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14 Sep 2009 : Column 2107W—continued
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many prosecutions there have been for offences related to poor air quality arising from incinerator use in each year since 1997. [291092]
Huw Irranca-Davies: A search of the Environment Agency's National Enforcement Database (NED) has uncovered no prosecutions for offences related to poor air quality arising from incinerator use.
All large plants are subject to the requirements of the Waste Incineration Directive which are embodied in their Environmental Permits. Conditions set in the permits require emissions of pollutants to be kept to very low levels and oblige the operators to carry out detailed emissions monitoring.
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the weight of waste incinerated in each year since 1997. [291093]
Dan Norris: The table shows the tonnage of municipal waste sent for incineration in England from 1997-98 to 2007-08. This includes both waste incinerated with, and without, energy recovery. The majority is incinerated with energy recovery.
| Municipal waste sent for incineration in England | |
| Thousand tonnes | |
| Source: WasteDataFlow and DEFRA's Municipal Waste Management Survey | |
Office of Water Services: Operating Costs
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the change in (a) staff costs and (b) other costs was between the Ofwat Business Plan for (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09. [290622]
Huw Irranca-Davies [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The changes in staff and other costs between Ofwat's Business Plans for 2007-8 and 2008-9 are detailed in the following table:
| Business Plan/budget (£) | |||
| Staff costs | Other costs | Total | |
Ofwat set out in its 2008 strategy document Taking a forward look' that it needed to increase its budget for 2008-09 to take account of additional resources to deliver key projects including:
delivering the 2009 price review;
reviewing how it sets price limits in 2014;
promoting competition in consumers' interests;
enforcement; and
litigation and casework.
Ofwat's actual expenditure for the years 2007-08 and 2008-09 are available in its Resource Accounts, which are available on the website.
Water: EC Law
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department has issued on the implementation of the EU Water Directive. [291163]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has issued two volumes of guidance to the Environment Agency on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, both titled River Basin Planning Guidance.
The first was published in August 2006 and sets out principles and key steps for the river basin planning process. The second was published in August 2008 and gives further consideration to the approach the Environment Agency should take in carrying out its river basin planning functions and the development of river basin management plans.
DEFRA has also published River Basin Management Planning in the Solway Tweed River Basin District, which sets out the expectations for the joint delivery of the Water Framework Directive in Solway Tweed, a cross border river basin district shared between England and Scotland.
All these guidance documents are published on the DEFRA website.
We expect guidance on the proposed Groundwater Regulations, implementing the Water Framework Directive groundwater daughter directive, to be published for consultation shortly.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mr. Holloway:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff from his Department are based in the provincial reconstruction team base in Lashkar Gar; what proportion of such staff (a) have left the perimeter of the base by road
during their tour and (b) are performing roles which could be undertaken at Camp Bastion; and if he will make a statement. [291096]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: There are over 140 UK, Danish and Estonian civilian and military staff working for the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). Over 50 staff from the FCO, DFID, MOD and Stabilisation Unit work in the Lashkar Gah Main Operating Base.
Statistics on individual moves are not kept. However, based on staff functions, over 90 per cent. of the PRT staff will leave the Lashkar Gah base by road during their tour.
The PRT works primarily with the Afghan Government, which is based in Lashkar Gah and the district centres. PRT staff could not carry out their work from Camp Bastion, which is in the desert. Furthermore, staff are co-located with Task Force Helmand HQ in Lashkar Gah and with battlegroups in the district centres, in order to co-ordinate effectively with the military.
Afghanistan: Agriculture
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the value to farmers in Afghanistan of growing (a) pomegranates and (b) poppies in the latest period for which figures are available. [291015]
Mr. Michael Foster: There are few data on returns to pomegranate farmers in Afghanistan. Estimates suggest that gross income could range from US $3,380 per hectare per year (Altai Consulting/UNDP, 2004) to $14,525 per hectare per year (Roots for Peace, 2009) after five to seven years maturation. The variation in gross income estimates depends on product quality, access to markets (including storage), price, yield and the proportion exported. However, set up costs can exceed $1,000 per hectare with the possibility of no return for the first four years following planting.
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report on poppy cultivation and prices in early September 2009. It contained the following assessment:
"This year, opium farmers saw their (gross) earnings per hectare shrink by one quarter, to $3,562/ha down from $4,662/ha in 2008. Falling prices and lower cultivation this year caused a 40 per cent. collapse in the total farm-gate value of opium production in Afghanistan, which is valued at $438 million."
Eritrea: International Broadcasting
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided to Radio Erena to broadcast to Eritrea in the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [291140]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not provided any support in the last three years to Radio Erena.
Sudan: Overseas Aid
Mr. Moore:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the monetary value of his Department's aid seized by the government of Sudan; what steps he is taking to
ensure the return of that aid to the organisations to which it was directed; and if he will make a statement. [291139]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: No aid was seized directly from the Department for International Development (DFID) by the Government of Sudan. It is estimated, however, that around £500,000 of British-funded goods were included in the seizures of assets from non government organisations (NGOs). The UK condemned the expulsion and closures of the 13 international NGOs and three local NGOs in unequivocal terms. We have consistently said that the best way to repair the damage was to revoke that action.
In partnership with the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), USAID, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), we have made it clear to the Sudan Government that the seizure of assets in this way was completely unacceptable. We expect it to make every effort to have the assets reassigned to other humanitarian programmes, as is common practice under closure or completion of DFID-funded humanitarian programmes.
Communities and Local Government
Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 956W, on housing, for what reasons the Housing Reform Green Paper will not be proceeded with; and which Minister took the decision not to proceed. [291149]
John Healey: The Government have taken decisive action to ensure this country's housing needs are met. We have committed to investing £7.5 billion over two years to deliver up to 112,000 affordable homes and around 15,000 private homes, including £340 million to support local authorities in delivering new council housing. We have taken early action to provide people facing the threat of repossession with help at every stage of the process. I am also introducing a range of major reforms to the social and private rented sector. This includes the consultations I have recently published on a devolved system of responsibility and funding for council housing, a major review of the private rented sector and changes to social housing allocations to give councils more leeway on decisions to allocate housing in their area, and the initiative I have launched to clamp-down on fraud in the social sector. In addition, I will be setting out further details of the Government's plans to support housing recovery and ensure people have access to decent homes later this year. I therefore currently have no plans to pursue an additional housing reform green paper.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Human Trafficking
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of suspected trafficked children who have gone missing from local authority care in each of the last five years. [291032]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not collected centrally by the Department.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what arrangements have been made for the full implementation within the National Referral Mechanism of the provision of Article 10.3 of the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings giving children the benefit of the doubt where the age of the trafficked child is uncertain; and if he will make a statement. [291033]
Dawn Primarolo: Under the National Referral Mechanism for child victims of trafficking, where there are reasons to believe that a child is a victim of trafficking but there is uncertainty about their age, local age dispute or assessment procedures should be followed if necessary. Pending verification of their age, they will be presumed to be a child and will be referred to local authority Children's Social Care for support and a detailed assessment of their protection or welfare needs.
Children's Centres: Expenditure
Mrs. Maria Miller:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how much was
spent on the Sure Start Children's Centres block of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08; [291160]
(2) how much was spent on the Childcare Sufficiency and Access Grant of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08; [291161]
(3) how much was spent on the Outcomes, Quality and Inclusion block of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08. [291162]
Dawn Primarolo: Details of expenditure on the Children's Centres revenue and capital blocks in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08 are shown in the table.
The Childcare, Sufficiency and Access and Outcomes, Quality and Inclusion blocks were only created in 2008-09.
Therefore it is not possible to report expenditure on these specific blocks for the same period.
For information the table does show some details of expenditure on the inclusion and childcare assessment blocks that formed part of the grant in earlier years.
| Audited expenditure on individual blocks of the sure start, early years and childcare grant (formerly the general sure start grant) | ||||||
| Financial year | ||||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total | |
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