§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many meetings of the Forum for Rural Children and Young People have taken place; and what recommendations she has received from the Forum. [61128]
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§ Alun MichaelThe Forum for Rural Children and Young People meets quarterly and is supported by DEFRA via a grant from the Countryside Agency. The group is represented on the Rural Affairs Forum for England which I chair.
The co-ordinator for the Forum for Rural Children and Young People—Andrew Brown—was appointed in September 2000. The Forum's Advisory Group includes representatives from most of the major voluntary sector bodies working with children and young people and observers from key Government departments, has held quarterly meetings since then. The Countryside Agency receives quarterly reports from the Forum and approves the Forum's annual report and work plan.
The Forum is working closely with a number of key Government departments on issues involving children and young people. This includes "Connexions", the Children's Unit, and the Department of Health as well as DEFRA. Other work includes a "Guide to the Rural White Paper", and the production of a video, Experts in Their Fields, in which children and young people speak about their experiences of living in the countryside. Recently, the Forum has contributed to the crosscutting review on Children at Risk. We have also established strong links between the Forum for Rural Children and Young People and the Rural Affairs Forum for England that I chair.
I shall be meeting members of the Forum on Tuesday, 18 June.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place the minutes of the Rural Affairs Forum meetings since January in the Library. [61134]
§ Alun MichaelThe Rural Affairs Forum has met twice, on 9 January and 10 April. Copies of the minutes of these are available on DEFRA's website (http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/rafe/index.htm), where we will post future minutes and meeting papers. Copies of the minutes of the first two meetings have been placed in the Library.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the(a) first year and (b) average annual running costs of the proposals for the England Rural Development Programme advocated by the Policy Commission on the future of farming and food. [61562]
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PQ 6418: UK imports of meat and meat products (1999–2001) 1999 2000 2001 Country of despatch Thousand tonnes £ million Thousand tonnes £ million Thousand tonnes £ million Netherlands 333.2 577.6 414.2 651.8 361.0 666.9 Denmark 218.4 330.1 250.0 382.2 274.1 504.9 Irish Republic 192.4 332.3 208.5 360.4 226.1 423.7 France 155.6 231.3 142.4 216.9 141.0 228.5 Brazil 81.6 124.0 97.7 145.5 124.1 190.0 New Zealand 99.8 167.5 97.4 171.3 84.3 165.2 Germany 43.6 75.6 58.7 106.9 79.5 143.5 Belgium 42.4 72.6 43.6 77.6 42.5 81.8 Thailand 23.6 44.9 28.9 58.5 41.4 83.6 Australia 22.3 45.6 18.9 38.1 16.0 36.3
§ Alun MichaelThe Commission made a wide range of recommendations relating to the England Rural Development Programme. These referred to the agri-environment schemes, to the Vocational Training Scheme, to the Processing and Marketing Grant, to Hill Farm Allowance, and to the Rural Enterprise Scheme. The commission also advocates a shift in the overall balance of Common Agricultural Policy support between production subsidies and rural development measures. The recommendations would involve a range of different timescales for implementation, and the administrative costs involved in each would depend on a number of further decisions on the manner of implementation. For that reason it is not possible at this stage to give an assessment of the costs of the Policy Commission recommendations as a whole. We will publish our response to the recommendations in the Autumn.