If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

DEFRA's responsibility is to enable us all to live within our environmental means. At its meeting last week, the United Nations Environment Programme governing council agreed to negotiate new international controls on the use of mercury. That will be an important step forward in protecting human and environmental health and has been widely welcomed by Governments and NGOs. This agreement clearly demonstrates the value of the United Nations.

May I bring Ministers back to matters more domestic, and to the surface water drainage scheme, which is causing enormous consternation not only to church groups, but to flat dwellers who feel that they have been very unfairly treated as their Bills have shot up—especially in comparison with commercial properties? Will the Government look at this again and see whether Ofwat has allowed the profiteering water companies to get away with something that they should not have been allowed to get away with?

I thank my hon. Friend for raising what is a very important issue that has been addressed in the House before. He will be aware that the focus has been on the charges imposed by one individual water company, United Utilities. There is a strong regulatory regime, and back in 2003 the Secretary of State made clear his guidance on the need to be proportionate and fair in the introduction of those charges. We have worked with the regulator and the utilities company, and we are pleased to say that some progress has been made—not least United Utilities' commitment to roll back its charges to the 2007-08 regime, which is in effect the pre-surface water drainage charges, and to take the next 12 months to work with the regulator to ensure that the charges next year will be fair and proportionate, as well as recognise the impact on churches, scout groups, sports clubs and others.

Recreational sea anglers have virtually no impact on the marine environment. In fact, they can be a great help in terms of our knowledge of fish stocks. Some 1.1 million sea anglers will welcome the EU Commissioner's row-back on plans to include the recreational catch in national quotas. Does the Minister accept that this issue will not go away until the Commissioner defines "recreational sea angler", and will he tell us what efforts he is making to bring closure on this ludicrous proposal?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question and, although we have met on other occasions in Committee, I welcome him to his first DEFRA questions as an Opposition spokesman. He is right to say that this is an important issue. The angling fraternity in the UK is huge: it has an important function socially as well as economically, and its members are known for their environmental concerns. We share the concern about the need for an adequate definition of "recreational angling", as the definition applied in other EU member nations is not the same as the one that affects us here. We are actively engaged in work on this with the Commission, and I join the hon. Gentleman in welcoming the comments by Commissioner Jo Borg. We shall continue our work, and I welcome the hon. Gentleman's support in highlighting those concerns.

Recycled cooking oil is used increasingly commonly in the production of biodiesel, but it can also be used for power generation. Last year, the Court of Appeal made an important ruling about the use of recycled lubricating oil that should set a precedent for the use of cooking oil in the generation of electricity, but the Environment Agency has not yet made its ruling on that. Will the Minister talk to the agency to seek an early ruling about the use of recycled cooking oil?

Order. May I remind the House that we are on topical questions? We need short, sharp questions and short, sharp answers.

I will take your guidance, Mr. Speaker. The Environment Agency has been in touch with the company Living Fuels about the use of cooking oil as a fuel. The process has been thorough and has taken some time, but I am pleased to say that the agency's chief executive has written to the firm's managing director to accept the offer of a meeting to discuss the matter further and take it forward.

Is the Minister aware that proper flood warnings are a vital part of flood protection? In Norfolk, we have a highly effective battery of flood sirens along the coast and the lower reaches of the Ouse. This tried and tested system has worked very well for generations, and does he agree that it would be most short-sighted to replace it with a new system of text messages and radio announcements?

I am aware of the issue that the hon. Gentleman has raised. The information that I have is that the sirens are owned by Norfolk county council rather than the Environment Agency, although some people have been under the misapprehension that they were owned by the agency. Their future use and refurbishment are therefore matters for Norfolk county council, and no doubt the hon. Gentleman is raising those matters with that council. However, I am also advised that the police have stated publicly that, in their view, the sirens are no longer required because there are other systems for making sure that people are warned. I think that the hon. Gentleman reinforces once again the need for people who are not already on the Environment Agency's flood warning system to get themselves on it because, frankly, the more ways that people can be advised of a problem, the better.

Earlier, I asked my right hon. Friend the Minister of State about incentives to reduce the amount of waste going into the waste scheme, but I am not sure that she addressed that question. Will she look at the perverse incentives in the system that do not encourage waste minimisation and the best quality of recycling? For example, waste glass collected from doorsteps in Birmingham goes to aggregate but, compared to recycling it back into glass, that is not a very environmentally sound way to cope with it. Will she look at how the targets are disincentivising the best kinds of waste minimisation and recycling?

I am aware that there are some rubbings in the system. Clearly, we need to keep the whole panoply of work that we are doing under review. If my hon. Friend checks Hansard, I think that she will see that I dealt with the incentives that my hon. Friend Mr. Chaytor raised, but I will look into the specific case that she raises of how glass is being used.

No. 3, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Members:

Just ask the question.

This is the first time I have done this. First, I want to thank the Secretary of State for meeting Devon farmers to discuss the effects of bovine TB. They were extremely grateful for the time he gave to them. He also suggested that there would be some vaccine available for the eradication, hopefully, of bovine TB and that Devon would be probably the first area, or at least one area, that he would consider for that trial. Will he tell the House whether the intention is to vaccinate the cattle, in which case, in the supermarket, will the meat of the cattle have marks to show that they have been vaccinated against TB? Or is the plan to chase the badgers all around Devon? Is the Secretary of State going to employ more officials to chase the badgers and inject them with the TB vaccine?

I said short questions.

The first vaccine that we hope to have available next year is an injectable vaccine for badgers. As I said when I met his constituents, it would make a lot of sense to have a demonstration project in an area that is particularly badly affected by bovine TB. An oral vaccine for badgers will take some more time, as will an injectable vaccine for cattle. I have put an increasing amount of money into this because we need to explore all the avenues to try to provide help. I was grateful for his constituents' positive response, which showed their willingness to take part in the injectable vaccine demonstration project when we can get it going.

I will be as quick as I can, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister elaborate on an answer to an earlier question? How will the Department quantify the help that it will give to local authorities to develop green technology?

That is a good supplementary—short and sharp.

A number of incentives are already in place in the system, not least for renewable energy, and it is one area in which local authorities can do more. That is why there are incentives under the renewables obligation, why the Government will introduce feed-in tariffs for microgeneration and why the work that my right hon. Friend the Minister of State is doing on anaerobic digestion is important. That all links to a number of the questions that have been asked today. Instead of sticking food waste in landfill where it produces methane, we should generate some energy from it.

I will be brief, but it is a hard question. What is the Minister doing about the tendency of some retailers and waste authorities to stockpile electrical waste simply to sell it at premium and inflated rates to the producers' organisation, the Recycling Electrical Producers' Industry Consortium? That makes the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive more costly and makes producers' responsibilities harder to discharge.

I am aware that there is some concern about certain operations, and, indeed, that has been some recent media interest. I will look into the case that the hon. Gentleman raises.

Can the Secretary of State explain why his Department has cancelled its 2005 commitment to pay 55 per cent. of the redevelopment costs of the vital Pirbright laboratories? What steps will he take to ensure that the redevelopment of Pirbright takes place?

As we have made very clear, we had some concerns about the cost-effectiveness of the redevelopment proposal, not least because the cost of meeting the capital charges of that development would also impact on our ability to fund the world-class research. The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council is now reviewing how that scheme will be taken forward. In the short term, DEFRA will contribute to the cost of an interim building to help the further redevelopment of the site. As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, a considerable amount of money has gone into it already, and we need to find a cost-effective solution to ensure that we continue to benefit from the world-class science that is undertaken at the Institute for Animal Health.