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16 July 2009 : Column 570W—continued
Roads
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he last reviewed the powers available for control of the use of the public highway for the sale of motor vehicles. [286953]
Dan Norris: In 2005, DEFRA introduced further provisions within The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act to tackle nuisance parking. Specifically, section 3 of Act makes it an offence for a person to place two or more vehicles for sale (for the purposes of a business) on roads where they are within 500 metres of each other. The offence is not intended to target individual private sellers of single vehicles, rather the nuisance that is caused by the presence of numbers of vehicles being offered for sale by the same person or business. Any person found guilty of such an offence can be fined up to £2,500.
Rural Payments Agency: Freedom of Information
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which requests for information received by the Rural Payments Agency under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in 2008 were (a) classified as not resolvable and (b) refused in full. [286134]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Most requests for information received by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are dealt with under the provisions of the environmental information regulations (EIR). Figures provided include requests dealt with in 2008 by RPA under the EIR and Freedom of Information Act (FOI). Requests classified as not resolvable by RPA are those where information is not held by RPA.
| FOI | EIR | |
Squirrels
Mr. Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Natural England has spent on red squirrel conservation in the last five years. [286689]
Huw Irranca-Davies: From 2004-5 to 2008-9, Natural England and its founding bodies spent £94,300 on red squirrel conservation. In addition, a three-year rural enterprise scheme grant of £148,000 was made by the Rural Development Service in July 2006. Responsibility for this scheme was transferred to the Regional Development Agencies on the establishment of Natural England.
Trees
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of trees in each region (a) had full crowns, (b) had slight defoliation, (c) had moderate defoliation, (d) had severe defoliation and (e) were dead in the latest survey conducted on behalf of his Department into tree health. [286358]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
The last complete survey of forest condition was conducted by the Forestry Commission between June and September 2006. The total number of
trees assessed was 8,184 and these included Sitka spruce, Norway spruce, Scots pine, oak and beech.
The data are not readily available by region but the total percentages are provided in the following table.
| Class | Percentage of trees |
A limited survey of the condition of two forest tree species (Scots pine and oak) was undertaken between June and September of 2007. The total number of trees assessed was 3,744. The data are not readily available by region but the total percentages are provided in the following table.
| Class | Percentage of trees |
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps (a) have been taken recently and (b) are planned to be taken to improve tree health. [286365]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The need to maintain, and improve where necessary, the health and vitality of trees remains integral to the Government's approach to sustainable forest management.
Forest Research, the Research Agency of the Forestry Commission that is responsible for carrying out investigations into and providing advice on tree health issues, has recently been restructured to give greater emphasis to the impact of climate change on tree health. Its new Centre for Forestry and Climate Change researches the effects of environmental and climate change on forestry, and how the sector can play its part in adaptation and mitigation of climate change. The centre also develops entomology, pathology and environmental sciences in order to deliver holistic understanding of climate change and forestry.
As well as investigating the potential impacts of climate change, research is ongoing into a number of pests and diseases of current concern. These include:
Red Band Needle Blight which can affect a wide range of pines and other conifers.
Acute Oak Decline which is widespread and of complex cause, often involving recurrent drought, attack by root disease fungi and episodes of insect defoliation or mildew attack.
The horse chestnut leaf miner moth which causes browning and an autumnal appearance during the summer months and the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv aesculi as the causal agent of a serious, sometimes lethal, bleeding canker of horse chestnuts.
Oak processionary moth ( Thaumetopoea processionea) for which the Forestry Commission initiated a contingency plan and is working in partnership with officials from the affected London boroughs and the Health Protection Agency, in an effort to eradicate the pest before it gains a firm foothold.
Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae for which we have already announced a £25 million package which will support a five-year programme to manage and contain the risks of these two plant diseases.
Looking to the future, the Forestry Commission has recently announced plans to develop a risk management strategy and action plan to respond to the increasing biotic threats to UK trees and forests. It is aiming to have this in place later this year.
Waste Disposal
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate he has made of the number of sanitary products have been disposed of by (a) landfill, (b) incineration and (c) other means in the last year for which figures are available; [286433]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of disposable nappies have been disposed of by (a) landfill, (b) incineration and (c) other means in the last year for which figures are available. [286434]
Dan Norris [holding answer 13 July 2009]: Data on individual waste streams such as nappies or sanitary products are not routinely collected. However, a report of an updated life cycle study on disposable and reusable nappies prepared for DEFRA by consultants ERM and published in 2008 contained an assumption that 86 per cent. of disposable nappies were landfilled in 2005-06, with the remainder going to energy from waste installations.
Water Charges
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the average proportion of income spent on water charges by households in (a) the bottom decile, (b) the bottom 50 per cent. and (c) the highest decile for household income in (i) 1990, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2008. [286302]
Huw Irranca-Davies: This information is held by the Office for National Statistics. The average percentage of income spent on water charges by households is provided in the following table.
| Water bills as a percentage of household disposable income( 1) - United Kingdom | |||
| Percentage of income for group names | |||
| Bottom decile group( 2) | Bottom 50 per cent( 2) | Top decile group( 2) | |
| (1) Unequivalised household disposable income. (2) Ranked by equivalised disposable income. | |||
2006-07 is the latest period for which estimates are currently available. The next publication is scheduled for 29 July and will cover the period 2007-08.
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many customers of each water supply company were on a vulnerable groups tariff in each of the last three year. [286472]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The number of customers on a vulnerable groups tariff in each of the last three years by water company is set out in the following table.
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| (1) In 2008-09 Mid Kent merged with South East Water | |||
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