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Biofuels

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of arisings from forestry waste were used as biomass fuel in 2004–05.

Asked by

Oliver Letwin (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

6 December 2005

Reference

27310; 440 c1086W;440 c1086W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Statement on what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 14th March; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement.

Asked by

Jim Hood (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

14 March 2005

For answer on

22 March 2005

Answered on

22 March 2005

Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 14 March; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [222546] Margaret Beckett: My hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Secretary, and I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 14 March 2005. Ministers responsible for fisheries and agriculture in Northern Ireland and Scotland were also present. The Council agreed a proposal concerning establishment of an EU Fisheries Control Agency, which the European Council had previously agreed to sit in Spain. We were able to support a compromise proposal for commission representation on the Agency's administrative board. The Commission reported progress in negotiations with the Russian Federation to agree certain plant and animal health controls. While the UK has not so far been among the member states most affected by Russian requirements, it was encouraging that progress was being made to resolve the remaining differences. The main item for discussion at this Council was Rural Development. The presidency focused discussion on a small number of issues in the current proposal to revise the Rural Development Regulation, principally focussing on the LEADER reserve and inviting comments on the Rural Development Strategy which it is planned to table in June. I reiterated the importance we attach to devoting at least half of the financial resources under the Regulation to environmental work, expressed some doubt as to the level of the LEADER reserve proposed and supported others in giving a general welcome to the likely shape of the strategy framework. The Commission presented a progress report on implementation of the EU forestry strategy. Member states took note. The Commission also presented proposals for EU measures to address market crises through new risk management techniques in the industry. This was a brief presentation, with substantial discussion planned for later in the year. The Commission made it clear that it opposed extending any kind of generalised safety net provision such as that found in the current beef regime. It also indicated that the use of any modulated funds would only be possible in the context of rural development programmes and measures that were compatible with the WTO Green Box. Under Any Other Business, we raised the question of cetacean by catches and the need for greater protection of dolphins. The Commission undertook to call for international research on the subject to be accelerated. Portugal drew attention to the difficulties that prolonged drought had caused in its rural areas. Over lunch, the Commission updated Ministers on the WTO agriculture negotiations. I welcomed recent progress and reminded the Council of the importance of making progress in good time for the Hong Kong Ministerial in December.

Date

22 March 2005

Reference

432 c636-7W; 222546

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Statement on what action she is taking to conserve and enhance biodiversity in England; and if she will make a statement. - Inc refs to "Working with the grain of nature" (Dep 02/2059) and Rural White Paper, "Our Countryside, the future: a fair deal for rural England" (Letter in Library...

Asked by

Michael Jabez Foster (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

23 October 2002

For answer on

24 October 2002

Answered on

24 October 2002

Mr. Michael Jabez Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she is taking to conserve and enhance biodiversity in England; and if she will make a statement. [77743] Mrs. Beckett: Today I am publishing a biodiversity strategy for England. The document, ``Working with the grain of nature'' is being placed in the House libraries. The undertaking to prepare a biodiversity strategy for England was made in the Rural White Paper, ``Our Countryside, the future: a fair deal for rural England''. The Strategy is intended to build on the progress that the Government has already made in protecting and enhancing biodiversity in England, for example with greater protection for sites of Special Scientific Interest under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the implementation of 436 biodiversity action plans for priority habitats and species. We recognise that we can only secure the long-term health of biodiversity that is needed to bring a truly sustainable future by also achieving fundamental changes to public policy and the behaviour of people across the board. The Strategy sets this process in train by seeking to embed biodiversity considerations into all the main sectors of economic activity, public and private. The Strategy sets out a vision and programme for the next five years for five important policy sectors. In Agriculture, we aim to encourage the management of farming and agricultural land so as to conserve and enhance biodiversity as part of the Government's Sustainable Food and Farming Strategy. In water, we aim for a whole catchment approach to the wise, sustainable use of water and wetlands. In woodland and forestry, we are looking for the management and extension of woodland so as to promote enhanced biodiversity and quality of life. In marine and coastal management, we aim to achieve the sustainable use and management of our coasts and seas using natural processes and the ecosystem-based approach. In urban areas, we want biodiversity to become a part of the development of policy on sustainable communities, urban green space and the built environment. The Strategy also identifies a number of cross-cutting themes, with the aim of involving society as a whole in the achievement of biodiversity improvements. For example, we aim to encourage business to act for biodiversity in the boardroom, through the supply chain, in their management systems, in their annual reports and accounts and on the ground. We will also help make biodiversity part of people's everyday lives through information, communication and education and establish a mechanism to involve children and young people in the development of biodiversity policy. In addition, we will continue to encourage partnerships for biodiversity at local and regional levels in England. It will be essential to ensure that we measure biodiversity trends and the effects of our policies. Much work is already underway to improve the information that is available to understand the status of habitats and species, and the Strategy announces the development of a new web-based Biodiversity Action Reporting System to be launched in 2003 and the adoption of a set of biodiversity indicators to measure our progress. These indicators will be published in full within a year. This Government Strategy has been prepared, uniquely, with the active contributions of a large number of partners and stakeholders. We shall continue to rely on the widest possible partnership as we move forward to implementation. The partnership will be represented through the England Biodiversity Group, which will review the Strategy annually and publish a report on progress in 2006.

Date

24 October 2002

Reference

77743; 391 c477-8W;391 c475-6W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Statement on what the spending plans for her Department and for the Forestry Commission are for the next three years following the 2002 Spending Review; and if she will make a statement. - Includes figures and tables.

Asked by

Meg Munn (Labour; Co-operative Party)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

18 July 2002

For answer on

19 July 2002

Answered on

19 July 2002

Ms Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the spending plans for her Department and for the Forestry Commission are for the next three years following the 2002 Spending Review; and if she will make a statement. [72215] Mrs Beckett: The results of the Spending Review for DEFRA and the Forestry Commission are summarised in Chapter 16 of the White Paper on "2002 Spending Review" (Cm 5570). The key figures are as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. £ million 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Resource Budget 2,443 2,765 2,742 2,792 Capital Budget 241 316 344 354 Total Departmental 2,523 2,902 2,890 2,944 Expenditure Limit1 Department of Environment 2,426 2,808 2,796 2,850 Food and Rural Affairs1 Forestry Commission1 97 94 94 94 Near-cash spending in DEFRA 2,341 2,727 2,710 2,757 DEL2 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation. 2Consistent with previous control basis. When DEFRA was created, the objective was have a step change in the way environment, agriculture and rural issues were treated in Government. The aim was to create a department with sustainable development at its heart-- and with responsibility for supporting sustainable development across Government. For DEFRA this means working to achieve a better environment at home and internationally. It also means a food and farming industry working within a prosperous countryside, producing the food that consumers want in harmony with the environment. For the Government as a whole, sustainable development goes much further. The vital importance of sustainable development for Government as a whole underlay the decision to make it a central theme of the Spending Review. As custodian of the Government's sustainable development strategy, I particularly welcome the elements of the Settlement, for my own Department and for others, which will deliver significant improvements in key policy areas. These include: Climate change--where we will invest in innovation to meet our Climate Change objectives, building on existing funding for renewable energy sources with an additional £38 million in 2005-06 compared with 2002-03, and make further progress towards our greenhouse gas emissions targets Health--where we have announced the biggest ever sustained spending growth in the history of the NHS, to improve health outcomes and the quality of care for patients; Education--where increased spending and further reforms are aimed at getting and helping 16-19 year olds into further education; And Crime--where extra funding for the police will help them target reductions in vehicle crime, domestic burglaries and robbery, and reduce the gap between the highest crime local areas and the best comparable areas In addition, new spending on transport and regeneration will improve the quality of our local environments. For example, capital expenditure on capital transport plans-- which includes expenditure on home zones, cycling, walking and local safety schemes--is doubling in real terms from 2001-2011 as part of the Ten Year Transport plan. The Neighbourhood Renewal fund is being increased from £400 million in 2003-04 to £525 million in 2005-06, in part reflecting an increased commitment to safer and cleaner communities. Let me now explain how the Spending Review settlement will impact on DEFRA's programmes over the next three years and will assist the Department in pursuing its aims and objectives. Departmental Spending Plans Sustainable Farming and Food When DEFRA was created, the farming industry was in crisis. Foot and mouth disease, coupled with the lowest farm incomes in many years--had destroyed farmers' confidence, and in some cases, their livelihoods. The Review provides DEFRA with the resources to make progress--working together with the industry--towards a more sustainable future for the farming and food industries. Investment totalling over £500 million over three years will be available to support the key recommendations of the Policy Commission chaired by Sir Don Curry, and to improve animal health and welfare: Action through the England Rural Development Programme, including: A new broad and shallow agri-environment scheme which will reward farmers for delivering environmentally friendly outcomes to be piloted over the next 2 years and then rolled out in full in 2005-06; An expansion of schemes such as the Rural Enterprise Scheme, the Processing and Marketing Grants Scheme, and the Vocational Training Scheme, to assist people in rural areas retrain, diversify and extend their businesses; A more efficient food chain; Enhanced farm advice; Further measures to improve animal health and welfare, including livestock identification and tracing systems, enhanced testing for TSE-type disease (such as BSE); and further action to prevent illegal meat imports. The additional funding will rise to £200 million in 2005-06 of which £75 million has been specifically allocated to fund, alongside equivalent EU funding, the full roll-out of the new agri-environment scheme in England. Additional funding will also be made available to the Devolved Administrations to allow them to increase expenditure on their Rural Development Programmes. In return for the investment in their industry, farmers will be expected to play their part in making the industry sustainable, for example by acting to reduce the risks of animal diseases. I know they will co-operate with us fully in achieving these joint goals. The Government will continue to press for radical reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in the negotiations on the Mid-Term Review of Agenda 2000 which began earlier this week. But the resources allocated in the Spending Review allow DEFRA to press ahead with reform and modernisation of the farming industry now. The Department will publish its strategy for sustainable farming and food in the autumn. I am very pleased that Sir Don Curry has agreed to chair a Group which will act as a driver and overseer of change in the farming and food sectors through the implementation of the farming and food strategy, to ensure that we move rapidly towards a more sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food industry which contributes to a thriving rural economy. The Group will report to me. The Settlement recognises the need to prevent, control and manage the risk of animal disease, where we are driven by the memory of last year's outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease as well as the legacy of BSE. The additional resources provided will allow funding of a wide range of work on animal health issues These measures will be set in the context of a comprehensive animal health and welfare strategy, as recommended by the Policy Commission. This will address ways in which the industry should bear its share of the costs of animal health controls and services. I am also please to be able to announce that we have secured additional funds to deal with Bovine TB this year. These will be used to pay for the extra staff and resources already committed to work on the TB testing backlog and control measures, and additional casual staff who will be recruited to supplement this work. Testing is being carried out on the basis of a veterinary risk assessment, with those posing the greatest risk being tested first. A countryside for all to enjoy In addition to the new agri-environment scheme, which will play an important role in making the countryside more attractive and in helping to preserve biodiversity, the Spending Review has allocated an additional £5 million in 2004-05 and £10 million in 2005-06 for work in bringing our major wildlife sites into favourable condition. In addition, the extra funding of £5 million in 2003-04 and £10 million in the two following years to implement the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act will increase public access and enjoyment of our beautiful countryside landscapes. Thriving rural economies and communities The investment in sustainable food and farming, in improving the condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and in opening up access to the countryside will benefit the wider rural economy. However, DEFRA's leadership role on rural affairs goes beyond this and our new rural PSA target reflects this. It commits us to reducing the gap in productivity between the least well performing rural areas and the English average and making services more accessible for rural people. DEFRA will work with other Government Departments and agencies to deliver this and to ensure that the rural-proofing of their policies and programmes helps to deliver real improvements in prosperity and access to public services. The Spending Review White Paper sets out a range of commitments from other Departments to deliver key services in rural areas, and ensure that rural people benefit from the extra resources delivered through the review. The extra £25 million allocated in the Settlement over three years, will further increase the additional funds announced in the Rural White Paper to help regenerate in market towns and improve the ability of rural communities and the rural voluntary sector to deliver services in support of the socially excluded and progress towards solutions to key rural concerns in each region. Protecting our communities from flooding Government investment in flood defence has increased significantly in real terms since 1997. Additional funding of £15 million a year was made available in the wake of the autumn 2000 floods. The new funds over and above this which have been allocated in the Spending Review will ensure that this growth will now accelerate to reach 8.6 per cent a year in real terms over the SR2002 period. The further allocation to the Department of £15 million in 2004-05 and £40 million in 2005-06, together with the amounts available for grants to local authorities and the revenues we expect to be able to raise from new funding mechanisms, will deliver an increase of £150 million in the third year of the Review. This level of resources, together with simplification of the administration of flood defences and effective partnership working with homeowners, local government, the Environment Agency, scientists and the insurance industry will allow us to reduce the risk of threats to life and damage to property from flooding. Sustainable use of resources: the challenge from waste The Spending Review Settlement takes into account the pressures on local government and provides for spending on environmental, protective and cultural services, including waste management, to rise by £671 million by 2005-06. The funds will also enable them to deal with the short-term problems of fridge disposal and changes to the legislation on hazardous waste. Final decisions on additional resources for addressing the challenge of growth in municipal waste and moving away from landfill disposal and on other policy measures will be made available when the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) publishes its report into sustainable waste management in the autumn. These decisions and those on landfill tax and the future of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (LTCS) will deliver a step change in performance. DEFRA's PSA target of 25 per cent recycling and composting of household waste by 2005-6 demonstrates the government's commitment to radical reform of municipal waste management. Science Evidence-based policy work is central to DEFRA's approach. I want, at the very least, to maintain the Department's expenditure on research in real terms over the Spending Review period. This is consistent with our commitment to the development of a strong and high quality science base. It will ensure that DEFRA's policy making continues to be based in the latest evidence and scientific and economic analysis. We will aim to increase science spending in our identified priority areas. These include: environmental horizon-scanning, climate change and extreme weather, a supercomputer to strengthen the UK climate change research capability, non-food crops, organic food production, and animal disease. We will also examine the findings of the Foot and Mouth Disease inquiries closely and determine if any additional funding for research is required in these areas. Investment in the Department A theme of the Spending Review across all Departments has been ensuring that they have the necessary capacity to deliver. That has been a primary focus of the Developing DEFRA change programme that was set up after the Department was created last year. Additional funding of £140 million over the Spending Review period for investment in the Department will enable it to take forward the next phase of the change programme flowing from the recent Joint Strategic Review carried out with the Office for Public Service Reform (OPSR). The investment will give staff the tools they need to change their ways of working, focus on customers and deliver the high quality services that will build DEFRA's reputation as a respected, high performing, and efficient Department. Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is funded on a net basis after taking account of the income it received, mainly from sales of timber from the public forests. Its timber income has fallen significantly in recent years due to a worldwide slump in timber prices. The Spending Review Settlement provides additional funding of £5 million a year on top of the 2003-04 baseline to enable the Commission to continue to drive forward the Government's England Forestry Strategy despite the reduction in timber income. This new money underlines forestry's important place in England's rural affairs and will allow the Commission to extend sustainable forests management, restore more native woodlands, increase community forests and the role of forests in tackling industrial dereliction. In addition to the funding shown in the White Paper, the Commission is also benefiting from special funding from the Capital Modernisation Fund and the Invest to Save Budget amounting to almost £11 million in the next 2 years. Conclusion Spending by the Department in 2005-06 will be more than £400 million higher than in 2002-03, supporting a programme of reform. It fulfils the Government's pledge to introduce a significant programme of measures to move the food and farming industries to a long-term sustainable basis, to create thriving and prosperous rural economies and communities and to improve the environment. And it takes full account of the Department's lead role in promoting sustainable development across Government for the good of our citizens, both now and in the future.

Date

19 July 2002

Reference

389 c627-31W; 72215

House

House of Commons

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what area is planted to short rotation coppice and miscanthus grass in the UK; and if she will make a statement. - Includes figures.

Asked by

David Lidington (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

1 July 2002

Reference

388 c65-6W;388 c66-7W; 64126

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 measures she has taken to ensure that the Government procures only sustainable and legally felled timber. - Inc ref to 354 c947-48W, 28 July 2000. (Holding answer 18 December 2001).

Asked by

Peter Ainsworth (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

15 October 2001

For answer on

9 January 2002

Answered on

9 January 2002

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent measures she has taken to ensure that the Government procure only sustainable and legally felled timber. [8285] Margaret Beckett: [holding answer 18 December 2001]: My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment announced to Parliament on 28 July 2000, Official Report, columns 947-48W, that central Government Departments and their agencies were committed to actively seeking to buy timber and timber products from sustainable and legal sources. In January 2001 the Office of Government Commerce wrote to departmental Heads of Procurement to confirm this policy. Departments have been asked to report annually on their timber purchases and the recent Greening Government report for the financial year 2000-01 includes a summary of the responses received. My Department, on behalf of an interdepartmental working group on timber procurement, has commissioned a study on the scale of central Government's timber requirements and the options available for developing the most effective implementation of this policy. An interim report is due to be published at the end of February 2002 with a final report due at the end of May 2002. My Department has consulted the Timber Trade Federation and environmental NGOs in pursuit of the Government's timber procurement policy and has been raising awareness among Departments and the wider public sector. In May 2001 a timber procurement workshop was held at the Greening Public Procurement conference organised by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and attended by a cross-section of the public sector. In October 2001 my Department gave a presentation at the local government's Central Buying Consortium conference and took that opportunity to promote the purchase of sustainable and legally harvested timber. Recently my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment has met the Timber Trade Federation to discuss implementation of the Government's timber procurement policy and he addressed a wide cross section of stakeholders and answered questions at the WWF 95+ Group 10th anniversary celebration event. My Department has arranged to meet the Department for Transport, Local Government and Rural Affairs to discuss how local authorities may be encouraged to purchase timber from sustainable and legal sources where they are not doing so already. My Department is working closely with the Department for International Development and other Departments to develop bilateral agreements with producing countries that will help to halt the export of timber that has been felled illegally.

Date

9 January 2002

Reference

8285; 377 c901-2W;377 c904-5W

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 measures she has taken to promote an international code to combat illegal timber logging. - (Holding answer 18 October 2001).

Asked by

Peter Ainsworth (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

15 October 2001

For answer on

17 December 2001

Answered on

17 December 2001

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent measures she has taken to promote an international code to combat illegal timber logging. [8286] Margaret Beckett: [holding answer 18 October 2001]: The Government are currently investigating options for intergovernmental agreements to combat illegal logging. My Department works closely with the Department for International Development (DfID) on this. A study by the Royal Institute of International Affairs has been commissioned and final results will be available before the end of the year. The study considers possible options to combat illegal logging and in particular frameworks for voluntary and mandatory agreements and the relationship of such agreements with WTO rules, market based instruments such as labelling and certification, particularly where they include requirements for chain-of- custody documentation. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for International Development represented the Government at the recent Forest Law Enforcement and Governance, East Asia, Ministerial Conference (Indonesia, 11-13 September 2001). The conference was successful. Participants agreed to intensify national efforts and strengthen bilateral, regional and multilateral collaboration to address violations of forest law and forest crime and to create a regional task force on forest law enforcement and governance. The UK will play its part in taking forward these actions on forest governance, working with overseas partners both bilaterally and internationally through the United Nation Forum on Forests and the G-8 processes.

Date

17 December 2001

Reference

377 c142-3W; 8286

House

House of Commons

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