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Mr. Donald Thompson : My officials are in frequent contact with the Institute of Professional Civil Servants about matters concerning their members, including those employed in the state veterinary service.
48. Mr. Worthington : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many veterinary officers he currently employs in the state veterinary service.
Mr. Donald Thompson : From information available at 1 February 1989 there are 439 permanent veterinary officers in all grades employed in the state veterinary service.
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British Veterinary Association
47. Mr. Wilson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the British Veterinary Association ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. Donald Thompson : I have not met the British Veterinary Association recently but my officials are in frequent contact with them.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
49. Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will increase the compensation payable on cattle found to be suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Donald Thompson : I believe the compensation paid is fair, given that the animals are suffering from a terminal illness but are valued as though unaffected by the disease.
11. Mr. Boyes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ban the sale of those organs from all cull cows and sheep that are known to carry the viral agent which causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Donald Thompson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today to the Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies).
Cheese
50. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received concerning the use of mineral hydrocarbons in cheese wares.
Mr. Ryder : I have spoken with the Dutch Minister of Agriculture. My officials have met various representative groups, including the Dairy Trade Federation, the Creamery Proprietors Association, the European Wax Federation, the United Kingdom Provision Trade Federation and Dutch Ministry of Agriculture officials. All representations related to the use of mineral hydrocarbons in cheese rind.
EEC Policies
52. Mr. Hardy : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the present agricultural policies within the European Economic Community.
Mr. MacGregor : The Commission's most recent statements about the CAP emphasise the need to respect the decisions on budgetary discipline and CAP reform taken by the European Council last February, to promote more market-orientated management of the CAP, to make Community agriculture more competitive, to pursue environmental objectives, and to tackle CAP fraud.
Hedges
53. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many new miles of hedges have been created in England and Wales in each of the last three years.
Mr. Ryder : Figures for new hedge planting carried out without grant aid are not available. However, grants paid
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in England and Wales under the agriculture improvement scheme for hedge planting, hedge laying and associated gates and stiles broadly equate to 320 miles of hedge in 1986, 1,000 miles in 1987 and 1,450 miles in 1988 (to September only).Set-aside Scheme
54. Mr. Moate : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many hectares of arable land will be set aside in 1989 ; and how many hectares have been registered for possible future set-aside.
Mr. MacGregor : Nearly 58,000 hectares (143,000 acres) of arable land is being set aside in the United Kingdom during the current crop year ; and about 3 million hectares (7 million acres) have been registered by farmers not yet setting aside land in case they should wish to apply to join the scheme later.
CAP
55. Mr. Michael : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met European Community Agriculture Ministers to discuss common agricultural policy.
Mr. MacGregor : I last met European Community Agriculture Ministers at the 6-7 March Agriculture Council in Brussels on which I reported to the House on 9 March at columns 621-2 .
58. Mr. Boswell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to reduce de facto discrimination against British producers within the European common agricultural policy.
Mr. MacGregor : I have always argued that measures adopted by the European Community should be non-discriminatory, and that the burden of CAP reform should be borne equally by all member states. In current negotiations on the Commission's 1989 price proposals I am opposing two measures which would disadvantage United Kingdom producers ; the preferential treatment proposed in the agrimonetary arrangements for member states which are members of the exchange rate mechanism ; and the proposed timetable for tightening the definition of double-low rapeseed which I believe should be delayed until there are varieties available to our growers which will meet the new definition. The review of the sheepmeat regime and operation of coresponsibility levies are among the other areas where I shall be particularly vigilant to ensure equitable implementation throughout the Community.
Animal Feed
56. Mr. Pike : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he intends to extend the ban on the inclusion of animal protein derived from ruminants in animal feed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The ban on the inclusion of ruminant-derived protein in ruminant feeds will remain in force until processing methods which are sufficient to destroy the agent which causes BSE have been developed and are widely available.
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GATT
59. Mr. Alexander : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made on agricultural trade issues in the current general agreement on tariffs and trade round.
Mr. MacGregor : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster reported to the House on 12 December 1988 at column 400 the outcome of the ministerial mid-term review of the GATT negotiations, including the absence of agreement on agriculture at that stage.
Since then informal consultations have been taking place on agriculture and three other unresolved issues under the auspices of the GATT director general. A meeting at official level of the trade negotiating committee of GATT is to be held in Geneva in the first week of April. The Government hope that firm agreement will be reached there on a framework for action and further negotiation on agricultural reform and will be working to that end from within the Community.
Salmonella
61. Mr. Dykes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his response to the Agriculture Select Committee report on feed salmonella problems, published on 1 March.
Mr. MacGregor : As I have already indicated the Government will be considering the Agriculture Select Committee's report and will respond formally in due course.
Thames Flood Barrier
62. Mr. Jessel : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many times the Thames flood barrier has been (a) tested and (b) used in the last five years.
Mr. Ryder : During the five years, the Thames barrier has been closed 59 times for tests and used for flood protection purposes four times.
Milk Marketing Board
63. Mr. Robert G. Hughes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the chairman of the Milk Marketing Board ; and what was discussed.
Mr. MacGregor : I have regular contacts with the chairman of the Milk Marketing Board to discuss various issues affecting the dairy industry.
National Consumer Council
64. Mr. Bradley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the National Consumer Council ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. MacGregor : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Shettleston (Mr. Marshall) on 16 February, Official Report, column 356.
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Land Release
65. Mr. Favell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy on the release of grade 1 agricultural land for residential building in environmentally non-sensitive areas.
Mr. Ryder : Government policy on development involving agricultural land was explained in Department of the Environment Circular 16/87 (Welsh Office Circular 25/87) issued on 8 May 1987. Grade 1 agricultural land is a national resource which should, in general, be protected from irreversible development. Government advice to planning authorities is that such land should not be built on unless there is no other site suitable for the paticular purpose. Responsibility for development control rests primarily with local planning authorities.
Sheepmeat Regime
66. Mr. Livsey : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the latest developments regarding the reform of the sheepmeat regime.
Mr. MacGregor : Discussions on the Commission's proposals to reform the sheepmeat regime have made little progress. The revised voluntary restraint agreement with New Zealand will be considered again by the Agricultural Council next week.
67. Mr. Colin Shepherd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will next meet the president of the National Farmers Union to discuss the sheepmeat sector of the agriculture industry.
Mr. Donald Thompson : I shall continue to maintain regular contacts with all the farming unions on matters relating to the sheepmeat sector.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
68. Mr. Greg Knight : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many hectares have been entered into the environmentally sensitive areas initiative ; and what proportion of suitable land this represents.
Mr. MacGregor : To date 103,640 hectares have been put forward into the ESA scheme representing some 87 per cent. of the land we considered suitable.
Research (Funding)
69. Mr. Hunter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a further statement on the funding of agricultural research.
Mr. MacGregor : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) on 7 March at column 463.
Lug Worms
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has on the threat posed by the recent increase in the gathering of lug worms in the Burry estuary to the Penclawdd cockle industry and the whole area.
Mr. Peter Walker : I have been asked to reply.
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Responsibility for the management of the Burry inlet cockle fishery rests with the south Wales sea fisheries committee which has introduced a byelaw to limit the level of bait digging within the fishery. The Committee are currently reviewing the effectiveness of the byelaw.Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will arrange for the lug worm, arenicola marina, to be included in the list of commercial maritime species to enable it to be included in the bye-laws of sea fisheries committees.
Oils
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations have been received by his Department's food advisory committee on
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the use of tropical oils or vegetable oils from unspecified sources which have increased saturation through hydrogenation processes ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Ryder : The food advisory committee has received no such representations ; I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave him on 13 March 1989 at column 833.
Laboratories
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many veterinary and other laboratories were directly under the auspices of his Department in each year since 1979 ; what proposals he has to maintain these laboratories ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Donald Thompson [holding answer 7 March 1989] : The information requested is shown in the table :
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1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. |Veterinary laboratories
|(including the central
|veterinary laboratory,
|outstations and veterinary
|investigation centres) |28 |28 |28 |27 |27 |27 |27 |27 |22 |22 |22
2. |Other laboratories
(a) |ADAS-farm and countryside
|service (excluding some
|minor facilities for milk
|testing etc.) |19 |19 |19 |19 |19 |19 |19 |19 |16 |16 |16
(b) |ADAS-research and
|development service<1> |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |7 |6 |6 |6
(c) |Fisheries |8 |8 |8 |7 |7 |7 |6 |6 |6 |6 |6
(d) |Food science<3> |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3 |3
(e) |Royal botanic gardens |2 |2 |2 |2 |2 |2 |2 |<3>2 |- |- |-
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
|Total |39 |39 |39 |38 |38 |38 |37 |37 |31 |31 |31
<1>In 1988 the RDS laboratories became known as the central science laboratory in anticipation of their co-location as Wellesbourne in 1992-93.
<2>The 3 Food Science Laboratories are to be co-located at a purpose built site during 1989-90.
<3>Royal botanic gardens transferred to a board of trustees on 1 April 1986.
Note: My Department will continue to maintain an apropriate number of facilities.
Exports
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on what dates the Commission of the European Economic Community has considered proposals for a Council regulation on the monitoring of payments of amounts granted on export of specified quantities of agricultural products to third countries ; if this has been considered by the Council of Ministers ; and when it will next consider these proposals.
Mr. MacGregor : Following a request from the United Kingdom, the Commission stated at the ECOFIN Council on 13 March that they would bring forward a revised proposal on the monitoring of export refunds which would take account of the points made by the Court of Auditors.
Dog Licences
Mr. Speller : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the number of attacks on livestock in the 12 months preceding the abolition of dog licences ; what change in the number of attacks on livestock there has been since the abolition of dog licences ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Donald Thompson : National statistics on attacks on livestock by dogs have not been collected centrally since 1978. There is no doubting that such attacks are a serious and continuing problem, but there is no evidence that they have increased recently. The Ministry campaigns continuously to encourage owners to take a responsible attitude and keep their dogs under control in livestock areas.
Poultry Farmers
Mr. Nicholas Baker : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will apply the balance of the funds made available for the scheme for compensating poultry farmers for egg production destroyed towards compensating producers in full for their losses from slaughtering of poultry stock.
Mr. Donald Thompson : An order under section 29 of the Animal Health Act 1981 came into operation on 1 March, providing for the compulsory slaughter where necessary of flocks in which salmonella has been confirmed. Compensation will be paid as required under the provisions of the Act.
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Import Levies
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money the International Board has owed for over 12 months to ships store merchants by way of repayment of import levies.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Under Community regulations, no payments are due in respect of repayment of import levies for ships' stores. Delays have occurred in the payment of export refunds but no claims upon which all necessary information has been properly submitted are delayed as long as 12 months. Compensation is payable on delayed payments under the scheme announced to the House on 28 July 1988.
Food (Destruction)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list each food item, and the quantity of it, destroyed during 1988 under the European Community farm regulations.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The following were the types and amounts of produce withdrawn from the market in the United Kingdom in 1988 under European Community arrangements, together with the quantitites of each product marketed in the same period.
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i
(Tonnes)
Withdrawn from the
market
Commodity |Marketed |Used for animal feed|Dumped
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cauliflowers |373,727 |1,517 |4,046
Apples |240,447 |1,711 |1,702
Pears |45,342 |1,587 |387
Fish |<1>643,259 |6,380 |130
<1>Derived from the total catch of eligible species of 649,769.
EC Price Negotiations
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will set out for each commodity the Government's objectives in the forthcoming EEC agricultural price negotiations ; and if he will specify the Government's overall objectives in the negotiations.
Mr. MacGregor : I indicated the Government's reactions to the Commission's 1989 price proposals during the agriculture debate on 27 February. I am seeking to build on the reforms of the CAP achieved so far, to ensure compliance with budget discipline, and to obtain an equitable outcome for United Kingdom producers.
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