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Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have estimated the overall cost of permit fees for those applying for poultry integrated pollution prevention and control permits (a) in the first year; and (b) for subsequent years.[HL4168]
Lord Whitty: Operators of large intensive poultry units in England and Wales fall to be regulated by the Environment Agency under the provisions of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (EC/96/61) and corresponding national regulations.
Particular effort is being directed to helping first-time applicants, and to streamline the process, by enabling farmers to use a lower cost, "off the shelf" permit if they can comply with standard farming installation rules. The fee for an application for a standard farming permit would be £3,024.
Once the permit is issued a subsistence fee applies for each year during the life of the permit. The agency's charging scheme for poultry distinguishes between "large" and "small" units. A "large" unit is one that has over 400,000 places for poultry and would pay an annual subsistence fee of £2,537. A "small" unit, one with fewer than 400,000 places, would pay £2,024.
Farms that decide not to apply for a standard farming permit will be subject to a fee based upon the EP OPRA (environment protection operator performance and risk appraisal) scheme. This would be most likely if an intensive livestock unit also carries out other activities regulated under the IPPC regime. The sum charged will depend upon the location, emissions and operator performance.
If the operator is carrying out any other (non-farming) activities that fall to be regulated under IPPC, an additional application and subsistence fee would be charged in line with that for other sectors.
The cited figures are valid for the charging period 2003–04.
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many officials are dealing with the integrated pollution prevention and control applications.[HL4169]
Lord Whitty: Integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) is being implemented in England and Wales through the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000. IPPC is being introduced on a sector-by-sector basis, concluding in 2007. Permitting is carried out by the Environment Agency and the local authorities depending on the classification of the installation.
The Environment Agency generally regulates installations that are the larger, more technically complex, or more polluting installations under the IPPC regime; the Part A(1) installations. Local authorities regulate installations that are generally smaller, less complex, or less polluting; the Part A(2) or Part B installations.
The Environment Agency has field staff who determine IPPC permit applications. Applications are determined by teams in the appropriate geographical area. An officer would lead on the permit determination, assisted by a permit team and technical officers. The exact make-up of the team would depend upon the complexity of the determination and the amount of secondary legislation that needs to be
considered. Each of these permitting teams is supported by national advisers who would tend to specialise by sectors. At certain times over 200 operational staff will be dealing with IPPC permit applications. Approximately 50 officers provide the operational staff with policy and technical advice on IPPC.The department currently does not hold information on the total number of local authority officers involved in the determination of IPPC applications.
Foot and Mouth Disease
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Libya, when they will begin a programme to evaluate rapid technologies for testing foot and mouth disease in herds and flocks.[HL4170]
Lord Whitty: Defra supports a substantial programme of research on FMD, costing approximately £1.5 million per annum. The current programme covers a number of key areas, each of which support Defra policy regarding the control of FMD.
Included within this programme are a number of projects that focus on the development of diagnostic technologies, costing £300,000 per annum. Further development of a real-time RT-PCR test (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) is being undertaken for rapid, accurate laboratory identification of the foot and mouth disease virus. Other diagnostic techniques include pen-side chromatographic strip tests, which can be used for rapid on-farm diagnosis by detecting FMD virus antigens or antibody. It is important that before any test is used in the field it is fully validated and internationally recognised. The development work includes the validation of these tests.
Armillatox
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will use their single revocation power under European Union Directive 91/414 to allow the honey fungus exterminator, Armillatox, to remain on sale at garden centres throughout the United Kingdom.[HL4171]
Lord Whitty: It is for companies that want to sell any pestcide product to show that it is not harmful to human health or to the environment. The point of the EC pesticide review, which we strongly support, is to ensure that all pesticides that continue to be produced commercially have been shown to meet modern standards of human and environmental safety. Armillatox is being withdrawn because no company chose to support tar acids (the active substance in Armillatox) in the EC pesticide review programme. Therefore we cannot be sure that the product meets
modern standards of human and environmental safety. If a company wishes to re-introduce a pesticide that has been withdrawn because it was not supported in the review programme, it can re-apply for approval provided the application is supported by a modern data package.Armillatox is being withdrawn from the market under a recent EC regulation (EC No. 2076/2002). This is one of a series of regulations made as a result of a major EU review programme of all pesticides used in agricultural and related areas under Directive 91/414/EEC. Many older products like Armillatox which has been widely used to control honey fungus, were approved on the basis of limited experimental data that do not meet modern standards.
CAP: Single Farm Payment
Lord Willoughby de Broke asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will list the 18 "cross-compliance" directives or regulations which farmers will have to meet in order to qualify for the single farm payment under the Common Agricultural Policy.[HL4265]
Lord Whitty: The directives and regulations currently listed as management requirements ("cross-compliance" conditions) with which farmers will have to comply to receive the single farm payment are as follows: Applicable from 1.1.2005 1. Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds (OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1). 2. Directive 80/68/EEC on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous substances (OJ L 20, 26.1.1980, p. 43). 3. Directive 86/278/EEC on the protection of the environment, an in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture (OJ L 181, 4.7. 1986, p. 6). 4. Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (OJ L 375, 31.12.1991, p. 1). 5. Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7). 6. Council Directive 92/102/EEC on identification and registration of animals. 7. Commission Regulation (EC) No 2629/97 of laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 as regards eartags, holding registers and passports in the framework of the system for the identification and registration of bovine animals. 8. Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products. Applicable from 1.1.2006
9. Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. 10. Council Directive 96/22/EC concerning the prohibition on the use in stockfarming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostaic action and of beta-agonists. 11. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council lay down the general principles and requirements of food law. 12. Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. 13. Council Directive 85/511/EEC introducing Community measures for the control of foot-and-mouth disease. 14. Council Directive 92/119/EEC introducing general Community measures for the control of certain animal diseases and specific measures relating to swine vesicular disease. 15. Council Directive 2000/75/EC laying down specific provisions for the control and eradiction of bluetongue. Applicable from 1.1.2007 16. Council Directive 91/629/laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves. 17. Council Directive 91/630/EEC laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs. 18. Council Directive 98/58/EC concerning the protection of animals kept for farming purposes."Pyramid" Schemes
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have any plans to introduce legislation to prohibit "pyramid schemes".[HL4109]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey): Information about the Goverment's plans to act against so-called "chain gifting" or "pyramid" schemes in the Gambling Bill is contained in the statement about the law on prize competitions and lotteries that was placed in the Library on 19 June 2003.
Bogus trading schemes, which may also operate as "pyramids", are prohibited by Part XI of the Fair Trading Act 1973, as amended by the Trading Schemes Act 1996 and the Trading Schemes Regulations 1997.
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