House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Jun 2009 (pt 0009)

25 Jun 2009 : Column 1087W—continued

Floods: Cabinet Committees

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy that the Cabinet Committee on Flooding should meet at least three times a year. [276904]

Huw Irranca-Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) the then Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office gave to her on 23 March 2009, Official Report, columns 50-51W.

This answer stated that it is established practice that information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees, including exactly when and how often they are to meet, is not disclosed.

Floods: Canvey Island

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the number and proportion of buildings on Canvey Island which (a) are not flood-resistant and (b) are flood resilient. [281325]

Huw Irranca-Davies: No estimate has been made of the number of properties on Canvey Island that are flood resistant or resilient. However, the Environment Agency spent over £4 million in 2006 to improve the drainage of the island and address fluvial flooding issues.

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Floods: Peterborough

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the number and proportion of buildings in Peterborough which (a) are not flood-resistant and (b) are flood resilient. [281664]

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has made no estimate of the number of properties in Peterborough that are, or are not flood resistant or resilient.

We are considering how a realistic national estimate can be effectively and economically achieved using information sourced locally. The route for providing the appropriate information for such an estimate will be clearer after the passage of the Flood and Water Management Bill through Parliament.

Forests

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of land in England is (a) woodland and (b) covered by peat. [281980]

Huw Irranca-Davies: The provisional figure published in June this year for woodland is 1.128 million hectares or 9 per cent. of England's land area.

It is estimated that 3-4 per cent. of England's land area is covered by peat soils. This figure refers to substantial peat deposits of at least 40cm in depth. This estimate excludes small pockets of peat in areas that are mapped as part of other soil types.

Livestock

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his assessment is of the cost to farmers of livestock rustling in (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009 to date; and if he will make a statement. [281894]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Comprehensive figures on livestock rustling are not held centrally therefore we have made no assessment of the cost incurred to farmers. Such offences would come under Home Office classification 49 'Other theft or unauthorised taking' and cannot be separately identified from other offences recorded under that classification.

However, the Cattle Tracing System shows the following numbers of cattle have been reported to British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) as stolen:

	Number
2007	7,175
2008	5,553
2009	4,047
Source: Figures provided by the BCMS.

Marine and Coastal Access Bill

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what forecast he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of the inshore fisheries and conservation authorities proposed under the Marine and Coastal Access Bill. [281498]

25 Jun 2009 : Column 1089W

Huw Irranca-Davies: Over 2009-11, one-off costs related to implementation of the reform package will be made available. This will be in the region of £1.6 million based on current estimates. In addition, the establishment of Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) will result in an estimated additional financial burden on constituent local authorities of approximately £5 million per year. This will include expenditure on:

(i) effective management of estuarine and coastal areas that have previously been subject to low intervention;

(ii) enhanced byelaw making procedures, including improved evidence-based decision making and consultation on impact assessments;

(iii) increased monitoring, inspection and enforcement (including more enforcement officers); and

(iv) improved staff training and development.

A consultation setting out options for establishing future IFC district boundaries and the local authorities that will fall within the districts closed on 22 April and the Government intend to publish its response this summer. The outcome of the consultation will help inform what changes need to be made and their associated costs. Officials will work closely with Sea Fisheries Committees and local authorities to quantify the changes necessary.

Members: Correspondence

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to respond to the letters from the hon. Member for Billericay of 6 April and 7 May 2009 regarding his constituent Fran Smith. [282181]

Dan Norris: The hon. Member for Billericay's letters of 6 April and 7 May regarding his constituent Fran Smith were replied to by my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Jane Kennedy) on 10 May.

Ministers: Working Hours

Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hours he spent on his ministerial duties in the seven-day period beginning Sunday 7 June 2009. [282180]

Dan Norris: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Hilary Benn) had a full diary of official duties.

River Humber

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the likely effect on levels of greenhouse gas emissions of the designation of the River Humber as a sensitive area under the EU urban waste water treatment directive; and if he will make a statement. [280779]

Huw Irranca-Davies: Yorkshire Water estimates (based on United Kingdom Water Industry Research Limited,
25 Jun 2009 : Column 1090W
Greenhouse Gas workbook) that designation will increase carbon dioxide equivalents by 380 kilotonnes during construction and 125 kilotonnes per year through operations.

Severn Trent Water estimates an increase of between 100 and 150 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide per year, a 20 to 30 per cent. increase on current emissions. Additional emissions from Anglian Water will be much smaller.

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the costs which would be incurred if the River Humber were to be designated as a sensitive area under the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive; and if he will make a statement. [280780]

Huw Irranca-Davies: If the UK was required to designate the Humber as sensitive to eutrophication, industry has estimated the capital cost of additional treatment to be approximately £900 million, with operating costs of approximately £50 million a year.

Rural Payments Agency: Complaints

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many complaints in relation to the processing of claims by the Rural Payments Agency his Department has received in (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009 . [282037]

Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 24 June 2009]: The following table sets out how many complaints in respect of the single payment scheme have been dealt with by the Rural Payments Agency for the last three years.

Financial year	Number
2006-07	2,569
2007-08	1,149
2008-09	942
Note: 1. Financial years cover the period 1 April to 31 March. 2. The figures for 2008-09 are subject to confirmation in the annual Exchequer audit.

Sheep

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2009, Official Report, column 96W, on sheep, what estimate has been made of the number of sheep in each county in England in each year since 1997. [281992]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The total number of sheep and lambs in England by county/unitary authority in each year since 1997 are shown in the following tables.

Figures for 1999 onwards can also be found on the DEFRA website at:

www.defra.gov.uk/esg/work_htm/publications/cs/farmstats_web/2_SURVEY_DATA_SEARCH/COMPLETE_DATASETS/regional_level_datasets.htm

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Table 1: Total sheep and lambs by county/unitary authority, 1997 to 2002
County/UA	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees	23,436	24,468	24,015	21,907	18,619	16,481
South Teesside	27,715	30,228	30,708	29,314	27,861	23,118
Darlington	30,449	30,252	31,797	29,944	20,226	18,075
Durham CC	678,435	685,483	689,716	650,712	500,085	522,161
Northumberland	1,664,446	1,680,887	1,719,011	1,642,218	1,395,748	1,343,874
Tyneside	10,023	10,862	10,750	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Sunderland	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
West Cumbria	716,598	746,378	733,959	705,904	368,594	488,592
East Cumbria	1,975,625	2,061,168	2,041,301	1,928,069	1,130,470	1,313,197
Halton and Warrington	3,624	3,488	4,152	4,669	4,457	4,040
Cheshire CC	205,653	214,103	215,542	203,685	194,710	177,920
Greater Manchester South	16,813	16,822	16,442	20,349	19,772	17,178
Greater Manchester North	56,745	53,704	57,903	51,454	54,129	49,010
Blackburn With Darwen	20,036	21,173	21,229	21,230	17,342	16,925
Blackpool	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Lancashire CC	788,668	823,332	800,283	776,586	703,264	656,886
East Merseyside	6,399	6,923	7,430	6,061	6,452	6,336
Liverpool	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Sefton	334	659	417	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	249
Wirral	1,504	1,442	1,639	1,528	1,506	⁽¹⁾—
Kingston upon Hull, City of	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	1—	⁽¹⁾—
East Riding of Yorkshire	121,399	115,301	114,603	110,654	105,164	91,389
North and North East Lincolnshire	12,614	12,990	14,269	12,591	13,085	11,873
York	13,836	14,467	14,721	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
North Yorkshire CC	2,082,611	2,145,678	2,160,335	2,077,156	1,793,702	1,675,339
Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham	50,370	51,263	55,386	52,214	47,882	41,496
Sheffield	36,273	39,669	30,172	31,464	35,243	35,210
Bradford	74,334	80,623	75,983	76,204	73,352	70,360
Leeds	51,544	51,709	50,187	46,567	44,880	38,615
Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield	111,848	117,944	117,051	109,134	105,569	107,925
Derby	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	28,563	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
East Derbyshire	27,584	29,113	30,056	1—	25,663	21,540
South and West Derbyshire	429,662	459,537	459,847	438,425	420,812	377,670
Nottingham	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
North Nottinghamshire	53,816	49,482	57,508	58,313	49,441	46,320
South Nottinghamshire	32,238	32,401	28,265	27,575	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Leicester	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Leicestershire CC and Rutland	411,401	427,810	434,168	390,411	374,035	340,160
Northamptonshire	398,006	411,666	418,480	406,457	387,762	329,594
Lincolnshire	218,252	225,666	233,901	206,494	191,988	169,317
Herefordshire, County of	807,253	845,061	851,417	799,820	664,610	644,216
Worcestershire	378,186	393,374	395,697	377,145	336,362	309,974
Warwickshire	328,798	355,204	361,938	358,192	339,797	301,609
Telford and Wrekin	9,705	10,848	10,773	11,273	11,492	9,970
Shropshire CC	923,438	958,173	979,024	909,128	836,216	762,901
Stoke-on-Trent	502	685	883	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Staffordshire CC	297,542	308,388	322,042	305,150	276,732	259,300
Birmingham	1,025	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Solihull	16,627	17,438	17,215	17,760	11,314	13,726
Coventry	1,813	2,925	2,816	2,589	2,552	2,422
Dudley and Sandwell	1,168	1,208	1,277	1,147	855	793
Walsall and Wolverhampton	1,031	1,092	1,243	683	542	553
Peterborough	9,445	12,265	11,141	49,135	10,548	8,728
Cambridgeshire CC	43,557	42,455	44,401	11,129	47,262	34,548
Norfolk	145,746	144,935	149,276	144,307	136,367	106,114
Suffolk	68,421	76,199	74,317	82,795	72,985	77,229
Luton	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Bedfordshire CC	58,147	58,034	61,168	56,409	53,482	45,018
Hertfordshire	43,606	44,219	42,750	38,143	40,739	32,687
Southend-on-Sea	0	0	0	0	0	0
Thurrock	2,749	2,811	2,870	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Essex CC	74,066	67,556	70,067	66,014	59,455	56,122
Inner London: West	0	0	0	0	65,970	1—
Inner London: East	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	21,281	45
Outer London: East and North East	1,696	1,519	1,683	⁽¹⁾—	204,408	⁽¹⁾—
Outer London: South	387	577	907	649	194,395	746
Outer London: West and North West	888	1,926	1,939	1,699	⁽¹⁾—	848
Berkshire	60,837	71,968	75,616	70,196	291,072	58,114
Milton Keynes	29,565	27,385	28,528	26,025	75,887	21,576
Buckinghamshire CC	186,506	199,017	220,705	208,804	114,130	180,258
Oxfordshire	208,953	218,569	219,270	211,197	⁽¹⁾—	172,395
Brighton and Hove	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	151	3,554
East Sussex CC	279,868	289,435	302,772	299,664	145,891	271,572
Surrey	76,210	75,395	76,708	80,907	33,096	64,931
West Sussex	140,226	138,258	127,124	121,364	⁽¹⁾—	102,861
Portsmouth	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	451,145	⁽¹⁾—
Southampton	⁽¹⁾—	149	162	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Hampshire CC	161,303	160,422	156,850	154,421	⁽¹⁾—	129,661
Isle of Wight	36,568	38,784	38,715	35,083	⁽¹⁾—	30,738
Medway	8,416	7,737	7,920	7,949	854	9,594
Kent CC	514,911	511,487	508,048	491,865	1,230	383,725
Bristol, City of	416	427	419	⁽¹⁾—	1,232	⁽¹⁾—
N and NE Somerset, South Glos	100,105	102,743	98,295	98,595	95,202	84,217
Gloucestershire	403,875	414,686	425,662	418,837	334,173	329,925
Swindon	16,683	15,814	13,121	13,360	11,699	6,960
Wiltshire CC	203,393	194,027	203,037	199,164	193,195	171,851
Bournemouth and Poole	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Dorset CC	209,155	221,225	226,936	219,057	200,171	176,598
Somerset	572,797	590,196	605,745	583,969	551,959	490,772
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	601,534	631,841	639,631	607,512	575,228	521,136
Plymouth	3,802	2,891	2,721	2,657	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—
Torbay	4,287	2,794	2,944	3,945	2,151	⁽¹⁾—
Devon CC	1,828,808	1,921,261	1,937,405	1,817,687	1,472,395	1,445,962

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