lord Hunt

Newspapers

Periodicals

Huw Irranca-Davies

Newspapers

Periodicals

Newspapers were, and continue to be, only delivered Monday-Thursday, with no papers or magazines being delivered through recess periods. Costs for these publications are grouped within a single departmental invoice, so an indicative weekly cost (based on the cover price of each publication) is £109.70, with zero cost during recess periods.


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Entec

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value is of each contract his Department has with Entec UK environmental consultants. [280352]

Dan Norris: The core-Department's financial system records the following expenditure categorisation and values with Entec UK in 2008-09.

Description Value (£)

Environmental Protection Research and Monitoring

70,254

England Biodiversity Strategy

15,640

Flood and Coastal Defence Research Programme

222,612

Marine Environment Research Programme

7,504

Water Quality and Water Supply Regulation R and D

5,800

Sustainable Water Use and Technical Support

13,444

Air Quality Evidence Base Management

178,033

Sustainable Development Commission Policy

46,070


Floods

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when his Department plans to publish its next progress report on implementation of the urgent recommendations of the Pitt report on flooding. [281649]

Huw Irranca-Davies: In line with our commitment, the Government will very shortly publish its six-monthly Pitt progress report.

Floods: Bournemouth

Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans there are to improve sea defences at Hengistbury Head in Bournemouth. [280910]

Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 18 June 2009]: The plans to improve defences at Hengistbury Head will be based on the current policy review for the local Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). This is being led by Bournemouth borough council and is approaching a public consultation stage. The SMP will be adopted later this year and published in June 2010.

Within the SMP the Environment Agency is reviewing the coastal processes and associated risks at Hengistbury Head. Once the SMP policies are determined and published, the Environment Agency has plans to develop a programme to re-evaluate its approach to improve the coastal defences for Poole Bay, including Hengistbury Head.

Floods: Property Development

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what proportion of local planning authorities have granted planning permission
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for a development against an Environment Agency flood risk objection in each of the last five years; [279436]

(2) what proportion of planning applications have been granted against Environment Agency advice on flood risk in each of the last five years. [279446]

Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answers 12 and 15 June 2009]: The following table shows the proportion of local planning authorities (LPAs) who have given planning permission for a development against an Environment Agency flood risk objection.

Proportion of LPAs who made decisions against Environment Agency advice

Percentage

2003-04

29.9

2004-05

35.8

2005-06

26.1

2006-07

21.4

2007-08

23.5


The following table shows the proportion of planning applications that were approved against Environment Agency advice on flood risk.

Proportion of decisions against Environment Agency advice

Percentage

2003-04

11.5

2004-05

8.1

2005-06

4.7

2006-07

4.0

2007-08

3.4


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