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14 July 2009 : Column 232W—continued
Rural Areas: Employment
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Youth Hostel Association on the effectiveness of its steps taken with his Department to increase levels of (a) rural employment and (b) access to the countryside. [286723]
Huw Irranca-Davies: I have had no such discussions with the Youth Hostel Association but would be willing to consider doing so should they request a meeting.
School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to bring forward proposals for a free fruit scheme under the provisions of EC Commission Regulation No. 288/2009. [283339]
Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
There are a number of pilots and evaluation projects currently under way that are looking at the school fruit and vegetable scheme and wider on free school meals in England. A decision will be made about whether to bring forward proposals once the results have been received and considered.
Soil
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on soil value guidelines; and if he will make a statement. [285865]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA officials have been in regular contact with the Environment Agency (EA) regarding the publication of new soil guideline values. The EA is working closely with partners including the Health Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency to produce new soil guideline values for a range of the most common contaminants. Values for the first eight contaminants were published earlier this year. The EA has stated that it will publish the remaining values as they are developed.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when his Department plans to publish the Soil Guideline Value and Toxicological reports for (a) naphthalene, (b) benzo(a)pyrene and (c) carbon fractions (i) aromatic C12-C16 and (ii) aromatic C21-C35. [285879]
Dan Norris: The Environment Agency's (EA) plans to publish Soil Guideline Values (SGV) and Toxicological (TOX) reports for naphthalene and benzo(a)pyrene have been delayed. I am informed that the EA is working on these reports with other Government agencies to resolve some outstanding technical issues, and intends to publish them as soon as possible.
The EA has, at present, no plans to publish SGV or TOX reports for carbon fractions (i) aromatic C12-C16 and (ii) aromatic C21-C35. Its approach for these hydrocarbons was published in 2005 and is available on the EA website at:
Sustainable Development
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department has taken in relation to its sustainable consumption and production priority area for action; and if he will make a statement. [285814]
Dan Norris: DEFRA's work in this priority area aims to make production and consumption patterns associated with the UK economy compatible with sustainable living. Action is being taken to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and inputs of non-renewable resources, energy and water.
DEFRA and its partners are working with businesses, consumers and the public sector to help them understand and reduce their impacts. Overall, this work aims to create better products and services, with lower environmental impacts across their lifecycle, which minimise waste and the use of landfill. DEFRA is working to achieve this in three key ways:
Encouraging best practice through the provision of tools, guidance, and information to help businesses and consumers choose the most sustainable behaviours. For example, we are working with industry to pilot ten roadmaps to improve the sustainability of products that have significant environmental and/or social impacts.
Leading by example by setting policies and ensuring that the Government act in a sustainable way.
Setting standards to ensure that minimum requirements are implemented in the design, production, use and disposal of particular products. This includes raising the sustainability of energy-using products, including through EU minimum standards. The minimum standards agreed so far are expected to save £900 million per year from people's energy bills and help save around 7Mt CO2 per annum by 2020.
An important aspect of more sustainable consumption and production is the impact of products at their end of life as waste. Following the Waste Strategy for England 2007, DEFRA is working to:
secure better integration of treatment for municipal and non-municipal waste;
secure the investment in infrastructure needed to divert waste from landfill and for the management of hazardous waste; and
meet and exceed the Landfill Directive diversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste in 2010, 2013 and 2020.
Further information about DEFRA's work in this priority area can be found in the Departmental Report which is available on DEFRA's website.
Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1006W, on domestic wastes, which local authorities have sought the advice of the Waste and Resources Action Programme on available options for waste incentive schemes in the last 12 months. [285234]
Dan Norris:
WRAP has not provided specific advice on operating a waste charging scheme to individual authorities within the last 12 months. They have dealt with a number of general enquiries from local authority officers and members, seeking clarification on the legislation
and draft guidelines for the Waste Incentive Programme, but these did not result in an application being developed for a pilot scheme.
Water Charges
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with (a) water companies, (b) consumer groups and (c) others on simplifying the format of domestic water bills. [284603]
Huw Irranca-Davies: My Department has held no recent discussions with water companies, consumer groups or others on simplifying the format of domestic water rates bills. However, the independent Walker Review of charging for household water and sewerage services is looking at this, among other issues, and published an interim report on 29 June.
Wales
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much in (a) rent, (b) service charges and (c) business rates has been paid in respect of each of the premises occupied by his Department in each year since 2005. [284861]
Mr. Hain: My Department occupies two buildings, one in London and the other in Cardiff. My Department has paid the following for each building in:
(a & b) Rent and Service Charges
The London office is owned by the Wales Office and no rent or service charges are payable. The service charges are not recorded separately from the rent and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
| Cardiff Office (£) | |
| London Office (£) | Cardiff Office (£) | |
Departmental Data Protection
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what categories of personal information on members of the public will be held on each of his Department's and its agency's databases expected to become operational in the next five years; what estimate he has made of the likely number of individuals' details each such database will hold when fully operational; and if he will make a statement. [286499]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has no plans for databases holding personal information on members of the public to become operational within the next five years.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) attempts and (b) successful attempts were made to gain unauthorised access to each (i) database and (ii) ICT system run by his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [286539]
Mr. Hain: As a small Department, the Wales Office does not run its own ICT systems, instead using services provided by the Ministry of Justice. My Department runs two databases, which have not suffered from attempts to gain unauthorised access during the last five years.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many (a) photocopiers, (b) scanning devices and (c) fax machines, excluding multi-function devices, there are in his Department; how many there were in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [286163]
Mr. Hain: The number of photocopiers, scanning devices and fax machines, excluding multi-function devices, currently used in the Wales Office and over the past three years are given in the table:
| Photocopiers | Scanning devices | Fax machines | |
Departmental Internet
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the maintenance and development costs of his Department's website were in each year since 2005. [285411]
Mr. Hain: My Department has spent the following on maintaining and developing our website:
| £ | |
The 2007-08 figure includes the cost of designing and establishing the new Wales Office website in 2007-08 and the provision of a new server.
Energy and Climate Change
Departmental Press: Subscriptions
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to which (a) magazines, (b) journals and (c) newspapers his Department subscribes; and what the cost of such subscriptions has been in each of the last three years. [280766]
Joan Ruddock: Since the Department's formation in October 2008, Ministers and the Communications director have received the following publications:
Monday to Friday: 4 x Financial Times, 3 x The Times, 3 x Telegraph, 4 x Independent, 4 x Guardian 2 x Mail, 2 x Express, 3 x The Sun, 3 x The Mirror, 2 x The Star, 4 x Evening Standard and weekly Observer, Spectator, 2 x Economist, New Scientist. The total cost to the Department as of 31 May 2009 was £4,270.05.
Monday to Saturday: Financial Times, Times, Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Mail, Express, Sun, Mirror, Star and weekly Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Independent on Sunday, Observer, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Express, News of the World, People, Sunday Mirror, Daily Star Sunday, The Economist, Spectator, PR Week, Private Eye, New Statesman. The total cost to the Department as of 31 May 2009 was £2,025.73.
The Department does not keep central records of all the remaining publications that it receives and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Environment Protection: Education
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding his Department has allocated towards the development of environmental education initiatives in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency and (b) the East of England since it was established; and if he will make a statement. [278844]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
The Department does not allocate funding directly to support environmental education initiatives in specific areas. Environmental education is one of the key concepts for the study of geography in the new secondary curriculum and the Action Plan for Geography supports this by providing professional development opportunities for teachers in the regions to help them embed sustainable development and environmental education in their classroom practice. We are also working with stakeholders, including the Government Office East of England and local authorities, to engage and support schools work towards the DCSF's Sustainable Schools strategy which aims for all schools to be sustainable by 2020. The strategy is guided by a commitment to care for the environment both locally and nationally and a national framework has been established to help schools identify areas on which they can focus to develop their sustainability practices.
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