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27 Jan 2010 : Column 871W—continued
Dan Norris: An element of DEFRA's overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives.
Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
The following table details the number and the total amount of non-consolidated variable pay awards awarded under DEFRA's standard pay and performance management process for the three most recent performance years for which the relevant payments have been published in the Department's accounts.
For DEFRA, the data cover staff at grade 6 and below in core-DEFRA and those Executive agencies covered by the core-Department's terms and conditions i.e. Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Marine and Fisheries Agency. They also include senior civil servants in core-DEFRA and its Executive agencies (Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Marine and Fisheries Agency, Rural Payments Agency, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Central Science Laboratory-which is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which was created on 1 April 2009.
For those Executive agencies that operate delegated pay arrangements (Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), which is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which was created on 1 April 2009, the data cover staff at grade 6 and below only.
CEFAS has relatively higher non-consolidated pay when compared as a percentage against the DEFRA network, because they have specifically worked to structure a total rewards package with a greater non consolidated pay element, that is directly performance based and must be re-earned each year. This places a greater link between performance and reward and while their percentage of non consolidated pay is larger than others this is more than offset by their consolidated pay (i.e. salaries) which is low relative to the DEFRA network and Whitehall.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many sessions of media training were organised for Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years. [310754]
Dan Norris: Training is provided to Ministers on a range of issues including handling the media, as part of their induction and continuing development in order to carry out their duties effectively under the ministerial code.
Fly Tipping: Kent
Damian Green: 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) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent in each of the last five years. [313512]
Dan Norris: The number of incidents of fly-tipping recorded on the Flycapture database by (a) Ashford borough council and (b) all local authorities in Kent in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Ashford borough council | Kent local authorities (including Ashford) | |
The number of incidents of fly-tipping recorded as having been dealt with by local authorities on the Flycapture database is published annually on the DEFRA website:
Incidents of fly-tipping cleared from private land by the landowner are not recorded.
Garages and Petrol Stations: Contamination
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what duties there are on the owner of a rental petrol forecourt site to decontaminate the site once its use as a petrol station has ceased; and if he will make a statement. [312671]
Dan Norris: There are various measures which create duties to address contamination, depending on the circumstances of the case. Contaminated land legislation (Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) makes persons liable for the cost of remediating a site if they caused or knowingly permitted it to become contaminated land. This allows direct action to be taken by regulators, and it creates an incentive for operators to avoid causing contamination in the first place, and to clean it up voluntarily if it occurs. For contamination caused after 1 March 2009, the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 would also be applicable in similar circumstances and to achieve similar objectives to Part 2A of the 1990 Act.
Legislation also directly applies to prevent contamination during the operation of a petrol station. Under the Groundwater Regulations 2009 there is a code of practice to prevent hazardous substances from reaching groundwater from underground tanks, such as those at petrol stations. The Environment Agency can serve a notice on the operator if it is likely that the code of practice is not being complied with. The Agency also has powers under the Anti-pollution Works Notices Regulations 1999 to serve notices where there is a threat of pollution to controlled waters or to require clean up where pollution of controlled waters has occurred.
Where a petrol forecourt is operated under a rental agreement, there may be further duties on the operator to deal with contamination as an indirect result of legislation.
Rural Payments Agency: Pay
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the monetary value of bonuses awarded to officials of the Rural Payments Agency in each of the last five years. [310620]
Dan Norris: The payments made for non-consolidated performance payments awarded to employees at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in the last five years is shown in the following table:
| Actual payment totals (£) | Percentage of the RPA paybill | |
RPA performance payments are paid to RPA staff working on all aspects of the agency's work which includes managing and making payments for some 60 schemes, making payments on a further 30 schemes delivered by others, carrying out inspections and operating the British Cattle Movement Service under two reward schemes:
(a) Staff who have achieved the required performance assessment following the end of year individual performance review. This arrangement is negotiated each year with the trade union side; and
(b) A special recognition scheme was introduced in 2007 and exists to recognise instances of people making additional or outstanding contributions to RPA's work, giving an employee up to £500 for an outstanding performance.
These figures include non-consolidated performance payments paid to senior civil servants (SCS). The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent senior salaries review body.
Wind Power: Planning Permission
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Environment Agency receives payment from money submitted as payment with wind farm planning applications to cover the cost of its contribution to the planning process; and if he will make a statement. [312564]
Dan Norris: The Environment Agency does not receive any payment from money submitted as payment for wind farm planning applications, or from any other planning applications. The Environment Agency is a statutory consultee in the planning process, and this activity is funded by its grant funding from central Government.
Transport
Aviation: Security
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what security checks will apply in respect of passengers who refuse to be scanned by an airport full body scanner. [313213]
Paul Clark: The Government are not proposing to offer an alternative method of search for passengers refusing to use a body scanner.
Passengers who are selected for scanning, but decline to use the scanner, will not be permitted to fly.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether full body scanners will be used to scan children at airports. [313214]
Paul Clark: We are confident that the introduction of these scanners is a proportionate and necessary next step in enhancing security of passengers, and that their use is consistent with the Protection of Children Act 1978. We will therefore be expecting children to use the scanners.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment he has made of the implications for human rights of the use of full body scanners at airports; and if he will make a statement. [313215]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport is working with the industry and other Government Departments to produce a code of practice for the operation of body scanners. This will include an assessment of the legal, health and privacy issues surrounding their deployment.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport for how long images obtained by airport full body scanners will be stored. [313216]
Paul Clark: The equipment being deployed in airports does not have the capacity to save an image in any form. Images are viewed remotely from the machine, and are deleted immediately after analysis. Images cannot be recovered at a later date from the machines.
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