Paddy Tipping raises the problem of China's contribution to climate change

Paddy Tipping asked the Deputy Prime Minister about the problem of China's contribution to global warming via coal fired power stations.

With the Chinese economy growing by 13 per cent. a year and reports that a new coal-fired power station is being opened every fortnight in China, it is a major source of carbon pollution. How confident is the Deputy Prime Minister about involving China in a successful outcome, post-Kyoto?

I'm glad that Paddy Tipping has raised this, because I think it's a big problem, and I don't share Prescott's confidence. China is desperate for energy and climate change may be even lower on their list of priorities than it is in the more affluent West.

Emissions from coal are a big problem, particularly as with oil running out, the Developed World is likely to turn to coal gasification as a major source of transport energy. Although it might be possible to capture the carbon produced, it seems likely that a lot of it wouldn't be, because it's more difficult and more expensive.

Unfortunately at the end of the debate, John Prescott reveals his (almost) total ignorance of the topic when he fails to understand the question about contraction and convergence. I agree with Martin Owen's comment "God help us!". It illustrates starkly how little the Government actually knows or cares about climate change.

Paddy Tipping queries use of MoD firing range

Paddy Tipping has received a Written Answer to his question:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the 14 allocated days have been used in training for the firing of the 120 mm Challenger tanks at the Warcop range in each year since 2001.

Answer:None

He also asked:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what payments have been made to the Strathmore Estates for training use of their land within the Warcop byelawed area in each year since 2001.

To which he received the classic evasion:

Payments are made by this Department to the Strathmore Estate according to the licence agreement, and reviewed every three years. I am unable to provide the amounts as this would prejudice our position commercially with other landowners in the area with whom we have similar agreements.

This really irritates me - the government uses the 'commercially sensitive' shield to hide behind in all sort of areas, including far more important ones such as how much IT systems have cost or are going to cost the taxpayer. Part of ensuring a strong democracy is that we, the public, know what the government spend our money on. If they won't tell us, how can we decide if they are doing a good job or not?

As the Warcop range isn't in the Sherwood constituency, and Paddy Tipping has little interest in defense issues, presumably this is a rambling issue (Padding Tipping is Vice-President of the Rambling Association) - the Army have fenced off a good chunk of Cumbria, and don't appear to be actually doing anything with it.

Paddy Tipping campaigns on another local traffic issue

The local paper Mansfield Today, reports on a local campaign in Kings Clipstone for traffic calming measures and in the longer term a new bypass.

It contains the following:

The campaign has already been backed by Sherwood MP Paddy Tipping, who has promised to work with residents to obtain traffic-calming measures and to put pressure on highways chiefs to reduce traffic using the busy road.

Sustainable Forestry in Africa

Paddy Tipping has received an answer to his Written Question:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to promote sustainable forestry in Africa.

The reply from Gareth Thomas MP was:

Poor governance and weak law enforcement hinder the achievement of sustainable forestry in Africa. Earlier this year we committed £11 million over the next four years to the Forest Governance Support Programme in Cameroon. In addition we committed £12 million over the next five years in support of Partnership Agreements with African countries under the European Union's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.