§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list(a) the estimated number of sheep in England at five year intervals since 1970 and (b) the off-land price for (i) lamb and (ii) mutton (1) in each of these years and (2) at 1999 values discounted by RPI indices. [139972]
§ Ms QuinThe following tables show:
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(a) Estimated number of sheep in England at five year intervals since 1970 Year Total sheep and lambs 1970 11,627,455 1975 13,065,998 1980 14,554,451
(a) Estimated number of sheep in England at five year intervals since 1970 Year Total sheep and lambs 1985 16,440,497 1990 20,586,427 1995 19,607,285 1999 20,030,6015
b Off-land price for (i)and (ii) mutton in (1) each of these years and (2) at 1999 values discounted by RPI indices Year Prices for sheep and lambs (UK)—£per head Prices for mutton (finished sheep pence per kilo1 1970 8.03 238.6 1975 14.4 375.5 1980 25.7 3125.7 1985 36.4 175.2 1990 33.8 174.5 1995 44.5 236.4 1999 28.6 180.3 2000 434.9 5198.1 DCW =Dead Carcase Weight 1Estimated DCW for England, unless noted 2England/Wales 3UK 4Estimate 9 to 10 months data 5Estimate prior to 31 October 2000
£ million Subject to LFDC recommendations Current 2000–01 budget 2001–02 budget 2002–03 budget Kent Sussex Kent Sussex Kent Sussex Coastal investments 1.6 1.5 3.6 1.7 11.0 8.1 Other capital investments/defences1 2.7 2.3 4.2 5.1 5.7 4.0 Maintenance 3.8 2.5 4.0 2.7 4.0 2.6 Total 8.1 6.3 11.8 9.5 20.7 14.7 1Inc. fluvial and flood warning Following the recent floods, the Government announced an increase of £51 million to MAFF's flood defence budget nationally over this and the next three financial years. This will be used predominantly to accelerate river flood defence works and the Ministry is working with the operating authorities to establish their plans with a view to determining the content of the enhanced national river works programme. Some of the additional funding will be used for whole catchment area planning and to allow an earlier start to be made on planned flood warning improvements. The expenditure figures above may increase as a result of this.
Some flood defence work is undertaken by local authorities and internal drainage boards, but the figures are not readily available.