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26 Jun 2009 : Column 1178W—continued
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Dairy Farming
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the organisation Dairy Farmers of Great Britain. [281922]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 23 June 2009]: On 17 June I attended a meeting of senior officials, Dairy Farmers of Britain Members Council, the receivers (PWC), Dairy UK, Farm unions, banks, and charity and benevolent organisations to continue co-ordinated efforts and work towards our common goal of minimising the impacts on all those affected.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Hilary Benn) has spoken to regional development agencies to ask for their support, and has written to the British Bankers Association and the Agricultural Industries Confederation urging them to give any help they can to farmers affected by the Dairy Farmers of Britain collapse.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps he is taking to make his Department carbon-neutral; and what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on making their Departments carbon-neutral; [281230]
(2) what steps he is taking to make his Department’s agencies carbon-neutral; what his latest estimate is of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from those agencies; and what steps he plans to take to reduce them; [281231]
(3) what his latest estimate is of the level of greenhouse gas emissions from (a) his Department and (b) other Government departments; and what steps he is taking to seek to achieve reductions in emissions in each case. [281258]
Dan Norris: DEFRA and its Executive agencies are committed to reducing their carbon emissions.
Various energy efficiency projects have already been implemented across both the DEFRA and Executive Agency Estate including:
Installation of voltage regulation units. This technology significantly reduces energy consumption of a whole building by regulating the voltage level entering the building. Average electricity consumption has reduced by 11 per cent. as a result of installing this technology.
Other energy efficiency projects which have been implemented include upgrades to more efficient lighting, improvements to motor energy controls and gas boiler sequencing controls, all of which have delivered significant savings.
Thermal imaging surveys have been undertaken at a number of DEFRA laboratory sites. The results of the surveys will inform a programme of works to improve the thermal efficiency of buildings.
DEFRA is currently upgrading its electricity, gas and water meters to ‘Smart meters’ which will provide accurate and up to the minute consumption data. This data will be used to monitor and identify excessive consumption, providing a focus for strategic consumption reduction. The carbon Trust estimate that savings of between 5-10 per cent. can be achieved through the identification of waste through Smart metering.
These measures have resulted in the DEFRA and Executive Agency Estate achieving accreditation under the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme (EEAS) in 2007. DEFRA also achieved the Carbon Trust Standard in 2008 for its office estate. Both these awards were independently assessed and confirm that the Department is improving its energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.
DEFRA is already exceeding the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) target for reducing carbon emissions from offices. Its ongoing programme of investment on efficiency measures will ensure that the Department is in the best possible position when Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) begins in 2012. In addition, a 15 year Sustainable Built Environment Workplace Support (SBEWS) delivery partnership with Interserve plc, will deliver significant efficiency improvements, not just in energy but across the entire range of SOGE targets.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change is currently leading work to define what is meant by carbon neutrality for Government and the private sector. Once this work is complete, Government will review the target for the central Government office estate to be carbon neutral by 2012 and the implications for departmental delivery.
The table represents the carbon emissions from DEFRA and its Executive agencies in 2007-08.
| Organisation | Kg carbon (kgC) |
|
Food and Environment Research Agency (formerly Central Science Laboratory) | |
| Note: The figures are not weather corrected. | |
Departmental Communication
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what expenditure under the budget heading of communication his Department (a) incurred in 2007-08 and (b) is likely to incur in 2010-11; and for what purposes. [281263]
Dan Norris: For the financial year 2007-08 expenditure DEFRA incurred was as follows:
| £ | |
For the financial year 2010-11 the budget is likely to be:
| £ | |
The programme budget for 2010-11 covers communications activity to support key policy areas such as biodiversity, resource efficiency, biosecurity, personal food imports, climate friendly farming and adaptation.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many breaches of information security there have been at (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in the last five years. [281093]
Dan Norris: Data on all types of information security breaches is not available centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
Following the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008, my Department and its agencies report all significant security breaches involving personal data to the Cabinet Office and the ICO and information on personal data security breaches is published on an annual basis in the department's annual resource accounts.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
Farming: Finance
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2009, Official Report, column 1056W, on dairy farming: finance, (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of obtaining the information requested; [281318]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2009, Official Report, column 1057W, on livestock: finance, what estimate he has made of the cost of obtaining the information requested. [281327]
Jim Fitzpatrick: For historical reasons relating to the formation of the Rural Payments Agency, the data required to provide the information requested pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2009, Official Report, column 1056W on dairy farming and column 1057W on livestock is held on three finance systems. The process to reconcile the information to provide accurate financial information in the form requested is resource intensive, time consuming and would cost more than £750 to collate.
World Environment Day 2009
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what World Environment Day 2009 events his Department supported; at which events his Department was represented; and what steps his Department took to promote World Environment Day 2009. [278801]
Dan Norris: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State was represented by Peter Unwin, Director General of DEFRA's Environment and Rural Group, at the opening of the new Three Mills Lock on World Environment Day. Three Mills Lock is a key piece of Olympic Park infrastructure and the largest mechanism of its kind built on London waterways for more than 20 years. It will help take lorries off local roads, reduce thousands of tonnes of CO2 and ease local congestion. It will also provide a green freight route for the redevelopment of East London, and open up the waterways for boaters, walkers and cyclists. Secretary of State supplied some quotes for a British Waterways media release.
Lord Hunt attended the Basic 21 Sustainable School Awards, which took place at Austin Court, Birmingham and was part of a number of events to launch “Green Day” on World Environment Day. Green Day is a one-day event for schools about climate change, sustainability and the built environment, inviting 350 primary and secondary schools and nearly 100,000 pupils to become more sustainable in the run up to the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen later this year.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what research his Department has commissioned on the effect of academies on the academic performance of their pupils. [282630]
Mr. Coaker: In 2002, we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a five year evaluation of the Academies programme, the core aim of which was to assess the effect of Academies on academic performance. Their fifth and final report was published in November 2008 and we are currently exploring the options for future evaluation of the programme.
The National Audit Office and the National Foundation for Education Research and the Local Government Association have also conducted studies of Academies. In addition, as with all schools, Academies are inspected by Ofsted and their reports are published as are the GCSE results for individual Academies.
The information we have tells us that in general, standards in Academies are rising at a faster rate than national average.
Departmental Energy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was spent on energy efficiency measures for his Department’s and its predecessor’s estate in each year from 2004 to 2009; what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of that expenditure; and what plans he has for future energy efficiency measures. [280549]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children, Schools and Families spent £419,000 on energy efficiency measures on its estate in 2008-09.
While it is not possible to separate energy efficiency works from overall expenditure on refurbishment and renewal works in preceding years, the Department’s overall energy efficiency improved by 3 per cent. between 2006-07 and 2007-08.
The Department is presently developing its investment programme for the current financial year and the effectiveness of any expenditure will be reported in the annual Sustainable Development in Government report.
Departmental Waste
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the amount of waste arising from his Department in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 (i) in total and (ii) per full-time equivalent member of staff. [281014]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Department for Children, Schools and Families makes an annual report to the Sustainable Development Commission on waste arising as part of their returns for the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report.
From the 2007 and 2008 SDiG Reports (available in full at
under ‘Publications’) waste arising for the office estate was reported as (a) 1,918 tonnes in 2006-07 and (b) 2,678 tonnes in 2007-08 which equated to (aii) 0.32 tonnes per full-time equivalent and (bii) 0.39 tonnes per full-time equivalent.
GCSE
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of students achieved a B grade at GCSE in each subject in each of the last three years. [282457]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The numbers of students achieving a Grade B at GCSE along with the total number of entries in each subject is contained in table 13 in each of the following links:
Head teachers: Disciplinary Proceedings
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of head teachers have been subject to disciplinary procedure in each of the last five years. [282442]
Mr. Coaker: The operation of disciplinary procedures in schools is a matter for local determination. Accordingly, the information requested about the proportion of head teachers who have been subject to disciplinary procedures over the last five years is not held centrally.
Pupil Exclusions
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils who were permanently excluded from a mainstream maintained (a) primary and (b) secondary school were next placed in a (i) mainstream school and (ii) pupil referral unit in each year since 1997. [282641]
Mr. Coaker: The requested information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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