§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make an evaluation of the Pesticide Voluntary Initiative. [168082]
§ Alun MichaelProgress with the Voluntary Initiative on pesticides is reviewed regularly and Government report their broad conclusions in the Budget and Pre-Budget Report. In Budget 2004 the Government confirmed their view that, provided the initiative is fully implemented, the Voluntary Initiative should be the most effective way of reducing the environmental impacts of pesticide use. However, to cover the potential case that the Voluntary Initiative might fail to deliver 863W the required environmental benefits within a reasonable timescale, the Government continue to keep the options for a tax or economic instrument under review.