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26 Oct 2009 : Column 56W—continued
The following table shows the English local authorities that recycled a smaller proportion of their total household waste in 2007-08 than in 2006-07.
| Household dry recycling rate (Percentage) | |||
| Authority | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Difference between 2006-07 and 2007-08 |
| Source: WasteDataFlow. | |||
Sheep: Tagging
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the proportion of sheep which will require electronic tagging following the implementation of measures for electronic identification of sheep and goats in accordance with Regulation (EC) 21/2004. [294846]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Animals born or identified after 31 December 2009 which are intended to be kept beyond 12 months of age will need to be electronically identified. Around 20 per cent. of lambs born each year are kept beyond this age as breeding replacements and will need to be electronically identified.
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects on disease control which will result from the implementation of measures for the electronic tagging of sheep. [294847]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Independent epidemiological modelling has identified that the introduction of electronic identification (EID) and individual recording could reduce costs of managing an outbreak of exotic disease over the current UK system by up to 13 per cent. as a result of fewer infected premises and less animals being culled. It will also improve our ability to track individual animal movements.
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what estimate his Department has made of the cost to farmers of implementing measures for electronic identification of sheep and goats in accordance with Regulation (EC) 21/2004; [294848]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect of compulsory electronic tagging of sheep on the (a) domestic and (b) international competitiveness of the livestock industry. [295005]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Two partial Impact Assessments are available on the DEFRA website. A final Impact Assessment will accompany implementing legislation later this year.
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will introduce a compulsory farm of origin labelling scheme for (a) lamb and (b) other meats in conjunction with the operation of (i) electronic sheep tagging and (ii) other European directives on livestock traceability. [295006]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Compulsory EU labelling rules on origin of beef and veal already apply throughout the supply chain with full traceability being a key requirement. There are no current plans to introduce compulsory farm of origin labelling for lamb, or for other meats. Government do however support current EU proposals for a Regulation on the Provision of Food Information which would tighten up country or origin labelling, particularly for meat and meat products, requiring specified information to be given where claims of origin are made. These EU proposals do not relate to electronic sheep tagging or European directives on livestock traceability but are intended to ensure consumers have clear information about the origin of meat products.
Smallholdings: Local Government
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which local authorities have smallholdings; what the area of each such authority's smallholdings is; and whether he plans to undertake a review of the future use and ownership of local authority smallholdings. [294843]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The annual report to parliament on smallholdings in England provides details of the numbers of statutory smallholdings held by local authorities analysed according to size of holding. This information is set out in the following table.
The latest published annual report is the 57th report for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, which is available in the Library of the House and can also be seen on the DEFRA website.
DEFRA has no current plans to undertake a review of the future use and ownership of local authority smallholdings.
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