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5 Jan 2010 : Column 81W—continued
Ivory: China
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent (a) reports he has received and (b) discussions he has had with his (i) Chinese and (ii) Japanese counterparts on the controls in place in respect of illegal ivory imports to each of those countries; and if he will make a statement. [307633]
Huw Irranca-Davies: A report on inspections and control checks undertaken in China and Japan upon the arrival of the legal ivory, from the sale which took place in 2008, was prepared for the 58th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Standing Committee held between 6 and 10 July 2009. I have received no other reports, nor have I held discussions with either Chinese or Japanese officials on the controls in place, in respect of illegal ivory imports to those countries since the ivory sale in 2008.
Joint Waste Authorities
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the latest timetable is for the establishment of joint waste authorities; and in which areas he expects the first such authorities to be established. [308601]
Dan Norris: No proposals to establish a joint waste authority have been received to date, though several groups of authorities have submitted non-committal expressions of interest in pursuing this option and DEFRA is working with them to explore what is required-details are available on DEFRA'S website. Development of a full proposal is expected to take a considerable amount of time, and we are keen that authorities do this in line with local needs.
If a proposal is submitted we expect that it will take at least 12 months to assess, approve if relevant, and implement the legal changes necessary to establish a joint waste authority.
We will be working closely with authorities as they progress their plans for joint working, through the support programme we have put in place. All forms of advanced partnership working on waste can bring significant benefits, in terms of improved and more efficient service provision.
Morocco: Fishery Agreements
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement. [307418]
Huw Irranca-Davies: No formal assessment of the effectiveness of the EU-Morocco agreement has been made but Joint Committees are held each year where both parties discuss how they consider the agreement is working. The UK attends these meetings in order to represent the interests of the vessels that operate in Moroccan waters under the agreement.
National Bee Unit: Finance
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much of the £2.3 million funding allocation to the National Bee Unit announced in January 2009 has been spent under each budget heading. [307636]
Dan Norris: The additional funding of £2.3 million allocated to the Food and Environment Research Agency's National Bee Unit to implement the Healthy Bees plan was spread over two years-£1.137 million in 2009-10 and £1.158 million in 2010-11. Details of the amounts spent to 30 November 2009 are set out as follows:
The balance for 2009-10 will focus on advice and training to beekeepers at the start of the new season; completion of Beebase development; and additional diagnostics following the completion of the Random Apiary Survey.
Office of Water Services: Conferences
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside the Office of Water Services (Ofwat) buildings attended by civil servants in Ofwat there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. [307452]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The following tables set out the cost of Ofwat's away days and conferences attended and held by Ofwat and its staff members.
It has not been possible to provide figures for away days/team building and conferences for the years 2004-05 and 2005-06. Previous recording methods did not separately identify such spending.
It has not been possible to separate out all away days attended by Ofwat staff as they are recorded across a number of reporting codes. Team building days have to be signed off by Ofwat's director of operations. The cost of events coded as team building are provided in the following table.
| Expenditure (£) | |
Ofwat is only able to provide the total expenditure recorded under its conferences and seminars reporting codes. This includes conferences attended by Ofwat staff but also conferences and seminars held by Ofwat both in its building and externally. This information is given in the following table.
| Expenditure (£) | |
Pets: Animal Welfare
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's policy is on signing the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals; and if he will make a statement. [305955]
Dan Norris:
We recognise that the European convention has been an important catalyst in raising animal welfare standards. The introduction of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in England and Wales-as well as the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006-means that our laws are now consistent with the principles set out
in the convention. Nevertheless, there are aspirations in the convention, in particular the resolution on breed standards, which may not necessarily be the most effective way of promoting welfare. We therefore do not consider signing the convention to be a priority for Government.
Rights of Way
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many incidents involving animals resulted in (a) injury and (b) death on (i) public rights of way and (ii) land to which the public has access in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the requirements for reporting such incidents are. [307615]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
The statistics gathered under reporting arrangements cannot distinguish between rights of way and other open access land. The following information is for incidents involving animals where the injured person was classed as a member of the public and the incident was related to agriculture.
| Reported injuries | Fatal | |
Besides responsibilities of employers in respect of employees, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) place a legal duty on those in control of premises where work is going on to report to the enforcing authorities for health and safety at work all serious injuries to members of the public arising out of or in connection with the work activity. This would apply to injuries causing the death of the person or requiring their removal to hospital for treatment. The requirement is to report the incident by the quickest practicable means.
The Incident Contact Centre, which was set up by the Health and Safety Executive in 2001, provides a one-stop reporting service for work-related health and safety incidents in the UK. Reports can be made by phone, letter, fax, on-line or email.
Rural Payments Agency: Data Protection
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps have been taken to ensure the security of farmers' personal data held by the Rural Payments Agency since the data losses in July 2009. [307337]
Dan Norris: Though no farmers' data are believed to have been lost, the Rural Payments Agency has put in place a number of improvements to the way farmers' personal data are secured. The core IT infrastructure supplier has been instructed to increase the physical security access to our data centres. Tracking and logging processes for all removable media at all sites, including the transit between sites, has been strengthened. In addition, confirmatory reporting of all dispatches and receipts has been introduced.
Sheep: North West
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many attacks there were by dogs on sheep in (a) Lancashire and (b) the north west in the latest period for which figures are available. [307359]
Dan Norris: The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 provides for the protection of livestock from attack by dogs. Centralised records are not kept on species-specific livestock attacks by dogs. However, the following table shows the number of defendants cautioned, proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts in relation to the wider category of 'Dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land', for the North West Government Office Region and for Lancashire during the latest period (2007) for which figures are available.
| Number of defendants cautioned( 1, 2) , proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for 'Dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land', North West Government Office Region (G.O.R) 2007( 3, 4) | |||
| Cautioned | Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (2) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (5) Includes the following police force areas: Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. (6) PFA: Police Force Area. Source: Ministry of Justice | |||
Total Allowable Catches
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what representations he has received on negotiations under the Common Fisheries Policy on Area 7 Nephrops total allowable catch quota for 2010; [307302]
(2) what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture on the December EU Fisheries Council. [307303]
Huw Irranca-Davies:
I am well aware of the importance of the Nephrops fishery in the Irish Sea to UK fishermen. I visited Portavogie earlier in the year to see this at first hand and have since received a significant number of representations both from the relevant sections of the fishing industry and hon. Members either with constituency or policy interest. The Commission had originally proposed a 30 per cent. cut in the total allowable catch (TAC) for
the stock and although it was not possible to argue away the cut altogether, working closely with Michelle Gildernew (Minister for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) and deploying more up-to-date science, we succeeded in limiting the reduction to 9 per cent. In the circumstances this was a very credible result. In the meantime, we will also be exploring the potential for supplementing the UK's quota with international swaps from other member states. However, for the future, it will be important to balance the short-term interests of the fishermen, with the longer term sustainable management of the stock.
The Minister for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was present throughout the December Council and she and I have been in regular contact in the lead-up to the negotiations to discuss the full range of Northern Irish interests.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made on the development of an electronic system to record waste transfer rates, with particular reference to the compilation of a comprehensive and contemporary database. [307127]
Dan Norris: The "Electronic Duty of Care" is a pilot project which is part of The Waste Crime Innovation Programme funded by DEFRA and managed by the Environment Agency. The project is supported by an industry-led advisory team.
Work started in May 2009, with six waste companies volunteering to take part across South East England, and is planned to be extended in the new year. The pilot aims to test the effectiveness of waste tracking technologies and should deliver business benefits to waste companies, including substantially reducing regulatory compliance costs. With more accurate and timely data, business should be able to invest with greater confidence in infrastructure to recover and re-use wasted raw materials.
The Environment Agency has recently sought funding through the European Union LIFE+ Programme to develop a national system from January 2011. This would support the rollout of a nationally integrated system for the electronic capture of waste transfer data. This will potentially displace a large proportion of the current paper-based system and considerably reduce the administrative burden to business, industry and Government. If successful we will use an open tender process to develop and maintain the waste monitoring database.
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