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Agriculture: Chemicals
Lord Beaumont of Whitley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What duties landowners have to inform neighbours as to what chemicals those landowners are spraying on their land.[HL7282]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): In general, there is no legal requirement for landowners to tell neighbours about most chemical use on land owned by the landowner themselves. There are two notable exceptions:
when farmers and growers use sulphuric acid as a desiccant; andaerial spraying.The landowner must tell their neighbours 24 hours before they begin their treatment with sulphuric acid and they must put up signs and notices about treatment.
For aerial spraying, the operator must tell people living within 25 metres of the boundary of the land to be treated, and the person in charge of any hospital, school or other institution with boundaries lying within 150 metres of the flight path, 24 hours before the treatment. Again, signs and notices have to be used.
It is incumbent upon the user to make sure that all chemicals being applied are targeted at the land, crop, structure, material or area being treated.
The latest code of practice for using plant protection products—a statutory code giving advice and guidance to all professional users—states that it is good practice to advise people who live or work around the area to be treated of the intention to apply chemicals, giving them information about the chemicals being used. It also explains that it is good management to consider extra measures such as leaving an untreated area next to the neighbouring property, putting up signs letting people know the pesticide being used and where they can get further information, and giving out information cards (if available) to those who want them.
Agriculture: Land Ownership
Lord Whitty asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether current records on the ownership of agricultural land in England in terms of accuracy, transparency and comprehensiveness are satisfactory.[HL7338]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The main function of HM Land Registry is to maintain and develop a register of title to freehold and leasehold land in England and Wales. The Land Register currently holds 20.5 million registered titles. However, the information held on the register does not reveal the purpose for which the registered land is used—for example, whether the land is used purely for agricultural purposes.
The accuracy of the information contained in the Land Register is underpinned by a state guarantee and in 2005-06 Land Registry processed 98.8 per cent of all registrations free of error.
The Land Register has been available for public inspection since December 1990 and official copies of registers, title plans and deeds and most documents referred to on the register can be obtained by post or electronically.
Currently, 56.7 per cent of the land area of England and Wales is registered. Most urban land is registered but much rural land remains unregistered. Registration is compulsory after certain specific events—for example, sale of land or death of an owner. Land Registry cannot otherwise compel registration but does have a strategy of working towards a comprehensive land register by persuading landowners of the benefits of voluntarily registering their holdings. During 2006-07, Land Registry aims to register a further 700,000 hectares of land through voluntary registration.
Armed Forces: Harmony Guidelines
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking in the short and long term to address breaches of harmony guidelines through the roulement of United Kingdom military forces in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan and in Iraq.[HL7323]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): We recognise that, given the increase in the scale of our contribution to Afghanistan in 2006 and our ongoing commitment in Iraq, harmony levels will remain under pressure, at both unit and individual levels. We have put in place a range of short and long-term measures to ameliorate this situation. In the short term this includes: training and recruitment initiatives; financial retention and re-engagement incentives; flexibility in the rank employed in some posts; the mobilisation of Reservists; some contractorisation (where appropriate); and regular reviews of force levels required for each operation.
Over the longer term, the restructuring of the Armed Forces currently under way, particularly in the Army, will help us to achieve an improvement in average tour intervals. Further improvements may come from eventual reductions in UK force levels in a range of theatres, and from appropriate contributions from our allies, which we continue to encourage.
Armed Forces: Helicopter Pilots
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many medium support helicopter pilots became unavailable for operational duties in 2005-06 through retirement, promotion, medical unfitness or other reasons; and how many new operational medium support helicopter pilots were trained in the same period.[HL7281]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): The number of medium support helicopter pilots unavailable for operational duties in 2005-06 as a result of retirement, promotion, medical unfitness or other reasons is shown in the table below:
| Classification | Retirement | Promotion | Medical Unfitness1 | Other Reasons |
41 RAF and 16 RN new operational medium support helicopter pilots were trained in the same period.
1 This does not include pilots who were medically downgraded as unfit to fly for only part of a period in question.
Armed Forces: Pay Review Body
Lord Craig of Radley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the reasons for delay in announcing their decision about the recommendations of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body's 2006 supplementary report on the pay of service dental and medical officers.[HL7176]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): Given the significant recruitment and retention difficulties experienced by service medical and dental officers, the Government wanted to carefully consider the Armed Forces Pay Review Body report in order to ensure that it delivered an appropriate package that recognises the vital contribution made by these officers.
I refer the noble and gallant Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement that we made on Monday 24 July 2006 (Official Report, col. WS 131) on Armed Forces medical and dental officers pay.
Armed Forces: Sentinel Aircraft
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): The programmed agreed with Raytheon Systems Ltd will deliver three Sentinel aircraft to the RAF Waddington before the end of this financial year (31 March 2007), with the other two following later in 2007.
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Drayson: No, there has never been a plan to deploy Sentinel aircraft to the Middle East by November 2006.
Army: Recruitment
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): The latest figures available are from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. The proportion of those personnel who have entered the untrained strength of the regular Army during that period and who have a non-British nationality are as follows:
| Proportion of Non UK Personnel | |
1. The figure are for regular Army only and therefore exclude Gurkhas, Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment, full-time Reserve service, mobilised Reserves, Territorial Army and all other Reserves.
2. Figures are based on untrained intake into the regular Army and for soldiers include inflows from illegal absence.
3. The nationality given above is that recorded on inflow to the untrained strength and not necessarily the same as the nationality at birth.
4. Includes inflows only from those with a nationality OTHER than UK. It therefore includes those with a nationality of Eire, UK dependency, Commonwealth (excluding UK) and other countries.
Asylum Seekers: Voluntary and Compulsory Returns
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many unsuccessful asylum applicants left the United Kingdom (a) voluntarily, and (b) under compulsion in each year from 2002 to 2005.[HL6833]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The accompanying table shows the number of asylum applicants who were removed from the UK in each year from 2002 to 2005, broken down by type of removal. It is not possible to say at what stage in the asylum process people are, at the time of their removal. Published statistics on immigration and asylum issues are available onthe Home Office's research development andstatistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
| Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005(2)(P) |
(2) Removals in 2005 include those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities.
(4) Persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration. May include some on-entry cases and some cases where enforcement action has been initiated.
(5) Includes persons departing “voluntarily” after enforcement action had been initiated against them.
Audit Commission
Lord Ramsbotham asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Bassam of Brighton: As this is an operational matter, officials from the Department for Communities and Local Government have asked the Audit Commission to reply direct to the noble Lord.
The Chief Executive subsequently replied to him on 12 September and a copy of his letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Letter from the chief executive of the Audit Commission, Steve Bundred, dated 12 September 2006.
Your question about the annual cost of Audit Commission publications has been passed to me for reply.
In the last year, from 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2006, the Audit Commission has sent a total of 32 national reports and technical documents to its stakeholders. The production and distribution costs amounted to £306,185, not inclusive of VAT. This figure includes the cost to the commission of reports that were published jointly with other regulators.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information. I am copying this to Baroness Andrews, and a copy will also be placed in the House of Lords Library.
Avian Flu
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total cost of the avian influenza outbreak in Norfolk; and how much of this was attributed to (a) clearing, and (b) cleaning.[HL7243]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): The total cost of tackling the avian influenza outbreak in Norfolk was £1,181,458. This figure is subject to amendment as more data become available. £36,028 of the total cost is attributed to clearing (including incineration, rendering, transport of carcasses, landfill and destruction of clinical waste). £9,794 of the total cost is attributed to cleaning (including primary cleaning and disinfection).
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will permit precautionary vaccination of rare breeds of poultry against avian influenza, in order to maintain the gene pool.[HL7245]
Lord Rooker: Although current avian influenza vaccines are able to reduce mortality, it is possible that some vaccinated birds would still be capable of becoming infected and transmitting avian influenza without displaying symptoms of the disease. This could increase the time taken to detect and eradicate the virus.
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