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19 Jan 2010 : Column 219W—continued
Environment Agency: Manpower
Angela Watkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff work in the Environment Agency's (a) flood and coastal risk management, (b) water resources, (c) fisheries, (d) navigation, (e) recreation and
conservation, (f) water quality, (g) process industry regulation, (h) radioactive substances regulation, (i) Integrated Pollution Prevention Control and (j) waste regulation department. [310746]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table shows the number of Environment Agency staff who work in the areas requested.
These staff are involved in work to reduce flood risk, to protect and improve water, land and air, to work with businesses and others to use resources wisely and to reduce climate change and its consequences.
| Function | Number of full time equivalent staff |
Work on Process Industry Regulation and Integrated Pollution Prevention Control is now carried out by the Environment Agency's Industry Regulation Department.
Fly Tipping: Chelmsford
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of incidents of fly-tipping in (a) West Chelmsford constituency and (b) Chelmsford local authority area in each of the last five years. [311013]
Dan Norris: The number of fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions taken are not recorded at parliamentary ward level.
The number of incidents of fly-tipping recorded on the Flycapture database by the Borough of Chelmsford in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Number of incidents | |
The number of incidents of fly-tipping recorded by local authorities on the Flycapture database is published annually on the DEFRA website:
Livestock: Tagging
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to the agricultural industry of cross-compliance inspections carried out by (a) the Rural Payments Agency, (b) the Environment Agency, (c) Animal Health, (d) the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and (e) his Department under (i) cattle and (ii) sheep identification rules in each of the last five years. [310646]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 14 January 2010]: No estimate has been made of the cost to the agricultural industry of the cross-compliance cattle and sheep inspections. However, with regard to these inspections, farmers need not do anything more than they are already required to do by the pre-existing cattle and sheep legislation.
Farmers are not charged for the costs of an inspection but may incur some costs in terms of time spent with inspectors. Significant non-compliance with EU cross- compliance requirements may result in additional inspections and/or the reduction or exclusion of their single payment scheme claim. For individual farmers, the costs of these will vary depending on the degree of non-compliance.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 8 December 2009 on the UK egg industry. [310659]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 14 January 2010]: I replied to my hon. Friend for Walsall North's letter on 18 January 2010.
Offenders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many employees of his Department and its agencies have been convicted of a criminal offence of each type in each year since 1997. [308513]
Dan Norris: Under the requirements of the Civil Service Management Code, employees have a duty to inform their employer if they are arrested and refused bail, arrested and released on bail or if they are convicted of any criminal offence. This does not apply to a traffic offence unless an official car was involved, or the penalty included imprisonment or a disqualification from driving. This requirement is reflected in DEFRA's Disciplinary Procedure.
Where applicable, this information is held individually on the personnel files of staff in DEFRA and its Executive Agencies and collating it would involve inspecting each individual file. This could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Public Sector: Food
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects his Department to publish its third report on the proportion of domestically produced food used by Government departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and National Offender Management Service. [310825]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We intend to publish the report in February. The lateness in publishing the report this year has been caused by late receipt of data needed to complete the report.
River Lune
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether British Waterways classifies the River Lune at Halton as navigable. [311738]
Huw Irranca-Davies: British Waterways is not the Navigation Authority for the River Lune. We have no knowledge of a current navigation authority for the River Lune and it is not classed as a statutory navigation at Halton.
Rural Payments Agency: Labour Turnover
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people (a) entered and (b) left the employment of the Rural Payments Agency in each of the last five years. [310648]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 14 January 2010]: The number of people that have entered and left the employment of the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in each of the last five years is shown in the following table:
| Staff type | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Total |
Casual and fixed-term appointment staff are those who have a contract with a fixed end date. The term "casual staff" ceased to be used in light of regulatory changes to ensure equitable treatment of fixed term staff.
The reduction in permanent staff entering the agency, coupled with the increase in numbers of permanent staff leaving, is in line with the agency's strategy to reduce its headcount as part of efficiency savings and to ensure the agency has the right skills at the right grade and location to maximise its use of resources.
The increase in permanent staff entering in 2008 was due to a one-off exercise to strengthen the agency's experience and reduce reliance on temporary roles and more expensive contractors by converting high numbers of temporary staff roles into fewer, permanent roles.
RPA constantly reviews all resources in line with its business requirements. As part of normal business practice the agency has employed staff on a temporary, fixed-term basis to assist with specific tasks linked to the cyclical nature of scheme payments. This included work on the single payment scheme particularly in the early years after its introduction.
Seas and Oceans: Environment Protection
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many proposals for (a) special areas of conservation and (b) special protection areas in the UK offshore marine environment beyond the 12 nautical mile limit the Government have submitted to the European Commission since November 1999. [311079]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Five proposals for special areas of conservation (SACs) beyond 12 nautical miles have been submitted to the European Commission since November 1999. These include: the Darwin Mounds off the North West coast of Scotland, Haig Fras off the South West coast of England and Stanton Banks off the West coast of Scotland which protect reefs, and Scanner Pockmark and Braemar Pockmarks in the Northern North Sea, which both protect submarine structures made by leaking gases. These sites were all submitted to the European Commission in August 2008. To date, no Special Protection Areas (SPAs) beyond 12 nautical miles have been submitted to the European Commission.
Tomatoes: Morocco
Ms Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps have been taken in response to the breach by Morocco of the (a) export volumes and (b) input prices provisions of the Partnership Agreement with the EU in respect of tomato exports. [309412]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The EU Commission is responsible for the negotiation, monitoring and control of the Partnership Agreement. This includes monitoring of the situation via analysis of customs import data as well as market intelligence and prices gathered from member states, particularly Spain and France who are most affected by such imports. We understand that Commission officials regularly meet with the Moroccan authorities and representatives of their horticulture sector to ensure compliance with the Agreement. It should be noted that there is no limit on the amount of tomatoes that Morocco can import into the EU. The agreement includes a quota which can be imported at a preferential rate of import duty, but imports outside are subject to the normal rates of import duty.
Health
Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated research on the (i) potential risks to health and (ii) other effects of chlorpromazine hydrochloride in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [311610]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Chlorpromazine belongs to a class of drugs called antipsychotics which are mainly used to treat mental health conditions including schizophrenia and other psychoses.
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