View PDF - United Kingdom Parliament

63W
Written Answers
26 OCTOBER 2009
Written Answers
64W
Veterinary Medicine: Nurses
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many
registered veterinary nurses there are. [294842]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons maintains a list of veterinary nurses who are
allowed by the Veterinary Services Act 1966 to undertake
certain veterinary procedures. There are currently 8,795
qualified veterinary nurses on this list. Of these, 6,758
have voluntarily applied to join a non statutory register
of veterinary nurses, and are therefore known as registered
veterinary nurses.
Waste Disposal: Fixed Penalties
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed
penalty notices were served in respect of household
waste disposal offences in Leeds City in each year since
2001. [295360]
Dan Norris: The Clean Neighbourhoods and
Environment Act 2005 enabled local authorities to issue
fixed penalty notices for waste receptacle offences for
the first time in April 2006. In the period 2006-07,
Leeds city council issued and received payment on 41
fixed penalty notices.
DEFRA has commissioned returns from English local
authorities on fixed penalty notices issued for 2007-08
and 2008-09 for a range of environmental offences,
including those relating to waste receptacles. Returns
are still outstanding from many local authorities and
these are being pursued. Results will be published on
the DEFRA website in December.
Zero Waste Places
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in
the Library a copy of each bid made for Towards Zero
Waste Place funding. [294464]
Dan Norris: Copies of the bids made for Towards
Zero Waste Place funding will be made available in the
House Library.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what schemes
have received funding from his Department under the
Zero Waste Places scheme since the scheme’s inception;
and what projects or policies have since been adopted
as a result. [294555]
Dan Norris: In October 2008 the Government announced
England’s first six Zero Waste Places, which received
total funding of £70,258. The places fulfilled a pathfinder
role in identifying the barriers and illustrating solutions
to enable other local authorities to adopt good sustainable
waste management practices. These were:
A Waste Free Tuesday Market Place—Borough Council of
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk;
Peterborough City Centre—Peterborough Environment City
Trust;
Green Zones Community Development Project—London Borough
of Brent;
Shenley Church End Zero Waste Place Project—Milton Keynes
Council;
A Zero Waste Region—West Midlands (WM) Region;
London Borough of Lewisham—Lewisham Zero Waste Eco
Street.
The initiative ran from October 2008 until May 2009.
All projects were considered successful and all have
continued in some form after the funding ended. Details
of the six projects can be found on the Local Government
Association website.
We have also announced six new Zero Waste Places
in parts of Shropshire, Dorchester, Brixton, Newham,
Hoxton and Suffolk. We plan to support these places,
which are moving towards zero waste through seed corn
funding totalling approximately £50,000. The evidence
generated by the projects will be used as guidance for
other areas working towards a zero waste ambition.
SCOTLAND
Departmental Training
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for
Scotland pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2009,
Official Report, column 886W, on what subjects the
learning and development activities were undertaken
by his Department’s staff. [295442]
Ann McKechin: A variety of external learning and
development activities were undertaken by staff in the
Scotland Office in the last 12 months, including health
and safety training for senior executives, first aid training
and various professional development activities.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Departmental Visits Abroad
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for
International Development how much his Department
spent on overnight accommodation for (a) Ministers
and (b) officials while overseas in each of the last three
years. [294689]
Mr. Michael Foster: It is not possible to disaggregate
costs in respect of overnight accommodation without
incurring a disproportionate cost.
Developing Countries: Females
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for
International Development what steps he has taken to
help increase standards of (a) female literacy and (b)
medical care for women and girls in the world’s 10
poorest countries. [293954]
Mr. Michael Foster: The information is as follows:
(a) The Department for International Development
(DFID) is committed to achieving the education millennium
development goals of universal primary education
and gender parity in education by 2015 and is spending
at least £8.5 billion over the period 2006-15 in support
of education in poor and developing countries. DFID
regards supporting girls’ education as a priority. DFID’s
Strategy, Girls’ Education: Towards a Better Future for
All (2005) sets out our approach to overcoming the barriers
girls face in getting an education—it is available at:
www.dfid.gov.uk