Previous Section Index Home Page

15 Oct 2009 : Column 1002W—continued


Departmental Manpower

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many staff there were in his Department (a) in 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [292068]

Paul Goggins: The total number of staff in the Northern Ireland Office (excluding agencies, executive and non-departmental public bodies) on the dates requested is set out in the following table.

NIO staff numbers

September

1997

677.5

2009

1287


The September 1997 information is held in terms of full-time equivalent staff. The September 2009 information is held in terms of actual numbers of staff employed. The increase in staff numbers is largely due to the expansion of the Public Prosecution Service.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost of the satellite photographs produced by the Rural Payments Agency as part of the Single Payment Scheme Remote Sensing project has been in 2009 to date. [293146]


15 Oct 2009 : Column 1003W

Jim Fitzpatrick: The raw satellite images used by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) for controls with remote sensing are provided, without charge, to participating member states by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. There is therefore no cost incurred by RPA for the images themselves.

However, processing these images requires RPA to engage a specialist contractor. The total contract budget for this specialist work in 2009 is £518,520. The processed images are used not only to check SPS applications but also to inform updates to the Rural Land Register.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the average change in Single Payment Scheme payments per holding as a result of the Single Payment Scheme Remote Sensing exercise. [293147]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Work on the 2009 remote sensing exercise is still under way.

In 2008 95 per cent. of all land remote sensed was found to be correct. Since each customer's entitlement value is different the scale of change in payment will vary from customer to customer.

However, using the average farm size for remote sensing in 2008 of 63.35 hectares, this meant an average change per farm of three hectares. At flat rate payment values for 2008 this equates to a £336.51 payment reduction per holding (before modulation).

Animals: Exports

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many live (a) cattle, (b) horses, (c) sheep and (d) ponies were exported in each of the last five years. [291916]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Data collected from the EU Commission's Trade Control Expert System (TRACES) indicate that the following number of live cattle, equines (including both horses and ponies) and sheep were certified by official veterinarians as meeting the intra-Community trade rules for dispatch from the United Kingdom to other EU member states in the specified year:

2006 2007 2008

Equidae

6,318

8,090

6,691

Cattle

152,835

193,309

112,740

Sheep

293,196

207,845

319,700


The available TRACES data do not distinguish between horses or ponies, therefore the figures for these animals is combined under the heading of 'equidae'. In addition, the Tripartite Agreement between the UK, Republic of Ireland and France allows most equidae to move between these countries without the need for the movement to be recorded on TRACES. Therefore, these movements are not captured in the above data.

Data for earlier years have not been provided because they are not currently available in a format which allows any direct comparison to that supplied above.

The figures are subject to updating and amendment.


15 Oct 2009 : Column 1004W

The number of animals certified for export from the United Kingdom to countries outside of the EU is not recorded centrally, meaning that it is not possible to provide these data.

Farming Link

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost was of producing and distributing the Farming Link publication in each of the last five years. [289680]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is included in the following table. Farming Link was not published prior to spring 2007.

Design (£) Print (£) Postage (£)

Spring 2007

19,771

31,900

(1)-

Summer 2007

23,017

29,196

32,435

Autumn 2007

23,017

27,495

(2)0

Winter 2007-08

27,797

24,525

39,888

Spring 2008

28,892

31,310

28,925

Summer 2008

29,326

29,611

35,571

Autumn 2008

28,856

29,611

28,133

Winter 2008-09

28,242

29,690

28,198

Spring 2009

28,679

31,120

(1)-

Summer 2009

28,476

32,476

29,874

Autumn 2009

24,259

32,956

(1)-

(1) Figure not available.( 2) This edition was not distributed as it fell between the lifting of the first foot and mouth disease outbreak restrictions and the second outbreak on 12 September, 2007.

Farms: Inspections

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farm inspections were conducted by each inspection body in each of the last five years. [291905]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is as follows:

Rural Payments Agency

The RPA Inspectorate conducted the following inspections in each of the last five years:

Year( 1) Number of inspections

2004-05

11,779

2005-06

11,951

2006-07

13,869

2007-08

14,457

2008-09

14,461

(1) RPA Inspections are detailed by financial year, therefore the table refers to inspections made from 1 April to 31 March in each year.

In addition our Horticultural Marketing Inspectors, who merged with the RPA Inspectorate on 1 April 2006, carried out the following inspections at the premises of glasshouse growers, market gardeners etc:

Year( 1) Number of inspections

2006-07

1,364

2007-08

1,230

2008-09

1,170

(1) RPA HMI Inspections are detailed by financial year, as above.

15 Oct 2009 : Column 1005W

Animal Health

Year TB Welfare

2005

82,272

3,421

2006

115,868

3,860

2007

132,806

4,003

2008

136,877

4,143

2009

105,760

2,947

Notes:
1. 2009 data cover the period 1 January to 30 September 2009.
2. TB inspections include all tests carried out by AH Staff and OV's.

Figures for Veterinary Medicines Visit Management System for medicines farm visits, including revisits, are:

Visits

2008

2,683

Financial year 2008-09

2,682

2009 to date

1,972


There would also be many other farm visits carried out e.g. animal by-products visits, disease surveillance for salmonella, sheep surveys, avian influenza surveys etc. There are also visits carried out by Egg Marketing Inspectorate and Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate. We have been unable to provide details of these due to disproportionate cost.

Veterinary Medicine Directorate

VMD's contribution to this reply based on calendar years is as follows:

Number

2004

Routine/scheduled

548

Follow up/special

39

Total

587

2005

Routine/scheduled

635

Follow up/special

51

Total

686

2006

Routine/scheduled

509

Follow up/special

26

Total

535

2007

Routine/scheduled

279

Follow up/special

19

Fish farms

82

Total

380

2008

Routine/scheduled

273

Follow up/special

20

Fish farms

24

Total

317

Note:
Inspection of fish farms mixing medicated feeds began in 2006, but inspection of such premises were not separately identified.

Next Section Index Home Page