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Grants
Mr. Harry Barnes : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the total cost of grants to farmers from the Agricultural Development Advisory Service for each of the past 10 years, together with equivalent figures in other European Community nations.
Mr. Curry : Grants to farmers in the United Kingdom under common agricultural policy and United Kingdom national schemes for the years 1984- 85 to 1988-89 (forecast) are set out in the publication "Agriculture in the United Kingdom 1988". Figures for preceding years are contained in the annual review of agriculture White Papers. Forecasts for 1989-90 are contained in the Supply Estimates. No comparable figures are available for other European Community nations, but any schemes which they operate have to comply with the appropriate EC legislation or be approved by the Commission under articles 92 to 94 of the treaty.
Radioactive Contamination
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether his Department will introduce monitoring of the levels of radioactive contamination in sheep sold from derestricted areas bordering those areas where bans have been in operation.
Mr. Maclean : Periodic surveys are carried out immediately outside the restricted areas in England and Wales to confirm the continuing validity of the boundaries set. There is no case for special, additional, monitoring of sheep sold from outside the restricted areas.
Milk Lorries
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will meet representatives of the Direct Sellers Co-operative Limited to discuss milk lorries.
Mr. Curry : I have no such plans.
Cattle Offal
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what restrictions he has imposed on the export of cattle offal from the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : I have imposed no restrictions on the export of cattle offal from the United Kingdom. Within the limits of Community rules where they apply, it is up to importing countries to determine the conditions under which such imports may take place.
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Microwave Ovens
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he will conduct his own research into the effects of microwave oven heating on food containing amino acids ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) whether he will conduct his own research to ascertain the chemical effects of microwave oven heating on milk ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : No. I gave a clear explanation of my Department's views of Professor Lubec's research on 13 December 1989, Official Report , column 698 . I have no new information at this time that would justify my Department conducting its own research in this area.
Food Surpluses
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the amount which the European Economic Community is spending per week on the storage, destruction and dumping of food surpluses ; what is the comparable sum actually spent per week, five and 10 years previously ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : European Community expenditure in 1990 on storage, withdrawal and export refunds for agricultural products is expected to be about £9,000 million, or £173 million per week. Comparable figures for 1985 are £6,965 million (£134 million per week) and for 1980 £4,610 million (£89 million per week).
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the reasons for refusing the Cumbria county council trading standards department details of the movements in Cumbria of cows found to be suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Maclean : The handling and, if necessary, the investigation of cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy is the responsibility of the Ministry. Details of individual cases are held in confidence.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the extent of the use of bovine products in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries ; whether such use includes the use of offals banned from human consumption ; whether he has any estimate of the amount of such products ; and whether there are any controls, either current or proposed, to regulate such use.
Mr. Maclean : Returns from the pharmaceutical industry confirm that only a small percentage of their products include materials of bovine and other animal origin. I have no comparable information about the cosmetic industry. Bovine offals account for only a small proportion of the animal material and they are mainly imported from countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy has not been detected. The Southwood committee concluded that the risk of transmitting bovine spongiform encephalopathy via medicines appears remote and theoretical, but as a precautionary measure, special
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guidelines from the Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Veterinary Products Committee on the use of bovine materials in the production of medicines were circulated to pharmaceutical companies last March. If any evidence were to be found that a medicinal product might be unsafe, Ministers have powers under the Medicines Act to revoke or suspend the licence.Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all those animal species which are currently or proposed to be researched with a view to determining susceptibility to spongiform encephalopathy from scrapie of bovine spongiform encephalopathy sources.
Mr. Maclean : The following animal species are currently or proposed to be the subject of transmission experiments to determine their susceptibility to bovine spongiform encephalopathy : Cattle
Sheep
Goats
Pigs
Chickens
Marmosets
Mink
Hamsters
Mice
Research on species' susceptibility to scrapie is being funded at the AFRC/MRC neuropathogenesis unit through the science budget.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will detail work being undertaken to develop a diagnostic test for bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the live and clinically affected animal.
Mr. Maclean : Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is currently diagnosed on the basis of histopathology in the brain of clinically infected animals. MAFF is funding research to develop diagnostic tests in the live, pre-clinical affected animal using molecular biological techniques. This research is being carried out at MAFF's central veterinary laboratory, Weybridge and the AFRC-MRC neuropathogenesis unit in Edinburgh. Relevant slow virus research is being funded at the neuropathogenesis unit through the science budget.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is currently researching into the effects of scrapie-infected material being incorporated into feeding compounds for pigs and chickens ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : The Southwood working party pointed out that no naturally occurring spongiform encephalopathies had been recorded in pigs and poultry and did not suggest that action was necessary to stop the use of ruminant protein in their feed. However, it was suggested that further research should be carried out and MAFF is conducting transmission experiments to investigate the susceptibility of pigs and poultry to bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends researching into the infectivity of organs and tissues from bovine spongiform encephalopathy-infected cattle other than those currently banned from human consumption ; and which such organs he regards as his research priority.
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Mr. Maclean : MAFF will be funding research into the infectivity of the full range of organs and tissues from bovine spongiform encephalopathy- infected cattle not currently banned from human consumption.
Priority will be given to those organs and tissues consumed by humans in significant quantities, to confirm their safety as currently assessed from research on scrapie. Tissues of possible relevance in the transmission of the disease in cattle will also be tested.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he received the interim report of the Tyrell committee on research into bovine spongiform encephalopathy ; and why he decided not to make the report immediately available to the public.
Mr. Maclean : The report was received on 16 June 1989. It makes many recommendations on a wide range of research topics which necessitated detailed, and inevitably time-consuming, study to enable a properly considered response in respect of the work to be done and its funding. There have, however, been no delays and a good deal of the most important research is already under way.
Enzymes
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy for meat which has been treated with proteolytic enzymes, or which is derived from an animal that has been so treated, to be labelled with the words treated with vegetable enzymes.
Mr. Maclean : I have no plans to do so. The hon. Member's suggestion does not seem to offer any particular improvement in terms of consumer understanding over the present requirement to describe meat so treated as "tenderised".
Veterinary Manpower
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will make a decision on the Page report on veterinary manpower.
Mr. Maclean : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Minister will be making an announcement shortly.
Standing Veterinary Committee
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how the standing veterinary committee of the EEC is constituted ; and how he ensures that Her Majesty's Government's views are represented at this committee.
Mr. Maclean : The arrangements for the operation of the standing veterinary committee are contained in a Council decision of 15 October 1968. Attendance by Government officials ensures that the views of the United Kingdom are fully represented.
Agricultural Products (Trade)
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food under what EEC provision the West German Government have banned the import of beef from the United Kingdom.
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Mr. Maclean : The German Government have not banned imports of beef from the United Kingdom. I do not consider that the conditions they have imposed on such imports are consistent with Community rules.Tyrell Committee
64. Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy towards the recommendations of the Tyrell committee that the results of all research should be open for scrutiny and published at the appropriate time.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 16 January col. 217.
Scrapie
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research is currently being undertaken into the incidence of scrapie ; and whether he has any programme to reduce such incidence.
Mr. Maclean : Scrapie has existed in this country for many years and no specific research into its incidence is currently being undertaken. Advice is available to farmers from ADAS on the control of the disease and flock owners may participate in a monitoring scheme under the Ministry's sheep and goat health scheme. Work is being undertaken at both the central veterinary laboratory and the neuropathogenesis unit to develop a diagnosis test. Work is being funded through the science budget to evaluate the genetic predisposition of sheep to scrapie. In addition, MAFF continues to fund work on a scrapie-resistant flock to assess the potential of breeding programmes for control and reduction of the incidence of scrapie in sheep.
Cattle Semen (Exports)
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what restrictions currently apply to the export of semen from British cattle.
Mr. Maclean : The animal health conditions covering the export of semen are established by negotiation with the importing country. These may include confirmation of freedom from certain disease in relation to the collection centre and the donor, its herd of origin or the country as a whole and specific requirements in relation to the method of collection. In almost all cases the importing country will require the semen to be accompanied by an export health certificate signed by an official veterinarian to confirm that the necessary conditions have been met.
The United States, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Iran have currently suspended imports of bovine semen from Great Britain because of concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
North Sea Conference
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the proposals he will be putting to the North sea conference later in the current year.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
One of the main objectives of the third North sea conference is to review the work undertaken by member
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states in implementing the recommendations of the second North sea conference held in London 1987. As with its predecessor, the third conference will review all the major activities with an impact on the marine environment, including discharges of dangerous substances via rivers and the atmosphere, nutrients, dumping, shipping and offshore installations. The United Kingdom has taken a very full part in preparations for the conference and I am confident that the conference declaration, which will be the product of work by all the North sea states, will include valuable new measures, including a number proposed by the United Kingdom.Cetaceans
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has made an assessment of the reason for the deaths within the last 12 months of seals in the Liverpool bay area.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
An assessment carried out by Liverpool university department of veterinary pathology on the basis of post-mortem examinations shows that viral or bacterial pneumonia was the commonest cause of death in seals washed ashore in this period.
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what species of cetaceans are known to inhabit the Liverpool bay area ; whether any species previously logged within the last 25 years are now thought to have disappeared from the area ; and if he will provide any readily accessible information to indicate changes in estimated population levels of all species of cetaceans in the Liverpool bay area over the past 25 years.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
In United Kingdom waters generally there is as yet no reliable population and status information on small cetacean species although valuable data are available from sightings and strandings reporting schemes. Recent reports do not suggest that cetaceans are resident in Liverpool bay, but migratory animals are reported. In the last five years Liverpool university department of veterinary pathology has examined stranded animals from the following species :
Pilot whale
Bottle-nosed dolphin
White-beaked dolphin
White-sided dolphin
Common porpoise
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether dead seals from the Liverpool bay area within the last 12 months showed evidence of blocked uterine ducts.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
I understand that work carried out by Liverpool university department of veterinary pathology indicates that two out of a total of 12 dead seals washed ashore in the Liverpool bay in the last 12 months have been found to have blocked uterine ducts. There is no evidence that this contributed to the animals' death.
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SOCIAL SECURITY
Hardship Payments
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people under 25 years have received hardship payments from his Department's office in Durham since October 1988.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : I regret that the information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Independent Living Fund
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he will list by month since 1986 to date, for his Department's offices in (a) Doncaster and (b) Wath on Dearne (i) the number of independent living fund payments made and (ii) the amounts paid ; (2) if he will list by year since 1986 to date for his Department's offices in (a) Doncaster and (b) Wath on Dearne what surplus has remained from the independent living fund.
Mr. Scott : The independent living fund was established in June 1988. It is a charity which is administered centrally from Nottingham under the guidance of its trustees. Information on the number of payments and amounts paid is not available by local office area.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether any reviews are being made by his Department of the independent living fund.
Mr. Scott : I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) on 10 January at column 657.
Actors
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what representations he has received from actors reluctant to accept contracts in excess of eight weeks for
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fear of losing full entitlement to the payment of mortgage interest if subsequently unemployed ; and if he will make a statement.Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The Department has no record of any such representations.
Mrs. I. E. Hart
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he hopes to make a decision with regard to the back payment of the widow's pension for Mrs. I. E. Hart of 21 Greenswood road, Brixham, Devon ; and if he will make a statement as to the reason for the delay.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing this matter to my attention. Mrs. Hart's case is a complicated one which involves inquiries going back a number of years. However, I have to say that there has been an unacceptable delay in the handling of her case, and for this I offer Mrs. Hart my apologies. Urgent action is now being taken to put this right. A member of the Department's management at Torbay local office will visit Mrs. Hart today to explain the reasons, and apologise for the delay. The local office manager will write to my hon. Friend as soon as the case has been resolved.
Budget and Crisis Loans
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what number of claimants on income support were repaying a budgeting or crisis loan for each month since January 1989 ; and what number of (a) one-parent families, (b) sick and disabled claimants, (c) pensioners and (d) unemployed claimants on income support were repaying a budgeting or crisis loan for each month since January 1989.
Mr. Scott : The information available is given in the table. The figures represent the number of loans being repaid on the last day of each month.
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|Number of IS |Lone parents |Disabled<1> |Pensioners |Unemployed
|claimants
|000s |000s |000s |000s |000s
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Budgeting loans
1989
January |243 |106 |24 |12.0 |86
February |265 |117 |24 |13.0 |95
March |284 |126 |25 |14.0 |104
April |301 |135 |25 |15.0 |110
May |314 |141 |25 |15.0 |111
June |326 |148 |25 |15.0 |120
July |332 |152 |25 |16.0 |122
August |336 |154 |24 |16.0 |125
September |339 |157 |24 |16.0 |124
October |344 |161 |24 |16.0 |125
November |351 |167 |23 |16.0 |128
December |344 |166 |22 |16.0 |124
Crisis loans
1989
January |40 |8 |1 |0.5 |27
February |45 |9 |1 |0.5 |30
March |47 |9 |1 |0.5 |36
April |48 |10 |1 |0.5 |33
May |48 |9 |1 |0.5 |33
June |49 |10 |1 |0.5 |33
July |49 |10 |1 |0.5 |34
August |50 |10 |1 |0.5 |34
September |50 |11 |1 |0.5 |33
October |52 |11 |1 |0.5 |35
November |53 |11 |1 |0.5 |36
December |47 |10 |1 |0.5 |32
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the total amount of budget or crisis loans to claimants on income support for each month since January 1989.
Mr. Scott : The information available is set out in the table. The information represents the amounts outstanding on the last day of each calendar month.
|Budgeting |Crisis loans
|loans
|£ million |£ million
------------------------------------------------------
January 1989 |46.491 |4.485
February 1989 |51.897 |5.132
March 1989 |56.595 |5.751
April 1989 |60.944 |6.330
May 1989 |63.596 |6.789
June 1989 |65.893 |7.189
July 1989 |66.549 |7.583
August 1989 |66.958 |8.055
September 1989 |67.111 |8.388
October 1989 |68.173 |8.840
November 1989 |71.201 |9.619
December 1989 |70.095 |9.523
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what information he has concerning the impact on people's incomes of not receiving sick benefit or statutory sick pay during the first three days of any absence from work due to illness.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : I regret that the information requested is not available.
Advertising
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his latest estimate of the total cost of advertising by his Department in 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90 ; and what is his planned expenditure for 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : The total cost of advertising in the year 1987-88 was £0.82 million ; in 1988-89 it was £4.57
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million. In 1989-90 the planned expenditure is expected to be £7.16 million ; the estimate for 1990-91 is £4.1 million. The forecast for 1991-92 is £7.4 million.Social Fund (Wales)
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many local Department of Social Security offices have reported overspending on money allocated for social fund payments in Wales in each county ; and which offices have overspent by more than 10 per cent.
Mr. Scott : No social security office has overspent its allocation for social fund loans and grants for 1989-90.
Earnings Limit
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether unemployed people were given advance warning of the effect that the £43 earnings limit might have on their benefit entitlement if they worked for one or more days in the week preceding 10 December 1989.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard : People are only required to declare their earnings at the end of the benefit week in which they work. It would not have been possible to identify individuals who may have had earnings in the week commencing 3 December 1989 prior to the declaration of these earnings in week commencing 10 December 1989.
Pension Fund Surpluses
Mr. Meacher : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what he estimates has been the level of aggregate pension fund surpluses each year since 1979.
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