Previous Section Index Home Page

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]


16 July 2009 : Column 571W

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

Requests not resolvable

8

12

Information withheld in full

7

12


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
16 July 2009 : Column 572W
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

Full crowns

26.1

Slight defoliation

48.0

Moderate defoliation

23.9

Severe defoliation

1.1

Dead

0.9


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

Full crowns

26.5

Slight defoliation

47.5

Moderate defoliation

23.8

Severe defoliation

1.1

Dead

1.1


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:


16 July 2009 : Column 573W

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)

2000-01

3.5

1.8

0.5

2006-07

3.5

1.9

0.5

(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.


16 July 2009 : Column 574W

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

Anglian and Hartlepool Water

904

3,385

3,068

Dwr Cymru

580

899

1,070

United Utilities

1,565

2,286

2,551

Northumbrian and Essex and Suffolk

898

1,077

1,403

Severn Trent

1,508

2,385

3,399

South West

3,857

5,837

6,782

Southern

280

197

641

Thames

2,053

2,333

2,747

Wessex

751

837

972

Yorkshire and York

1,663

2,090

2,702

Bournemouth and West Hampshire

222

274

381

Bristol

478

511

620

Cambridge

108

128

163

Dee Valley

36

73

83

Folkestone

106

176

270

Portsmouth

30

43

73

South East Water (incl. Mid Kent)

143

249

(1)156

South East Water (excl. Mid Kent Water)

102

97

-

Mid Kent Water

41

152

-

South Staffs

198

259

364

Sutton and East Surrey

91

110

113

Tendring Hundred

425

468

533

Three Valleys

316

504

788

Industry

16,212

24,121

28,723

(1) In 2008-09 Mid Kent merged with South East Water

Next Section Index Home Page