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Mr. Mellor : The Department keeps the public informed by means of press statements. Contact with food processing firms and dairies will normally be through environmental health departments. Other information requested is set out in the table.
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Dairy |Environmental Health |First DH contact with |First visit to dairy |Number of EHOs in post |EHO establishment
|Department |Environmental Health |(with details of prior
|Department |contact where
|appropriate)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yieldingtree Packers |Wyre Forest |13 June, morning |14 June, 9 am |6 |7
| via Bromsgrove
Grange Farm |South |12 June, evening |13 June, 9.40 am |4 |6
| Buckinghamshire
Battledene Farm |Cotswold |12 June, evening |14 June, 5.00 pm |8 |8
| (telephone 12 June, 7.30 pm)
Lord Crathorne |Hambleton |12 June, evening |13 June, 10 am |10 |10
| (telephone 12 June, 7 pm)
Stock Meadows |Staffordshire |13 June, 10.30 am |9 |9
| Moorlands |12 June, evening
Ann Forshaws |Dibble Valley |11 June, evening |12 June, 11.30 am |8 |8
| (telephone 11 June, evening)
Madresfield Dairy |Malvern Hills |13 June, morning |13 June, 11 am |11 |11
Bodfan Foods |Chester |13 June, evening |13 June, 9 am<1> |16 |16
<1>A further visit was made 14 June, 9 am, following the Department's telephone call.
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NHS Staff (Upgrading)
Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the practice of his Department on whether upgrading of National Health Service staff approved by the Whitley Council joint secretaries is backdated to the date of application ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor [holding answer 16 June 1989] : Cases which are, under Whitley council agreements appropriate for decision by the joint secretaries are considered on their merits.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Extensification
Mr. Gill : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will announce his proposals for the implementation of the Community extensification scheme.
Mr. MacGregor : My right hon. Friends and I are today issuing to interested organisations for comment a document containing ideas for pilot extensification schemes for beef, which we are obliged to introduce this year under the terms of Community legislation and also for sheep. The concept of extensification, essentially securing lower output from the same land area, has some attractions in principle but it is extremely difficult to apply in a manner which ensures effective control and value for money for the taxpayer, particularly in the livestock sector to which, under the Community legislation, we are required to accord priority. The Government therefore consider it essential to try out extensification initially on a limited pilot basis in order to determine how, and indeed whether, extensification can best be introduced without undue cost and complexity of administration and monitoring.
I am placing copies of the consultation document in the Library. Before reaching final decisions on the nature of the pilot schemes, the Government will take account of comments, which should reach Agricultural departments by 25 August.
Set-aside
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of land currently in set-aside is tenanted.
Mr. Ryder : Twenty-three per cent. of existing scheme participants have holdings which are wholly tenanted and a further 12 per cent. have some tenanted land. Information on the area of land concerned is not available.
Farm Woodland Scheme
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state the distribution by county in England and Wales and by region in Scotland of land approved for inclusion in the farm woodland scheme and the amount of such land on which forestry operations have commenced.
Mr. Ryder : As at 16 June 1989, our computer record shows the information for England as follows :
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County |Hectares ----------------------------------------- Avon |5 Bedfordshire |16 Berkshire |27 Buckinghamshire |50 Cleveland |0 Cambridgeshire |96 Cheshire |23 Cornwall |15 Cumbria |42 Derbyshire |17 Devon |156 Dorset |85 Durham |3 Essex |54 Gloucestershire |171 Hampshire |24 Hereford and Worcester |167 Hertfordshire |6 Humberside |59 Isle of Wight |0 Kent |24 Lancashire |0 Leicestershire |24 Lincolnshire |29 Greater London |0 Greater Manchester |0 Merseyside |0 West Midlands |3 Norfolk |297 Northamptonshire |120 Northumberland |34 Nottinghamshire |25 Oxfordshire |163 Shropshire |23 Somerset |55 Staffordshire |19 Suffolk |201 Surrey |0 East Sussex |12 West Sussex |15 Tyne and Wear |0 Warwickshire |26 Wiltshire |92 North Yorkshire |87 South Yorkshire |0 West Yorkshire |0
No details of the area planted are yet available. The situations in Wales and Scotland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and Scotland.
Set-aside
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much land currently in set-aside has been the subject of applications for planting grant from the Forestry Commission ; how much has been approved for planting ; and in respect of how much land grant has been paid.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Up to 31 March 1989, the Forestry Commission had received applications under the woodland grant scheme for the planting of 70 hectares of land under set-aside in Enland. My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland gave the information called for in the other parts of this question in his reply to the hon. Member on 15 June 1989 at column 20.
Pesticides
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his Department has any information
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on the levels in fish and eels in inland waters of dieldrin and aldrin ; what are the levels of these which are safe ; and if he will prohibit the use of these chemicals forthwith.Mr. Ryder : I refer the hon. Gentleman to my Department's press notices of 20 October 1988 (No 409/88) and 18 May 1989 (204/89).
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to continue to prevent the use of dieldrin or aldrin in the production of daffodils.
Mr. Ryder : I have no plans to propose that the recent ban on the use of aldrin should be reconsidered, and I have taken steps to ensure safe disposal of unused stocks. The ban will be strictly enforced by Her Majesty's agricultural inspectorate, which reports to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment.
Fruit Growers
Mr. Gill : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has received the results of the poll of growers conducted as part of the quinquennial review of the Apple and Pear Development Council.
Mr. Donald Thompson [pursuant to his reply of 8 March] : A poll held in February as part of the statutory review showed that a clear majority of apple and pear growers were opposed to the continuance of the APDC. At the request of growers' organisations, a second poll was held by them in May. It did not form part of the statutory review but was conducted in the same way and among the same growers. The poll showed that, whilst the majority of growers believed that the commercial functions of the APDC should in future be handled by the industry itself, they would support a new statutory council exercising a more limited range of functions, in particular those connected with R and D.
My noble Friend has therefore decided that the APDC should be wound up. At the same time, my noble Friend has decided a new statutory council should be set up principally to promote and finance R and D in apple and pear growing and to represent the views of growers on matters of importance to them. She will be holding further discussions with growers' representatives on the more detailed provisions and arrangements relating to this new Council. She intends that it should run for three years, after which it will be subject to statutory review. The approval of Parliament is required for these measures and a statutory instrument will be laid before both Houses once discussions with growers' representatives have been completed. My noble Friend would like to express the Government's appreciation, which I am sure is shared by fruit growers themselves, to the chairman, Mr. Jasper Grinling, and his colleagues on the council for the unstinted services they have given to the industry.
Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Markets
Mr. Bill Michie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if it is intended to privatise any of the wholesale fruit and vegetable markets in Great Britain ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Ryder : I announced in February that, in considering the options available on the future of Covent
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Garden market, I was commissioning an independent commercial feasibility study into the possibilities of privatisation. Work on this will commence this month.I have also received a joint discussion paper from the National Farmers' Union and the National Federation of Fruit and Potato Trades about the privatisation of local authority wholesale fruit and vegetable markets. The issues raised are extremely complex and need careful consideration. I cannot at present give any indication of the likely response.
Salmonella
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, pursuant to his reply of 17 May, Official Report, column 212-23, he is able to state whether those provisions awaiting implementation on that date have now been implemented.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Details of progress on the measure awaiting implementations at 17 May are as follows :
(7) Still to be implemented.
(10, 11) Implemented. The Poultry Flocks (Collection and Handling of Eggs and Control of Vermin) Order 1989 came into force on 26 May. (17) To be introduced shortly.
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to increase compensation levels for birds slaughtered due to the drop in demands for eggs after the salmonella scare.
Mr. Donald Thompson : Assistance for the culling of hens to reduce the size of the laying flock is no longer available. The closing date for applications under the slaughter of hens scheme was 5 January 1989. This was an exceptional short-term measure to assist the industry when the egg market suffered severe disruption at the end of last year. The market has now stabilised, and the Government have no plans for further aid.
Irradiated Food
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to place a contract with an advertising agency to explain the implications to the public of food irradiation ; and what information he has on present public attitudes towards irradiation treated foodstuffs.
Mr. Ryder : I have no such plans. I naturally ensure that I am well informed on public attitudes to all matters for which I am responsible.
Forestry
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how he intends to allocate the £6 million available to Britain from the new European forestry proposals adopted at the May Council of Ministers meeting ;
(2) what savings will accrue to his Department by the adoption by the Council of Ministers of farm forestry proposals to make available European financed premia for the growing of trees on farmland.
Mr. MacGregor [holding reply 16 June 1989] : The amount of afforestation that takes place on agricultural land--under Forestry Commission grant schemes, their
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Northern Ireland equivalent and the farm woodland scheme--will determine the scale of reimbursements that the United Kingdom will be able to claim each year from the European Community.Parliamentary approval will be sought to appropriate the receipts in aid of the votes from which the planting grants and annual payments are funded. The receipts should therefore contribute towards the overall costs of support for forestry and agriculture.
New Forest (Hunting Days)
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action the Forestry Commission is proposing to take in respect of the recommendations of the New Forest Review Group that there be a reduction in the number of hunting days in the New Forest.
Mr. Ryder : [holding reply 16 June 1989] : The report of the New Forest review group is still being considered. It would therefore be premature to speculate on what action the Forestry Commission might decide to take on the recommendation concerning the number of hunting days.
Hydatid Disease
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many known cases of hydatidosis in humans there were in each of the years from 1979 to 1988 ; and if he will make a statement concerning his policy for the eradication of hydatid disease ;
(2) if he will make it his policy to introduce a system of free supply of medication for the eradication from dogs of hydatid disease ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The communicable disease surveillance centre at Colindale has received reports of the following numbers of cases of hydatid disease in humans.
|Number
---------------------
1979 |5
1980 |6
1981 |8
1982 |6
1983 |22
1984 |10
1985 |12
1986 |26
1987 |20
1988
My Department will co-operate with relevant health authorities to deal with hydatid disease in areas where this poses a risk to human health. I have no plans to introduce an eradication policy for this disease but would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 6 June, column 12-13.
Dairy Farming
Mr. Richard Livsey : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the average (a) rise in hectares, (b) number of dairy cows kept and (c) farm income for the latest period for which he has figures for an average dairy farm in England.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The information requested can be found in table 3.9 of the 1989 edition of "Farm Incomes in the United Kingdom", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Caerphilly on 12 June, Official Report, column 298, whether the suspected cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy at markets were all identified by veterinary inspection ; and how many of the cases identified at slaughterhouses were located at (a) European Economic Community-approved and (b) non-European Economic Community-approved slaughterhouses. Mr. Donald Thompson : The 18 suspected cases of BSE identified at markets were inspected by Ministry veterinary staff, having been reported to the Ministry by various individuals at the markets. The information requested about the status of the slaughterhouses is not available for the period in question. Arrangements have been made to record this information in future.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report , a table showing the number of confirmed cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy for each county in England and Wales for the four-week period ended 16 June.
Mr. Donald Thompson : The information is given in the table :
County |Confirmed cases ------------------------------------------------------------ Avon |7 Bedfordshire |1 Berkshire |4 Buckinghamshire |1 Cambridgeshire |1 Cheshire |13 Clwyd |7 Cornwall |33 Cumbria |12 Derbyshire |7 Devon |64 Dorset |45 Durham |3 Dyfed |23 Essex |1 Glamorgan, Mid |1 Glamorgan, West |1 Gloucestershire |12 Gwent |4 Gwynedd |4 Hampshire |18 Hereford and Worcestershire |11 Hertfordshire |1 Isle of Wight |3 Kent |14 Lancashire |1 Leicestershire |12 Lincolnshire |6 Manchester |1 Norfolk |4 Northamptonshire |5 Northumberland |5 Nottinghamshire |3 Oxon |5 Powys |9 Salop |16 Somerset |45 Staffordshire |5 Suffolk |3 Surrey |4 Sussex, East |4 Sussex, West |13 Warwickshire |5 Wiltshire |28 Yorkshire, North |6 Yorkshire, West |1
Fishing Industry
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures he will be proposing in connection with the United Kingdom fishing industry at the Council of Ministers meeting during the current month.
Mr. Donald Thompson : There are a number of issues of concern to the industry which I expect to be discussed by the Council, including the state of stocks, Channel cod and other precautionary TACs, quota hopping and beam trawling within 12 miles.
SCOTLAND
Homelessness
Mr. Soley : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many households were accepted as homeless by the City of Glasgow, Midlothian and Inverclyde for each quarter of 1988.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : On the basis of information thus far returned by authorities, applicant households assessed as homeless by the authorities concerned are shown in the following table.
Applicant households assessed by local authorities as homeless:
1988
|Quarter 1|Quarter 2|Quarter 3|Quarter 4
------------------------------------------------------------------
City of Glasgow |335 |271 |313 |184
Midlothian |30 |31 |18 |26
Inverclyde |40 |26 |33 |15
Because of different definitions and a different basis of compilation this information is not comparable with statistics of households accepted as homeless in England.
Empty Housing
Mr. Soley : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of local authority accommodation is empty in the City of Glasgow, Midlothian and Inverclyde.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The following table shows the percentage of local authority dwelling stock which was vacant at 31 March 1989 :
|Percentage
--------------------------------------
City of Glasgow |4.1
Midlothian |0.9
Inverclyde |3.0
These percentages include dwellings which are unavailable for letting because they are awaiting or undergoing improvement, being held to accommodate households decanted during repair, or awaiting demolition.
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RSSPCC
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the sums of money given to the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in each of the past 10 years ; for what purposes these sums were provided ; what percentage of the RSSPCC's annual general income they represented ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Since 1979 we have provided grants to the society under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and the National Health (Scotland) Act 1968 and the National Health (Scotland) Act 1978 in support of its headquarters and regional activities, personal training and special projects such as the child sexual abuse project at Overnewton. The amounts and the percentage these represent of the Society's income are as follows :
|Amount of grant (£ |Percentage of income
|thousand)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |80 |15.8
1980-81 |93 |14.8
1981-82 |100 |18.0
1982-83 |126 |21.6
1983-84 |133 |22.0
1984-85 |106 |10.5
1985-86 |111 |11.0
1986-87 |107 |11.3
1987-88 |108 |10.3
1988-89 |137 |7.9
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what sums of money have been given to the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for the purposes of training RSSPCC personnel in each of the past 10 years ; how much money is to be provided in each of the next three years for this purpose ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The table lists payments made to the RSSPCC for training purposes between the years 1982-83 and 1987-88. Between 1979- 80 and 1981-82 no specific training grant was awarded. From 1985-86 payments were made on a reducing scale in keeping with the pump priming purpose of the grant. No training grant has been given since 1987-88 and no new applications have been received.
Training grant to RSSPCC (£) Year |Amount ------------------------------ 1979-80 |- 1980-81 |- 1981-82 |- 1982-83 |<1>7,000 1983-84 |13,367 1984-85 |17,723 1985-86 |18,278 1986-87 |<2>11,963 1987-88 |<3>9,367 <1> From September. <2> Reduced rate 75 per cent. <3> Reduced rate 50 per cent.
Correspondence
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow can expect an answer to his letter of 29 March to the
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Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for health concerning Scottish hospices.Mr. Michael Forsyth : I will write to the hon. Member very shortly.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow can expect an answer to his letter of 17 April to the Minister of State regarding Mr. James Laing and the poll tax.
Mr. Lang : I have replied to the hon. Member.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the hon. Member for Greenock and Port Glasgow can expect an answer to his letter of 3 May to the Minister of State regarding Mrs. I. Todd of Greenock.
Mr. Lang : I have replied to the hon. Member.
British Nuclear Fuels
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if any Ministers or officials in his Department attended the 30th anniversary celebration, on 12 May, of British Nuclear Fuels Chapelcross plutonium and tritium production reactors in Annan.
Mr. Lang : One official, from the Industry Department for Scotland, was among the guests at the function held on 12 May to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Chapelcross power station.
Policewomen
Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will obtain a copy of the research on policewomen in Scotland carried out by Professor Roy Wilkie of the university of Strathclyde centre for policy studies for his departmental library as soon as it becomes available.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : Yes.
Hospital Trusts
Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the submissions of expressions of interest in self-governing status in the Health Service giving in each case the body or individual responsible for such expression of interest.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) on 12 June at column 343.
ENVIRONMENT
Water Authorities (Land Ownership)
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres of land are in the ownership of (a) the Yorkshire water authority and (b) the Severn-Trent water authority ; and, of these, how many have outline planning permission, and in respect of how many the authority is currently seeking such permission.
Mr. Howard : The Yorkshire water authority owns or has an interest in aproximately 70,000 acres of land. About
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90 acres of this land has outline planning permission for development. Applications for outline planning permission for approximately 10 acres of land are currently outstanding. The Severn- Trent water authority owns or has an interest in approximately 44,000 acres of land. About 100 acres have outline planning permission for development. Outline planning permission is being sought for between 50 and 100 acres.Water Rates
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, further to his answer of 19 April about average domestic water rate bills, Official Report, column 233, the relevant data for 1989-90 are now available.
Mr. Howard : The average domestic water rate bill in the Thames water authority area for 1989-90 is £100.80 ; The average bill for all water authorities is £119.00. That represents a real increase of 33.6 per cent. in the average bill in the Thames area, and 45.2 per cent. nationally, since 1979-80.
Sport and Leisure Facilities
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Don Valley of 2 March, Official Report, column 283, what have been the results of his deliberations in respect of changes to section 19 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 June at column 316.
Non-ionising Radiation
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research has been done into the effects of non-ionising radiation.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Wide-ranging studies have been carried out over the last 20 years in many countries, including the United Kingdom, on the biological effects of non-ionising radiation. Currently the National Radiological Protection Board is undertaking a wide-ranging review of these studies. This review should be published before the end of the year.
Bristol Channel (Sewage Outlets)
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek powers to require Wessex Water and South West Water to seek planning permission for raw sewage outlets into the Bristol channel ; and if he will make a statement on the different sources of pollution which enter this marine cul de sac.
Mr. Howard : No. Under part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974, water authorities are required to obtain consent before making a discharge into the sea or water courses. Where schemes require planning permission, this is a matter for the local planning authority to determine under the Town and Country Planning Acts. With regard to sources of pollution in the Bristol channel, I refer my hon. Friend to my reply of 6 June at column 90.
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Leaflets
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the leaflets issued in connection with the Water Bill and the community charge, together with the print runs and costs of production of each leaflet, their main avenues of distribution and their estimated costs of distribution.
Mr. Ridley : I am writing to the hon. Member with the detailed information he requests.
Sewage Works (Quality Controls)
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the proposals he has received for the relaxation of quality controls for sewage works in Derbyshire.
Mr. Moynihan : I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment gave on 11 May at column 520. Applications for these works are being advertised in local newspapers in the areas concerned.
Norfolk House, East Kilbride
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his plans for Norfolk house, East Kilbride.
Mr. Chope : Norfolk house is still on the market for disposal.
Green Belt (Derbyshire)
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to release land from the green belt in north-east Derbyshire for opencast mining or other purposes ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Chope : The Government's policy on green belts is set out in the Department of the Environment's planning policy guidance note No. 2. Paragraph 15 of that guidance makes clear that minerals can be worked only where they are found. Their extraction need not be incompatible with green belt objectives, provided that high environmental standards are maintained and that the site is well restored, but each case must be considered on its merits.
Water Quality
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice his Department has given water authorities on estimating the costs of complying with the legal standards for pesticides and nitrates laid down in EC directive 80/778/EEC.
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