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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets her Department has set to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide by (a) 2005 and (b) 2010.

Asked by

Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

18 December 2003

Reference

415 c1017W; 143823

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make a statement on (a) the adequacy of the resources allocated to the reactive cull component of the Government's randomised badger culling trials and (b) the adequacy of the number of personnel allocated, with particular...

Asked by

Owen Paterson (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

3 December 2003

For answer on

10 December 2003

Answered on

10 December 2003

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on (a) the adequacy of the resources allocated to the reactive cull component of the Government's randomised badger culling trials and (b) the adequacy of the number of personnel allocated, with particular reference to clerical personnel with sufficient skills, training and experience. [142464] Mr. Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows. (a) It has at times been difficult for MAFF/Defra to carry out reactive culling in response to a herd breakdown as quickly as the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) anticipated its First Report. Resource limitations, including difficulties inherent in the recruitment and retention of appropriately skilled staff, have played a part. Difficulties became apparent in 2002 when, in effect, the impact of the suspension of TB testing in 2001 due to foot and mouth disease meant that two years1 worth of breakdown notifications required reactive culling, alongside the servicing of culling in the proactive areas. Defra has worked hard since FMD to meet the ISG's expectations both in terms of the time between breakdown and culling, and the number of operations completed. The ISG has helped by making some pragmatic decisions by assisting with priorities and by setting realistic, yet challenging, targets which Defra has either met or exceeded. (b) It is considered that the level of clerical or administrative support has been adequate and not had any a diverse impact on the fieldwork for the Randomised Badger Culling Trial.

Date

10 December 2003

Reference

142464; 415 c524W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average air quality levels were in England in each year between 1985 and 1995. - Inc table.

Asked by

John Barrett (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

3 November 2003

For answer on

10 December 2003

Answered on

10 December 2003

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average air quality levels were in England in each year between 1985 and 1995. [136781] Mr. Bradshaw: Comprehensive information on concentrations of air pollutants in England between 1985 and 1995 is available from the Air Quality Archive at www.airquality.co.uk. The following table shows, for urban and rural air monitoring site sin England, the average number of days for the years between 1985 and 1995 on which levels of any one of a basket of five pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, fine particles and sulphur dioxide) were `moderate or higher' according to the Air Pollution Information Service bandings. These data are the headline air quality indicator, one of 15 headline indicators of sustainable development. Data are missing for some years because there were, at that time, not enough air monitoring sites operating to provide data on all pollutants. Data for 2002 for England are available at www.sustainable-development. gov.uk/indicators/regional/2002/h10.htm and for 1987- 2003 for the UK at http://www.defra.gov.uk./news/ 2003/030508a.htm. When the indicator was established in 1998, the back time series was constructed from results from an increasing set of monitoring sites as the network (particularly the urban network) was developed. Research demonstrated that the increasing number of sites used in the indicator in fact had little effect on the overall trend produced. However, caution should be taken when comparing data for the early years of the urban network, as the number of sites was much lower than present that could have resulted in a lower number of exceedences being detected. The number of urban sites increased from three in 1992 to 35-40 from 1998 onwards, while the number of rural sites has remained fairly constant since it started. The table also shows average concentrations of black smoke and sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the UK between 1985 and 1995. These two combustion-generated pollutants are also a good indicator of average air quality for the years in question. There is no clear trend in the average number of days of `moderate' or `higher' air pollution between 1985 and 1995. There is annual variability due mainly to differences in weather conditions from year to year. Data since 1995 show a long-term improvement in the number of days of `moderate' or `higher' air pollution as a result mainly of reduced emissions from road vehicles, electricity production and industry. There is an improving trend in average UK concentrations of black smoke and sulphur dioxide between 1985 and 1995, which have almost halved. Average air quality levels between 1985-1995 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. England air quality headline indicator (number of (Micrograms per metre cubed) days) Rural average Urban average UK average black smoke UK average sulphur dioxide-SO2 1985 -- -- 17.5 41.2 1986 -- -- 17.7 41.1 1987 23 -- 17.0 39.1 1988 34 -- 15.9 36.5 1989 58 -- 14.7 35.3 1990 58 -- 14.3 35.6 1991 60 -- 13.4 32.8 1992 52 -- 11.6 29.6 1993 44 59 11.0 28.2 1994 52 50 9.0 24.6 1995 53 50 10.6 24.4 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Date

10 December 2003

Reference

136781; 415 c520-1W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has commissioned into air quality in the Heathrow area; and if she will publish the findings.

Asked by

Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

20 November 2003

Reference

138843; 413 c1198-9W;413 c1195W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will increase climate change agreement targets for companies not involved in the EU Emissions Trading scheme.

Asked by

Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

20 November 2003

Reference

139148; 413 c1207W;413 c1203-4W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of (a) the impact of the Warm Front initiative and (b) the quality of the service it provides. - Including ref to Warm Front: Helping to Combat Fuel Poverty.

Asked by

Mike Wood (Batley and Spen) (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

20 November 2003

Reference

137314; 413 c1246W;413 c1242W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what advice and assistance will be given to small abattoirs to meet health and safety standards in the next two years. - Inc figure.

Asked by

Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

20 November 2003

Reference

139046; 413 c1197W;413 c1194W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to improve enforcement of food safety regulations at animal byproducts processing premises arising from recent meat fraud cases.

Asked by

Judy Mallaber (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

19 November 2003

Reference

137588; 413 c892W;413 c891W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make a statement on powers to ban importation of foods whose production standards are illegal in this country.

Asked by

Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

4 November 2003

For answer on

17 November 2003

Answered on

17 November 2003

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on powers to ban importation of foods whose production standards are illegal in this country. [137282] Mr. Bradshaw: All consignments of animal products (including meat and fish) imported into the UK from other EU member states must have been produced in accordance with the rules laid down in Community legislation. Imports from third countries must have been produced to standards at least equivalent to those in the legislation. Among other things, the legislation sets out the licensing, structural and veterinary supervision requirements to be applied in production plants and each consignment must be accompanied by appropriate health certification. If there is an outbreak of disease or if any other phenomenon occurs which is likely to present a risk to human or animal health, Community legislation allows us to take appropriate safeguard action, which may include a ban on imports of products from all, or parts, of the country concerned. Any consignment of animal products imported from third countries are subject to veterinary inspection on entering the EU to ensure that conditions of import have been complied with and to ensure that they have remained in a satisfactory condition during transport. Food not of animal origin imported from countries outside the EU is also subject to routine food safety controls at the point of entry to the UK under imported food legislation. Any products that do not meet appropriate requirements may be rejected and either re- exported or destroyed. Food from other EU member states is in free circulation within the EU and is not subject to routine checks at UK ports. Such food can be subject to import checks where there is information to support such action. All imported food, including food from other EU member states, may be inspected at the point of destination in the UK and is subject to the same controls and checks at retail level.

Date

17 November 2003

Reference

137282; 413 c631W;413 c632-3W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that poultry meat imports from (a) the European Union and (b) third country suppliers meet the same (a) quality and (b) health and safety requirements that poultry meat producers in the...

Asked by

John Hayes (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

17 November 2003

Reference

413 c635-6W; 138081;138086

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets she has set for the decommissioning of the UK fishing fleet; and if she will take steps to ensure that the oldest boats and lines constitute the same proportion of boats decommissioned as they do of...

Asked by

John Hayes (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

6 November 2003

For answer on

17 November 2003

Answered on

17 November 2003

Mr. John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what targets she has set for the decommissioning of the UK fishing fleet; and if she will take steps to ensure that the oldest boats and lines constitute the same proportion of boats decommissioned as they do of the entire fleet; [138089] (2) whether the UK's decommissioning plans are supported by binary decommissioning of fishing vessels within EU member states; [138090] (3) what estimate she has made of the likely number of vessels in the UK fishing fleet in each of the next 10 years; [138091] (4) what assessment she has made of the effects on fishing communities of the decommissioning of the UK fishing fleet; [138092] (5) what estimate she has made of the cost of a benefits package in relation to decommissioning of the UK fishing fleet; [138093] (6) what estimate she has made of the cost of the process of decommissioning the UK fishing fleet; [138094] (7) what plans there are for decommissioning fishing fleets in other EU member states; [138096] (8) what branches of the Civil Service are covered by paragraph 14(7) of Statutory Instrument 2669. [138097] Mr. Bradshaw: The objective of the 2003 decommissioning schemes in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland is to remove 15-20 per cent. of the 2001 effort on cod in the North Sea and west of Scotland fisheries (Northern Ireland have also targeted vessels catching cod in the Irish Sea). We are therefore focusing the schemes on those vessels which spend most time fishing for cod. The age of the vessels is not relevant in that context. Other member states will decide for themselves whether a decommissioning scheme is appropriate to their particular circumstances. However the effort control measures that are in place under the Community's 2003 Days at Sea scheme apply to the fleets of all European Union countries fishing in the North Sea and west of Scotland--not simply the UK. While the Government are keen to reduce overcapacity within the European fleet, we have set no targets for the future size of the UK fleet. We are working with the Regional Development Agencies to ensure that the full range of Government support and regional funding is made available as appropriate to individuals and businesses in fishing communities in order to enable them to deal with the consequences of decommissioning. More than £60 million has been made available within the UK for decommissioning and associated financial support in 2003. It is for applicants to the schemes to decide the basis for their decommissioning bids, but these may include any anticipated costs of decommissioning e.g scrapyard fees. The provisions of the decommissioning scheme in England (as defined in Statutory Instrument 2669) are enforced by the staff of the Department's Sea Fisheries Inspectorate.

Date

17 November 2003

Reference

413 c629-30W;413 c630-1W; 138089;138090;138091;138092;138093;138094;138096;138097

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make a statement on plans to improve energy efficiency in the UK. - Inc ref to the 'Energy White Paper' and 'Energy Efficiency Implementation Plan'.

Asked by

Bill Wiggin (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 November 2003

Reference

413 c288-9W; 133283

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how she will double the rate of energy efficiency improvement in order to meet targets for 2020 set out in the Energy White Paper.

Asked by

Bill Wiggin (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 November 2003

Reference

133255; 413 c288W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has for implementing the inspection of gas boilers below 100kW to limit their (a) carbon dioxide emissions and (b) energy consumption.

Asked by

David Chaytor (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

30 October 2003

Reference

133584; 412 c370-1W;412 c378-9W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets have been set for the introduction of (a) beef from cattle born after August 1996 onto the UK market from April 24th 2004 and (b) moderate risk status beef onto the UK market before autumn 2004;...

Asked by

Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 October 2003

Reference

133859; 412 c153-4W;412 c161-2W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the International Whaling Commission; and if she will make a statement.

Asked by

Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

16 October 2003

Reference

131941; 411 c298W;411 c301-2W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effects that proposals to amend the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 to enable non-veterinary surgeons to diagnose bovine tuberculosis may have on (a) the welfare of cattle, (b) the welfare of...

Asked by

Stephen O'Brien (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

17 September 2003

For answer on

14 October 2003

Answered on

14 October 2003

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the effects that proposals to amend the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 to enable non- veterinary surgeons to diagnose bovine tuberculosis may have on (a) the welfare of cattle, (b) the welfare of badgers, (c) the welfare of non-wild animals, (d) the welfare of other wild animals, (e) the workload of existing veterinary practices, (f) the cashflow of existing veterinary practices, (g) the standards of diagnosis by (i) veterinary surgeons and (ii) non-veterinary surgeons and (h) the rate of the spread of the disease in (A) the national cattle herd, (B) geographic areas currently unaffected and (C) non-cattle animals. [131588] Mr. Bradshaw: We do not believe that the introduction of lay testers will have a detrimental effect on any of the elements listed. The role of the lay TB tester, set out in our consultation paper issued on 4 July 2003, does not include diagnosis. This will be the responsibility of the supervising Local Veterinary Inspector (LVI) or Veterinary Officer of the State Veterinary Service. It is proposed that 72 hours after the tuberculin injection, the lay tester would record skin measurements, together with a description of the type of reaction observed. This information will be passed to a veterinary surgeon for interpretation of the results. There is no intention of depriving LVI practices of their routine testing and no practice will be required to use lay testers. Those practices that chose to continue to use veterinary surgeons to perform TB tests would continue to receive fees at existing rates. A lower fee would be paid if a lay tester was used.

Legislation

Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966

Date

14 October 2003

Reference

131588; 411 c98W;411 c138W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will list proposed EU legislation identified by her Department as setting agricultural production standards below those in place in the UK. (Printed on 08.09.2003 in Bound Volume 410 c302W).

Asked by

Andrew George (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

15 September 2003

Reference

410 c483W;410 (Not in Bound Volume); 128052

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to promote food assurance schemes in the UK. (Printed on 08.09.2003 in Bound Volume 410 c306W).

Asked by

Andrew George (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

15 September 2003

Reference

410 c478W;410 (Not in Bound Volume); 128048

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of EU legislation relating to agricultural production standards identified by her Department as having been implemented in the United Kingdom but not in other member states. - Inc ref to www.europa.eu.int. (Printed on...

Asked by

Andrew George (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

15 September 2003

Reference

410 c472W;410 (Not in Bound Volume); 128063

House

House of Commons

Librarians' tools

Type

House

Session

Month

Department

Member

Primary member

Answering member

Legislative stage

Legislation

Subject

Publisher