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Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool

Baroness Thornton: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that a high-level keyword database search of over 400 freedom of information requests made between 18 September 2006 and 13 January 2010 identified eight relevant requests, excluding requests from the noble Lord. The HFEA also advises that it is not possible to quantify what proportion of its time was spent dealing with these requests, and responses to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act are undertaken without consideration of the applicant or their purpose in making the request. The HFEA's responses to these requests concerned the regulatory oversight of the research licence.

Flooding

Question

Asked by Lord Greaves

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): In the wake of the summer floods of 2007, the Government committed to the effective management of flood and coastal erosion risk. Spending across central and local government has increased from £307 million in 1996-97 to £660 million in 2008-09, £715 million in 2009-10 and is set to reach £780 million in 2010-11.

The Government made available a comprehensive package of over £136 million to assist those affected by the 2007 floods. Funding given to local authorities included:

£18.8 million funding through the Bellwin scheme which provides financial assistance to local authorities dealing with emergencies;

£18.4 million from the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) for flood recovery grants to support the recovery work of local authorities, and particularly their work with those in greatest and most immediate need;around £41 million from the Department for Transport for repairs to local highways;

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£13.5 million from the Department for Children, Schools and Families for schools and children's services affected by the floods;over £1.2 million from CLG for local authorities giving council tax discounts, so families do not face council tax bills for homes they could not live in; andlocal authorities received £30.6 million from CLG's Restoration Fund, and were free to spend it according to local priorities.

Other main recipients of the £136 million support package included:

regional development agencies provided £10 million in support of business and economic recovery in the affected areas;

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the Department for Work and Pensions paid Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans totalling £810,891 to people on qualifying benefits to meet the cost of replacing essential household items; andVisitBritain received £1 million from the Department for Culture Media and Sport to support rural tourism in England through promoting rural destinations and visitor attractions.

Following the 2007 floods, Sir Michael Pitt carried out a review of the event. The Government set aside £34.5 million to implement Sir Michael's review.

The table below provides details of how much has been allocated to date. It shows that a total of £20.2 million has been allocated to individual agencies and bodies by Defra.



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Allocation to:Allocation (£m)Allocated by Dec 2009To deliver:

Local Authorities

£15 million

£10 million between 80 local authorities

Local authority leadership on flood risk management in the highest priority areas, including surface water management plans, tackling surface water problems, mapping of drainage assets, and oversight and maintenance of sustainable drainage systems for new housing, etc.

Environment Agency and Met Office

£5.0 million

£3.76 million

A new joint forecasting and warning centre, including the extreme rainfall alert.

Environment Agency

£8.5 million

£5 million

All other recommendations where the Environment Agency leads, including its new strategic overview of all types of flood risk in England, better modelling, forecasting and mapping for flooding, particularly surface water, roll-out of ex-directory flood warnings, reservoir inundation maps, and a national flooding exercise to test the new response arrangements.

Met Office

£0.5 million

£230,000

Research to make use of new detailed forecasting models for flooding.

Cabinet Office

£0.4 million

£0.2 million

New team within the Civil Contingencies Secretariat to run a national campaign to improve the resilience of critical national infrastructure.

Others

£10,000

£10,000

To fund the Risk and Regulatory Advisory Council to consider the communication of flood risk to the public.

Contingency

£5.1 million

£1.0 million

To provide a contingency fund in case allocations need to be increased in some areas, and to include: up to £2 million for an improved flood rescue capability; up to £1.25 million to support the production of reservoir emergency plans by local resilience forums. Funds have also been provided to the following additional activities announced since the Government's response.

£750,000 to support local authority flood risk management apprenticeships this year and next. A further £250,000 is being funded from other budgets.

£140,000 to fund a reservoir inundation mapping tool.

Total

£34.5 million

£20.2 million

From: Annex A of the Progress Report on the Government's Response to Sir Michael Pitt's Review (published 15 December 2009).

Government Departments: Bonuses

Question

Asked by Lord Newby

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): 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 predetermined 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 table below details how many people were eligible for and received a non-consolidated variable pay awards and the average and the maximum payment for a non-consolidated variable pay award, by civil service band, awarded under the Defra 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.

Table 1 covers staff at grade 6 and below or equivalent in core Defra (including staff who transferred to DECC on 3October 2008) and those executive agencies (Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Marine and Fisheries Agency) that are covered by the core department's remuneration arrangements. It covers 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).

The remaining tables cover staff at grade 6 and below or equivalent, employed in those executive agencies that operate delegated pay arrangements (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 10 April 2009).



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Core Defra-(including staff in Animal Health, Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Marine and Fisheries Agency)
Table 1
Performance Year 2005-06Performance Year 2006-07Performance Year 2007-08
SCSNon- SCSSCSNon- SCSSCSNon- SCS

Number of staff eligible for non-consolidated performance payment

189

5805

186

4980

171

4565

Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment

153

2242

152

1807

150

1764

Average value of non-consolidated performance payment

£6,000

£400

£8,000

£400

£8,500

£400

The value of maximum non-consolidated payment

£15,147

£4,506

£15,640

£4,577

£17,250

£3,966

Percentage of SCS paybill set aside for non-consolidated performance payments

6.5%

N/A

7.6%

N/A

8.6%

N/A

Veterinary Laboratories Agency
Performance Year 2005-06Performance Year 2006-07Performance Year2007-08
Non-SCSNon-SCSNon-SCS

Number of staff eligible for non consolidated performance payment

1313

1360

1290

Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment

251

212

226

Average value of non-consolidated performance payment

£228

£253

£274

The value of maximum non- consolidated payment

£684

£627

£605

Central Science Laboratory-which is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which was created on 1 April 2009
Performance Year 2005-06Performance Year 2006-07Performance Year 2007-08
Non-SCSNon-SCSNon-SCS

Number of staff eligible for non- consolidated performance payment

681

680

670

Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment

260

328

332

Average value of non-consolidated performance payment

£657

£799

£554

The value of maximum non-consolidated payment

£2,943

£3,063

£3,807

Rural Payments Agency
Performance Year 2005-06Performance Year 2006-07Performance Year 2007-08
Non-SCSNon-SCSNon-SCS

Number of staff eligible for non- consolidated performance payment

3078

3529

3330

Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment

505

813

1126

Average value of non-consolidated performance payment

£500

£700

£200

The value of maximum non- consolidated payment

£500

£700

£800

Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
Performance Year 2005-06Performance Year 2006-07Performance Year 2007-08
Non-SCSNon-SCSNon-SCS

Number of staff eligible for non-consolidated performance payment

554

562

541

Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment

511

506

496

Average value of non-consolidated performance payment

£745

£975

£1,267

The value of maximum non- consolidated payment

£5,147

£5,902

£5,405

Asked by Lord Newby

Baroness Thornton: An increasing element of the pay awards for the department and its agencies over the past three years has been allocated to non-consolidated performance pay. These payments are used to recognise excellent performance and exemplary behaviours in contributing to the department's objectives.


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