House of Commons Hansard Debates for 30 Jun 1989

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Atlantic Salmon

Mrs. Golding : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what amounts of Atlantic salmon have been imported into (a) Great Britain, and (b) the United Kingdom in the last five years.

Mr. Donald Thompson : Atlantic salmon are not distinguished from other types of salmon in the statistics

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on overseas trade. The tonnages of all types of salmon imported, including prepared or preserved salmon, are shown in the table :


                Imported into:                              

               |Great Britain |United Kingdom               

               |Tonnes        |Tonnes                       

------------------------------------------------------------

1984           |27,770        |28,107                       

1985           |25,472        |26,096                       

1986           |33,978        |34,482                       

1987           |31,695        |32,075                       

1988<1>        |25,684        |25,975                       

<1> The figures for 1988 are not precisely comparable with  

those for earlier years due to the introduction of a        

revised classification for overseas trade statistics.

Shell Fish

Mr. Pike : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps his Department intends to take to assess the possible effects of the proposed long sea outfall from Rossall point to the Lune Deep on shell fish in Morecombe bay and adjacent coastal areas.

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Mr. Donald Thompson : My Department has already assessed the design dilution and dispersion characteristics of the proposed outfall. We will maintain our routine monitoring of the contaminent levels in fish and shell fish in the eastern Irish Sea. In addition, information will be obtained as appropriate on the quality of shell fish in Morecombe bay from work undertaken by other relevant organisations.

Mr. Pike : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what information his Department holds on the chemical quality of shell fish harvested in Morecombe bay and adjoining coastlines with particular reference to compounds identified as black, grey or red list ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) what information is held by his Department on the bacteriological quality of shell fish harvested in Morecombe bay and adjoining coastlines ; and if he will make a statement ;

(3) what information is held by his Department on the virological quality of shell fish harvested in Morecombe bay and adjoining coastlines ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Donald Thompson : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave on 20 February to the hon. Member for Bootle (Mr. Roberts) at column 534.

Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances

Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many individual farmers or landowners receive annually in hill livestock compensatory allowance payments more than £25,000, £50,000, £100,000 and £200,000.

Mr. Donald Thompson : The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Macdonald : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the total loss to United Kingdom farmers of limiting hill livestock compensatory allowance payments to 90 livestock units ; and at what stock level a farmer would be less well off under such a restriction than under the present system.

Mr. Donald Thompson : If HLCA payments to producers were limited to 90 livestock units per holding, we estimate that the total loss to United Kingdom farmers would be about £30 million per year under the existing

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scheme arrangements. The producers disadvantaged by any such limitation would be those with more than 90 beef cows or 600 breeding ewes (or a combination of cows and ewes in excess of 90 livestock units). Producers below these limits would be unaffected.

SCOTLAND

Alloa Sheriff Court

Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the average delay in bringing cases to trial in Alloa sheriff court.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton : The present period between the pleading diet and the trial diet in summary criminal cases at Alloa sheriff court is 15 weeks.

EMPLOYMENT

New Life for Urban Scotland"

Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he intends to answer the written question tabled by the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan on Tuesday 13 June, relating to the New Life for Urban Scotland programme.

Mr. Fowler : I have replied to the hon. Member today.

Inner Cities

Mr. Salmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to introduce a scheme, as part of the New Life for Urban Scotland programme, whereby long-term unemployed people will be asked to work for employers on a benefit-only basis ; what guarantee of employment will be attached to such arrangements ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Fowler : On 9 March, in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) Official Report, column 616, I announced that my Department will be piloting a scheme for employers to guarantee to interview long-term unemployed people in return for help in selecting and preparing them for jobs. As part of the scheme, unemployed people will have the option, on an entirely voluntary basis, of trying out a job for a short period of time while they are still drawing benefit. I shall be announcing full details of this scheme shortly.

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