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9 Feb 2010 : Column 823W—continued

Thanet

Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will set out, with statistical information related as directly as possible to South Thanet constituency, the effects on South Thanet of his Department's policies and actions since 2000. [315630]

Mr. Simon: My Department's aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries.

The impact of bodies and policies of my Department on the South Thanet constituency since 2000 include:

The South Thanet constituency has also benefited from other policies and spending whose impact cannot be broken down by constituency. This includes:

Vauxhall

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to Vauxhall constituency, the effects on the constituency of changes to his Department's policies since 1997. [310334]


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Mr. Simon: My Department's aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries.

The impact of bodies and policies of my Department on the Vauxhall constituency since 1997 include:

The Vauxhall constituency has also benefited from other policies and spending whose impact cannot be broken down by constituency. This includes:

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animal Health Bill: Draft

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the draft Animal Health Bill what contribution hobby farmers would be expected to make under the cost-sharing arrangements proposed in the draft Bill. [315785]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The cost sharing arrangements associated with the draft Animal Health Bill will be developed as part of a future Finance Bill. The form that the cost sharing arrangements will take and any implications for the farming sector will be examined as part of the policy development process.

Departmental Information Officers

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in his Department and its agencies (a) have the status of embedded communicators and (b) are members of the Government Communications Network but are not listed in the Central Office of Information White Book. [315478]


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Dan Norris: There are currently seven embedded communicators working within the business and a further 70 in the core communications function.

Government Communications Network (GCN) membership data are not held by individual departments. The Cabinet Office unit who administer the GCN are unable to share membership data without the permission of individual members. Therefore it is not possible to readily provide accurate information.

Detailed figures relating to DEFRA agencies are not held centrally and could only be collated at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Legal Costs

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what expenditure his Department and its agencies have incurred on external legal advice and representation in each year since his Department was established; and for what purposes such services have been commissioned. [300583]

Dan Norris: The expenditure the Department and its agencies have incurred on external legal advice and representation in each financial year since the Department was established is as follows:

£000

2002-03

3,737

2003-04

2,955

2004-05

4,898

2005-06

4,374

2006-07

1,858

2007-08

4,770

2008-09

4,061


External legal advice and representation was commissioned for a range of specialist legal services that were not available internally.

In reply to a question from the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), on 18 June 2007, Official Report, column 1429W, asking how much was spent on legal fees in each of the previous five years, 2002-03 to 2006-07, an answer was published which gave lower figures for those years than the figures above.

The reason is that one of the Department's executive agencies (the Rural Payments Agency) has revised its figures for 2002-03 to 2006-07 to include expenditure on legal services by non-legal divisions within the RPA that had been omitted from the answer referred to above.

Departmental Legislation

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criminal offences have been (a) abolished and (b) created by primary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008. [303250]

Dan Norris: The information requested is as follows:

Climate Change Act 2008

DEFRA is only responsible for some parts of the Climate Change Act 2008.


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The parts of the Act for which DEFRA is responsible do not create any other offences, or repeal any offences. However there are some provisions which amend some offences.

Section 88 amends section 105(2) of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 to enable an increase in the maximum fines on summary conviction that can be provided for under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999. This is to enable the maximum fines on summary conviction under regulations made under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 to be made consistent with the equivalent maximum fines under section 33(8) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Also to provide for consistency, it revokes regulation 39(2)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (which provides for maximum fines).

Paragraph 3 of schedule 5 contains a consequential amendment to section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (receptacles for household waste). Section 46 contains an offence provision.

Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

The Marine and Coastal Access Act creates a number of new offences, abolishes others and amends some existing criminal offences. The Act has only recently received Royal Assent and so a number of these provisions are not yet in force. Full details of the offences that will be created when the Act is fully in force and of the offences that will be repealed or amended are as follows:

When Act is fully in force:

Offences created


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Repeals


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