Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she(a) has taken and (b) will be taking to prevent flooding in the Hatch End area of the Harrow, West constituency; and if she will make a statement. [87884]
§ Mr. MorleyDefra provides funding to operating authorities for flood and coastal defence capital works that meet technical, economic and environmental criteria and achieve an appropriate priority score. However responsibility for deciding which projects to promote and their timing rests with the operating authorities, in this case the Environment Agency.
I understand the Agency has completed a review of the original study for the Hatch End area and plans to carry out a flood alleviation scheme starting in 2004 subject to planning permission and land agreements being secured. The Agency has yet to submit an application for funding to Defra.
§ Mr. Liddell-GraingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assistance she will give to the Environment Agency in the event of large-scale floods. [88298]
17W
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA has policy responsibility for flood and coastal defence in England. Operational responsibility for flooding from main rivers and the sea rests with the Environment Agency. The Agency is also responsible for flood warning arrangements and exercises a general supervision over all matters relating to flood defence.
The Environment Agency takes the lead in the case of large scale flooding and manages the response in conjunction with local authorities and the police. Should a request be made for additional funding, this would be considered in the light of the circumstances pertaining and a decision made accordingly.
UK imports of processed foods from developing countries1 1999–2001 1999 2000 2001 Degree of processing/country of despatch Lightly processed 000 tonnes £ million 000 tonnes £ million 000 tonnes £ million Brazil 788 142 820 188 1,068 252 Argentina 703 54 433 48 337 41 Mauritius 473 176 373 138 511 198 Malaysia 312 61 400 65 440 73 Indonesia 238 92 241 95 260 93 India 165 164 228 178 244 181 Fiji 188 64 205 65 155 51 Guyana 199 66 176 55 166 52 Papua New Guinea 154 57 185 47 196 38 Pakistan 169 34 147 30 156 40 Others 1,704 1,031 1,649 1,041 1,701 1,103 Total 5,094 1,941 4,859 1,950 5,234 2,121 Highly processed Chile 55 83 63 91 79 109 South Africa 55 67 60 79 79 102 Brazil 66 89 60 83 67 96 Peru 52 17 70 21 55 19 Thailand 25 40 30 54 36 66 China 29 19 24 20 23 23 Argentina 28 33 29 36 19 33 Czech Republic 23 12 25 15 26 20 Bulgaria 22 20 14 11 14 11 Poland 6 13 12 24 25 35 Others 76 96 97 99 96 108 Total 438 490 484 533 519 622 Grand total 5,532 2,431 5,343 2,483 5,753 2,743 (c) Crown Copyright 1 List of developing countries obtained from World bank website. Note:
The data includes an estimate of below threshold data, but excludes an estimate for non-response.
Source:
HM Customs and Excise
Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities and Food) Accounts and Trade, ESD, DEFRA.