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26 Jan 2010 : Column 735W—continued
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Animals: Licensing
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many exotic animal licences were granted by each London borough in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [312208]
Huw Irranca-Davies: There is no licensing regime specifically for "exotic" animals, however some exotic species may be considered a danger to the public should they escape and are therefore subject to licensing under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (DWAA). The administration and enforcement of DWAA licensing is the responsibility of local authorities. Information on the number of licences issued by local authorities is not held centrally.
Dangerous Dogs
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to discuss Professor Sir Patrick Bateson's report on legislation on dangerous dogs with its author. [312984]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We welcome the independent inquiry and report into dog breeding by Sir Patrick Bateson. We will consider the recommendations of his report carefully and it is our intention to discuss this matter with key stakeholders during the coming months.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to redefine controls on dangerous dogs to apply to all dogs rather than specific breeds. [312985]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The existing legislation applies to all dangerous dogs, not just those that are specifically banned. There are no plans to extend bans beyond the types of dogs that are currently banned.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many iPods have been bought by his Department since 2005; and at what cost. [311908]
Dan Norris: According to records held centrally DEFRA has not purchased any iPods since 2005.
Departmental Fines
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what powers (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) have to impose administrative penalties; what the statutory basis is for each such power; and how much (i) his Department and its predecessor and (ii) each of its agencies and NDPBs have recovered in administrative penalties in each year since the inception of his Department. [309262]
Dan Norris: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is able to impose administrative financial penalties under:
the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Measures) (Penalty Notices) Order 2008 (SI 2008/984)
the Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2163)
orders to be made under sections 93, 95, 98(2), 142 and 294 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.
In each case any financial penalty recovered is to be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
In 2008, for 10 offences detected under the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Measures) (Penalty Notices) Order 2008, the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) offered and received administrative financial penalties totalling £20,000, and for nine offences detected in 2009, the MFA has offered and received a total of £15,000.
No financial penalties have been imposed to date under the Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009, and no orders providing for administrative financial penalties have been made under the recently enacted Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.
Domestic Waste
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the contribution of savings made as a consequence of moving from weekly to alternate weekly collections of household waste to the efficiency gains reported in annual efficiency statements. [311848]
Dan Norris: Guidance on the calculation of value for money gains is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government. As such, no guidance on this matter has been issued by DEFRA or the Waste and Resources Action Programme.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to his Department's Food 2030 strategy document, what plans he has to introduce compulsory household food waste collections; and whether fixed penalty notices would be imposed in such a system. [312446]
Dan Norris: The Government support the separate collection of food waste. While Government would like to see all local authorities collecting food waste by 2020, they have not regulated, nor do they currently plan to make source-segregated food waste collection mandatory or impose fixed penalty notices on such a scheme. Food waste collection presents different issues in different contexts and so the Government prefer to keep decisions relating to it at a local level.
Furthermore, new research from DEFRA shows that 78 per cent. of people support having a separate food waste collection to enable food recycling, and two-thirds of households with access to a separate food waste collection use it. Penalty notices were not used in any of the contexts studied to ensure the food waste collection scheme worked.
Fish Catches
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he made of the sustainability of fish stocks in each of the last three years. [311755]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Each year the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) classifies a stock's status by comparing the amount of mature fish (the spawning stock biomass) and the rate at which the stock is exploited in comparison with agreed reference levels.
In terms of spawning stock biomass, a stock is considered to have either full reproductive capacity, being at risk of suffering reduced reproductive capacity or suffering reduced reproductive capacity.
In terms of the rate of fishing mortality, a stock is considered to be harvested sustainably, at risk of being harvested unsustainably or harvested unsustainably.
The following table presents the number within each category for the 47 stocks of most interest to the UK. Figures are given for 2007 to 2009.
| Category | ICES classifica t ion | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
Of those stocks for which the status is known with regards to the reference levels, 52 per cent. are considered to be within precautionary biomass limits and fished sustainably. The equivalent figure is 31 per cent. for all stocks across the Community(1).
(1) Communication from the Commission-Consultation on Fishing Opportunities for 2010 (COM(2009)224).
Flood Control: Finance
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much is planned to be spent by (a) his Department, (b) local authorities and (c) the Environment Agency on flood and coastal erosion risk management in each year from 2010-11 to 2012-13, indicating in respect of each total how much stimulus package spending brought forward from another year it (i) includes and (ii) excludes. [313348]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA expects to spend £780 million on flood and coastal erosion risk management in 2010-11. This includes expenditure by local authorities (supported by Formula Grant) and the Environment Agency (through Grant in Aid). In addition, £20 million of the original £800 million figure for 2010-11 was brought forward into 2009-10 budgets as part of the fiscal stimulation package.
Within the above, the Department has a retained budget for flood and coastal erosion risk management of £35 million for 2010-11. This will be spent taking forward recommendations within the Pitt review of the 2007 floods, and also to help communities adapt to the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
Based on historical spending by local authorities, DEFRA estimates that its total expenditure on flooding and coastal erosion will be at least £87 million in 2010-11. However, the need for local authorities to spend more on flood and coastal erosion risk management was recognised at the last spending review and additional funding was provided as part of the overall formula grant settlement. As Formula Grant is not ring-fenced it is for individual authorities to decide how much to spend subject to limits on overall budgets and the need for investment on other priorities.
The Environment Agency's Flood Defence Grant In Aid budget for 2010-11 is £659 million in 2010-11. This figure also reflects the £20 million brought forward to 2009-10.
Budgets for 2011-12 and 2012-13 have not been set. These will be determined by the next spending review.
Martin Horwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent by (a) his Department, (b) local authorities and
(c) the Environment Agency on flood and coastal erosion risk management in each year between 2007-08 and 2009-10, indicating in respect of each total how much stimulus package spending brought forward from another year it (i) includes and (ii) excludes. [313349]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The following table sets out the amount spent by DEFRA, the Environment Agency and local authorities on flood and coastal erosion risk management for the three-year period.
| £ million | |||
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
| (1) Estimated. | |||
(i) The figure given against Environment Agency expenditure in 2009-10 includes £20 million brought forward from 2010-11 budgets as part of the fiscal stimulation package.
(ii) Taking account of the adjustment, total expenditure is expected to be £780 million in 2010-11.
The figures at (a) reflect budget retained by DEFRA for the introduction of measures from 2008-09 to assist communities in adapting to future risks and work arising from the review by Sir Michael Pitt into the floods of 2007. It does not include the Flood Defence Grant in Aid allocated to the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency is funded by Flood Defence Grant in Aid from DEFRA.
Local authority spending on flood and coastal erosion risk management is supported by Formula Grant. The £87 million figure quoted for 2009-10 is an estimate of annual expenditure based on historical data prior to the current spending period. The need for local authorities to spend more on flood and coastal erosion risk management was recognised at the last spending review and additional funding was provided as part of the overall formula grant settlement. As Formula Grant is not ring-fenced it is for individual authorities to decide how much to spend subject to limits on overall budgets and the need for investment on other priorities.
Figures at (a) (b) and (c) for 2009-10 are provisional.
Fly-Tipping
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of fly-tipping. [312765]
Dan Norris: The Environment Agency and local authorities are the enforcement bodies in England for waste crime, such as fly-tipping. DEFRA works closely with these bodies to develop better prevention, detection and prosecution of fly-tipping offences. In 2008-09, fly-tipping incidents dealt with by local authorities in England fell by over nine per cent. on the previous year.
funding Keep Britain Tidy to provide local authorities with support and advice on their fly-tipping prevention strategies, including training workshops for individual local authorities. Over 70 authorities will have benefited from this training
programme by the end of the financial year. Keep Britain Tidy has also provided all local authorities in England with a Knowledge Bank of best practice information and case studies, backed up with anti-fly-tipping campaigning material;
funding the Environment Agency's Waste Crime Innovation Programme, which includes pilot work on new and innovative techniques for tackling fly-tipping, as well as a Landowner Partnership Programme, working with landowner organisations to tackle fly-tipping on private land;
shortly to bring in new powers allowing local authorities and the Environment Agency to seize vehicles suspected of involvement in fly-tipping more easily;
working to strengthen the waste carrier registration system and promote-through more user friendly guidance-the waste duty of care so that the law is better understood and easier for authorities to enforce.
Food: Conservation
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will issue guidance to local authorities and other public bodies in respect of the purchase of endangered seafood; and if he will make a statement. [313463]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA and HM Revenue and Customs enforce strict controls on the import and marketing of animals and animal products from species classified as endangered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative has for some time been providing advice and guidance in sustainable sourcing of food, including fish, for the public sector for example by reference to the Marine Stewardship Council's Eco-label scheme and equivalent certification schemes that meet the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Public sector procurement guidance also refers to the IUCN red list as being definitive on endangered species.
In moving forward with this agenda, we are working with the Office of Government Commerce to embed into the Collaborative Food Procurement Programme best practice on sustainability and environmental awareness including the conservation status of commonly eaten fish and seafood. The aims of this programme are to encourage greater collaboration between public sector buyers to achieve efficiency cost savings and to embed the use of sustainability criteria in the contract award process for the procurement of food by the public sector.
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