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21 July 2009 : Column 1178W—continued
Trading Standards
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures are in place to facilitate information-sharing between his Department and trading standards officials. [288499]
Jim Fitzpatrick: DEFRA assesses each request to share information on its merits, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation, to ensure effective and cost-efficient delivery of public services. If a regular exchange of information is required, data-sharing protocols can be set up to facilitate the process.
There is a close working relationship between Animal Health and Trading Standards in the larger rural counties. Information sharing takes place on many levels:
Working together on enforcement issues including animal welfare cases and many other Animal Health enforcement issues results (notably bovine tuberculosis) in sharing of information on an informal and weekly/daily basis.
Additional funding for Trading Standards offices has been supplied from DEFRA in recent years. Monitoring/auditing this work and our partnership has been done in regular meetings (often quarterly) under what we call the Framework Agreement. This involves sharing of information on a more formal basis.
Animal Health managers are invited to Trading Standards regional meetings of the Central England Animal Health and Welfare Group (CenTSA) on a quarterly basis where information can be shared.
There is an IT system referred to as AMES where information on the activities of Trading Standards staff is recorded. These data are available to both Animal Health and Trading Standards.
Requests from Trading Standards are occasionally received for Animal Health to supply data from Animal Health IT systems. With due regard to data protection legislations, these requests are usually facilitated.
Waste Disposal: Private Finance Initiative
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many waste management private finance initiative schemes have been successfully concluded to date; and how many such schemes are awaiting planning permission. [287411]
Dan Norris: 19 waste management private finance initiative (PFI) schemes have reached financial close to date. Six of these projects are currently awaiting planning permission.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many waste disposal private finance initiative schemes have been successfully concluded to date; and how many such schemes are awaiting planning permission. [287428]
Dan Norris: To date, 19 waste private finance initiative (PFI) schemes have reached financial close. Of the 19 closed projects there are 18 in which the scope of the service includes ultimate disposal of waste. Six of these projects are currently awaiting planning permission for the disposal facility.
Water Charges
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment has been made of the environmental effects of the proposed new surface water drainage charge system. [288125]
Huw Irranca-Davies: In 2003, following a review of the various options, Ofwat recommended that charging in relation to site area is the fairest approach to charging for surface water drainage. The larger the site area, the more surface water is likely to drain from it. Charging by site area therefore better reflects the actual costs imposed on the system by customers.
Charging by site area is also considered to be the most environmentally responsible approach in that it provides a financial incentive for site owners to reduce the amount of water that is directed into the public sewerage system. Options for achieving reductions include such things as: replacing an asphalt or concrete car parking area with a gravel one, and the installation of soakaways. This will reduce the likelihood of flooding from overloaded sewers.
Surface water drainage needs to be managed more sustainably, by allowing for the increased capture and reuse of water, slow absorption through the ground, and more above-ground storage and routing of surface water separate from the foul sewer, where it is appropriate to do so. Water should increasingly be managed on the surface, rather than relying on the wholesale upgrade of the sewer system which would be a costly and lengthy process.
The Environment Agency has estimated that around two-thirds of the flooding in summer 2007 was due to surface water. Surface water flooding is extremely difficult to predict as it is often a result of sudden localised rainfall events, and very small variations in the built environment can have significant effects on the way the water flows.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average (a) metered and (b) unmetered water bill was in each water company area in each year since 1989. [288506]
Huw Irranca-Davies: A spreadsheet giving figures for metered and unmetered water bills in each water company area since 1989, in 2009-10 prices, has been placed in the Library of the House.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many rounds of each type of ammunition were discharged during the last roulement in Afghanistan. [280821]
Bill Rammell: Officials are collating and validating the data needed and this is taking longer than anticipated. I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many urgent operational requests made in relation to Afghanistan in the last 12 months had not been met by 13 July 2009; and if he will make a statement. [286820]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) process exists to address unforeseen capability gaps for imminent or current operations. Over 70 UORs for Afghanistan were approved in the period 13 July 2008 to 13 July 2009. We would generally expect these programmes to begin delivering capability to theatre between six and 18 months after approval. We would not, therefore, expect the majority of requirements associated with these programmes to be fully met within the period stated in the question.
Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which non-NATO member countries have contributed to the ISAF military mission to Afghanistan in each of the last five years; and what contribution each such country has made. [287545]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 20 July 2009]: There are currently 14 non-NATO nations contributing to ISAF operations. They are as follows:
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Finland
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Georgia
Ireland
Jordan
New Zealand
Sweden
Singapore
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Details of contributing nations are available on the NATO website at
Information about each nation's contributions is a matter for each nation. Information from 2007 is available at
Armed Forces: Aviation
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of flights (a) to and (b) from operational theatres have been (i) cancelled and (ii) delayed in each year since 2007; what the (A) location and (B) destination was of each such delayed flight; and what the (1) the length of time of and (2) reason for the delay was of each such delayed flight. [274978]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member.
Substantive answer from Bill Rammell to Liam Fox:
My predecessor undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question of the 13 May 2009 (Official Report, column 762W) about the number of airbridge aircraft delayed in each year since 2007.
Delay statistics are routinely collected for the passenger airbridge only. The passenger airbridge has provided a consistent and
reliable service over the period, moving large numbers of personnel into sometimes hostile environments and under difficult conditions. Every effort is made to minimise delays and over 92% of airbridge flights arrive within six hours of their scheduled time.
No airbridge tasks to Op Telic or Op Herrick have been cancelled since 2007. Delays may occur for a number of reasons. The location and reason for each delay is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Individual tasks could be delayed for more than one reason. Examples include: Air Traffic Control and airspace restrictions, missing imposed theatre arrival slot times, technical and equipment failures, diplomatic clearance, weather, crew duty hours, passenger and ground handling issues, fuelling, and holding aircraft to facilitate deployment of priority aeromedical teams to theatre.
Information on delays to civil aircraft chartered by the MOD to operate the passenger airbridge is given in the following tables. For 2007 delays were measured against the scheduled time of departure. Since January 2008 delays have been measured against scheduled time of arrival. It is not possible to distinguish between outbound and inbound charter flights. The data are held by calendar year and percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
| Op Telic civil chartered aircraft delays to and from theatre | ||||||||
| Operated on time or within 1 hour | % on time or within 1 hour | Delayed 1-3 hours | % 1-3 hours | Delayed 3-6 hours | % 3-6 hours | Delayed 6 hours and over | % 6 hours and over | |
| Op Herrick civil chartered aircraft delays to and from theatre | ||||||||
| Operated on time or within 1 hour | % on time or within 1 hour | Delayed 1-3 hours | % 1-3 hours | Delayed 3-6 hours | % 3-6 hours | Delayed 6 hours and over | % 6 hours and over | |
Information on delays to RAF Tristar aircraft undertaking the passenger airbridge outbound from the UK to Op Herrick is given in the following table. Delays have been measured against scheduled time of arrival. The data are held by financial year and percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
| Op Herrick RAF Tristar UK to theatre | ||||||||
| Financial year | Operated on time or within 1 hour | % on time or within 1 hour . | Delayed 1-3 hours | % 1-3 hours | Delayed 3-6 hours | % 3-6 hours | Delayed 6 hours and over | % 6 hours and over |
Information on delays to RAF Tristar aircraft undertaking the passenger airbridge inbound from the Op Herrick theatre to the UK are only available from January 2008 and are given in the following table. Delays are measured against the scheduled time of departure from theatre and the available statistics only allow identification of delays of between 1-3 hours and over 3 hours. The data are held by financial year and percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
| Op Herrick RAF Tristar theatre to UK | ||||||
| Operated on time or within 1 hour | % on time or within 1 hour | Delayed 1 -3 hours | % 1-3 hours | Delayed 3 hours and over | % 3 hours and over | |
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