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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Set-aside Scheme
Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what areas outside the existing pilot scheme in East Anglia he intends to extend the agricultural set-aside scheme.
Mr. Curry : I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to the countryside premium scheme for set-aside land, currently operated by the Countryside Commission in seven eastern counties of England. The question of extending the present scheme would be a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment.
Mr. Gill : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make an announcement on the arrangements for the third year of the set-aside scheme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : My right hon. Friends and I have reviewed the workings of this scheme in the light of the experience of its first two years. Our policy is that the scheme, which has as its primary purpose the reduction of surplus production of cereals and other crops, should protect the environment and should, where possible, go further and lead to environmental improvements. In general we favour integrating, so far as possible, environmental measures into agricultural policy. We have therefore decided to make a number of amendments to the scheme for 1990-91 and subsequent years.
First, we have decided to require the plant cover on fallow set-aside land to be cut twice a year instead of once as at present with suitable time gaps between cuts. This should achieve an improvement in the appearance of such land.
Secondly, we are extending the list of environmental features that farmers participating in the scheme will have to maintain and protect to include stone walls, vernacular buildings, unimproved grassland, moorland and heath.
Thirdly, we have decided to introduce a limited grazed fallow option. Under this farmers who kept livestock in the base year 1987-88 will be able to graze animals on fallow land up to a limit of the number of livestock units on the holding in the base year. We have also agreed to allow producers of deer or goats to graze these animals on their fallow set-aside land up to a limit of one livestock unit per hectare if they did not have livestock in the base year. This will be of benefit to fibre producers. I am aware that some farmers have in the past been concerned about the possible effects of a grazed fallow option on upland livestock producers, but this limited provision should allay their fears while being very positive environmentally.
Fourthly, equivalent changes will be made to the Countryside Commission's countryside premium scheme which offers additional aid on suitable set- aside land in seven eastern counties for management practices designed to achieve specific environmental and recreational benefits. This will be helpful in the re-creation of wildlife habitats.
The Government have also decided to increase the rates of aid for permanent fallow and rotational fallow, partly to offset the increased costs arising from the new management rules.
New entrants to the scheme will receive the higher rates and will be bound by the new management rules. Existing
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participants may also opt to observe the new management rules and receive an appropriate adjustment to rates. Those wishing to continue to observe the old rules may do so but will be paid at existing rates of aid.The revised rates for permanent and rotational fallow are as follows :
_
Permanent fallow |LFA |non-LFA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) new participants |202 |222
(ii) existing participants under new rules |190 |210
(iii) existing participants under old rules |180 |200
Rotational fallow
(i) new participants |182 |202
(ii) existing participants under new rules |170 |190
(iii) existing participants under old rules |160 |180
The rate of aid for grazed fallow will be approximately half the permanent fallow rate. We have also decided to introduce differential rates of aid in order to reflect better the savings made in the setting aside of large proportions of land on larger farms. Farmers who set aside to fallow more than 100 hectares of land and more than 75 per cent. of their area eligible for set-aside will receive lower rates of payment on the hectarage above 100 ha.
Application forms and explanatory literature will be available from local offices of Agriculture Departments on 27 August 1990. All applications should be submitted by 30 September 1990.
An amending statutory instrument incorporating these changes into the existing legislation will be laid before Parliament.
I have placed in the Library a detailed guidance note providing information on the new rules of the scheme.
Horsemeat Products
Mr. Bowis : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps are taken to alert consumers to the horsemeat products imported to the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : Horsemeat and horsemeat products are covered by the provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Labelling Regulations 1984. Under the Food Safety Act it is an offence to offer for sale any food that is falsely described or labelled, advertised or presented in a way that is likely to mislead as to its nature, substance or quality. Under the Food Labelling Regulations horsemeat products have to indicate clearly that they contain horsemeat so that consumers are aware of this fact.
Export Subsidies
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total amount spent by the European Commission in export subsidies on agricultural products for each year since 1980 ; and how much was spent in respect of wheat for each of those years.
Mr. Curry : The expenditure charged to the Community budget on export refunds on agricultural products, excluding refunds on exports for food aid, and on wheat--grain and flour--for each year since 1980 is as follows :
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(in mecu)
|Export |Export
|refunds on |refunds on
|agricultural|wheat<1>
|products
----------------------------------------------------
1980 |5,695 |n/a
1981 |5,209 |n/a
1982 |5,054 |n/a
1983 |5,560 |809
1984 |6,619 |492
1985 |6,716 |478
1986 |7,409 |692
<2>1987 |9,115 |1,662
<3>1988 |9,686 |1,228
1989 |9,633 |1,157
<1> Expenditure on wheat not separately available
before 1983.
<2> Refers to expenditure incurred in a 10-month
period(1 January-31 October 1987).
<3> Refers to expenditure incurred in an 11"-month
period(1 November 1987-15 October 1988).
Source: EAGGF annual reports.
Wheat
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the total domestic consumption of home-grown wheat in the latest convenient 12-month period.
Mr. Curry : The latest MAFF estimate of total consumption of home- grown wheat within the United Kingdom for the marketing year ended on 30 June 1990 is 10.68 million tonnes.
Pesticides
Mr. Skinner : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress he has made on the review of pesticides ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : Companies have been required to submit details of data held in support of all pesticides approved prior to 1981. The Advisory Committee on Pesticides has considered the priority to be given to each one and an ordered list will be published shortly.
Tuna
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he proposes to meet his counterparts in the European Community regarding the banning of imported tuna caught with dolphin by-catches.
Mr. Curry : I have no plans at present. The United Kingdom fully supported the Community's endorsement of the United Nations resolutions against indiscriminate large-scale pelagic drift netting which involved the incidental take of dolphins. Further, the United Kingdom supported this resolution at the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Tuna fishing does not necessarily involve incidental take of dolphins and I am aware that some tuna products are advertised as having been obtained from fisheries that have not involved by-catches of dolphins.
Whales and Dolphins
Mr. Tredinnick : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has made representations to his counterpart in the Danish Government concerning the recent slaughter of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands.
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Mr. Curry : When the International Whaling Commission met this July I again made plain my concern to the Danish authorities about the traditional pilot whale hunt in the Faroe Islands, particularly in relation to improving the humaneness of the hunt.Dairy Products
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the effect for New Zealand's dairy farmers of the decision taken by the European Commission on 19 July to raise export restitutions on dairy products.
Mr. Curry : It is for the New Zealand Government to assess the likely effect on New Zealand dairy farmers.
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in the light of the current state of the international dairy market and the negotiations now taking place in Geneva on the general agreement on tariffs and trade Uruguay round, if he will make a statement on the reasons for the decision taken by the European Commission on 19 July to raise export restitutions on dairy products.
Mr. Curry : The Commission acted on its own authority and without consulting member states. We had, however, made it clear on earlier occasions that we were opposed to an increase in export refunds in the dairy sector at this time. The world dairy market is already depressed as a result of declining demands coupled with increasing production and low- priced eastern European exports which have not previously played a significant part in the market. Clearly increasing the level of subsidised exports from the Community is not the right way to tackle our underlying problem of overproduction.
Public Footpaths
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps are taken in calculating set-aside payments to take into account public footpaths along the side of or across a field ; and by how much a payment varies, between a field of given acreage with a footpath and a similar field without a footpath.
Mr. Curry : Areas of fields not cropped because of farm tracks, pylons, footpaths or broad margins amounting to more than 0.1 of a hectare are not eligible for set-aside payments. Taking the example described, a field without footpaths would contain a slightly higher proportion of land eligible for set-aside and would therefore receive a slightly higher payment than a field of similar size with footpaths amounting to more than 0.1 of a hectare.
Agricultural Dwellings
Mr. Soley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what action he intends to take to ensure that the Ministry's duty as an independent adviser to local authorities on proposals for agricultural dwellings is not compromised by the commercial advice given by the Agricultural Development Advisory Service ;
(2) what action he intends to take to ensure the independence of the Ministry's assessment of the financial viability of proposals for agricultural workers' dwellings.
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Mr. Gummer : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) on 3 July at column 493. I have nothing further to add.
Dioxins
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place the food surveillance results and information on the advisory level of intake for dioxins that were presented to the Toronto dioxins symposium in 1989 in the Library.
Mr. Gummer : The paper in question gave an overview of the Ministry's programme of work on dioxins in food and included interim results of a survey of levels in fish and milk. These were all below the Department of Health's guideline levels for intake of this substance through the diet.
A full account of this, and the work currently in progress, will be published as a food surveillance paper towards the end of 1991. In the meantime I am placing a copy of the symposium paper in the Library, as requested.
A more detailed consideration of the presence of dioxins in the environment, including food, may be found in pollution paper 27 "Dioxins in the Environment" published by the Department of the Environment last year.
Slaughterhouses
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of man years of his staff involved in advising on hygiene and welfare standards in abattoirs from 1983 onwards ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Local authorities are responsible for enforcing legislation on hygiene and welfare at abattoirs. Officers of my Department visit all abattoirs to advise on hygiene and welfare standards and, in relation to exporting premises, to ensure that Community requirements are observed. The manpower involved for each year since 1983-84 was as follows :
|Man-years
------------------------------
1983-84 |53
1984-85 |52
1985-86 |56
1986-87 |45
1987-88 |45
For subsequent years, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 15 March at column 323 .
It is planned to devote additional resources to this work as the industry prepares for the single market.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has now received the report on general conditions of the visit by European Community inspectors to 14 slaughterhouses in March 1989 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : I have nothing further to add to the reply that I gave the hon. Member on 22 March at columns 736-38 and the letter that I sent to him on 23 April.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the slaughterhouses that
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were visited by European Community inspectors in March 1989 and 1990 ; if he will indicate those which had their approvals suspended ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Gummer : European Community inspectors visited the following slaughterhouses in England and Wales in March 1989 and 1990 : March 1989
England Wales Slaughterhouse (EWS) numbers 8, 23, 32, 44, 53, 60, 77 and 103.
March 1990
EWS 33.
On the question of suspensions, I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave him on 23 July.
Tuberculosis
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what has been the actual cost of his tuberculosis eradication scheme (a) in general and (b) for badgers for each of the last 10 years ; what are his estimates for future expenditure for 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992 -93 ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) if he will give the number of man years of those employed in his Ministry on (a) tuberculosis eradication in general and (b) tuberculosis and badgers for each of the last 10 years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, further to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields of 5 July, Official Report, column 687, how many outbreaks of tuberculosis have been recorded on a county-by-county basis for each year since 1986 ; if he will indicate, for each year and in each county, how many outbreaks were considered to have connections with badgers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : In a number of counties in the south and west of Great Britain, a significant proportion of the now confirmed cattle TB breakdowns are considered to have connections with badgers.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of cattle have contracted tuberculosis on a county-by- county basis in each of the last six years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : The table sets out for counties in England and Wales for the years 1986-89 the numbers of tuberculosis reactor cattle slaughtered in which tuberculosis was confirmed, expressed as a percentage of the total number of cattle in the county. Information in the form requested is not available for earlier years.
County 1986 1987 1988 1989 --------------------------------------------------- Avon |0.006 |0.003 |0.035 |0.042 Bedfordshire - - 0.004 - Cornwall |0.005 |0.014 |0.011 |0.025 Clwyd - - - 0.0005 Derbyshire - - - 0.0005 Devon |0.0009|0.010 |0.003 |0.002 Dorset - 0.004 0.003 0.002 Durham 0.008 - - - Dyfed |0.002 |0.001 |0.003 |0.002 Gloucestershire |0.010 |0.025 |0.024 |0.019 Gwent - - - 0.004 Hampshire 0.002 - 0.0008 - Lancashire - 0.0007 - - Leicestershire - - - 0.0006 Lincolnshire - - - 0.002 Norfolk 0.002 - - - Northumberland - - 0.0005 - Powys 0.002 - - 0.0004 Somerset 0.0003 0.003 0.0003 - Staffordshire 0.002 - - - Suffolk - - - 0.003 Surrey 0.006 - - - West Sussex - - - 0.008 Wiltshire 0.0008 0.0009 - - Yorkshire 0.0002 - - 0.0002
Table file CW900726.123 not available
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will introduce, as part of his tuberculosis control programme, areas where badgers are not killed ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Badgers are not killed in the Gloucestershire study area and, at the time of his report, Professor Dunnet considered additional such areas to be unjustified. This possibility has been reconsidered as a means of assessing the effect of any badger control strategy with the same result.
Badgers
Mr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many dead badgers his Ministry has received for each year since 1985 ; and if he will indicate the causes of their death where known.
Mr. Gummer : The vast majority of badger carcases submitted by the public were the result of road traffic accidents, but records are not kept of the cause of death. The numbers received and examined were :
|Number
---------------------
1985 |1,826
1986 |2,060
1987 |1,967
1988 |2,015
1989 |2,085
Committees (Disclosure of Information)
Mr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields of 23 July, if he will place in the Library copies of the forms that members of (a) the Food Advisory Committee, (b) the Veterinary Products Committee and (c) the consumer panel have to sign concerning the disclosure of information from those committees.
Mr. Gummer : Members of these committees are not asked to sign forms about the disclosure of information.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the effect on the tuberculosis eradication programme of the extra demands on the state veterinary service resulting from BSE.
Mr. Gummer : The tuberculosis eradication programme has not been affected by the work generated by BSE.
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Salmonella
Mr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many tests in each of the last six months were undertaken for salmonella on eggs at ports of entry ; how many consequently were found to include salmonella-contaminated eggs ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : So far this year, I have received no reports of imported consignments contaminated with salmonella enteriditis or typhimurium.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will invoke article 36 of the treaty of Rome to prohibit salmonella-contaminated eggs being imported into the United Kingdom.
Mr. Gummer : As the hon. Gentleman is aware, it would be illegal to attempt to use article 36 to prohibit the import of eggs on such grounds.
Political Advisers
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the political advisers and public relations advisers currently employed to advise Ministers in his Department, including those persons paid by other organisations and seconded to the Government, giving in every case the source of payment, rate of salary and expenses.
Mr. Curry : There is one special adviser, Mr. R. Gueterbock, currently employed by this Department. My Department employs no public relations advisers. Mr. Gueterbock is paid by the Department, but it is not our practice to reveal the salaries of special advisers as they are individually negotiated in relation to previous outside earnings and are therefore confidential. The normal civil service rules apply to expenses. In addition, any special adviser may be provided with secretarial assistance.
Land Prices
Mr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the average price per hectare of average quality arable agricultural land in England on the latest available date ; and what was the comparable price in the previous year.
Mr. Curry : Official price statistics of agricultural land do not distinguish between land uses. The bulk of arable production takes place on land grades 1, 2 and 3. The latest available average price of land, including buildings, for these combined grades sold in England is £4,370 per hectare and relates broadly to calendar year 1988 ; the comparable figure for 1987 is £3,555 per hectare.
Poultry Imports (Portugal)
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to counter the import of poultry from Portugal in view of the incidence of Newcastle disease there.
Mr. Gummer : In the absence of harmonised Community rules, current national import conditions require that all poultry imported from Portugal is accompanied by a certificate signed by an official
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veterinarian confirming that there has been no case of ND in the flock of origin or any hatchery within 20km during the three months prior to export.In addition such birds are also subject to a period of at least eight weeks post in port followed by a period of at least 12 weeks quarantine isolation under official veterinary supervision. These safeguards have worked efficiently to prevent the introduction of ND into this country by imported poultry. There have been no outbreaks of ND in Great Britain from any source since 1984.
Rendering Industry
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields on 23 July, if he will list the dates on which he had meetings with representatives of the United Kingdom rendering industry.
Mr. Gummer : As stated in my earlier reply to the hon. Gentleman, Ministers in this Department frequently meet representatives of the rendering industry. My most recent meeting with the industry was on 11 July, and I also visited a plant belonging to one of the largest United Kingdom renderers on the same day.
Aspartame
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he received a dossier of documents concerning the safety and testing of aspartame from Dr. Erik Millstone of Sussex university ; what action has been taken to refer them to the committees of experts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : My officials first received a set of documents from Dr. Millstone on 28 September 1989 and have received further documents on two subsequent occasions. All have been passed to the Department of Health to be brought to the attention of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemical in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment in connection with its current review of aspartame. Dr. Millstone has also written to me directly.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Salmon
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether fisheries conservancy board bailiffs and a scientist were authorised to remove salmon for the purpose of stripping eggs from them during the salmon seasons 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90 on the Grillagh river in County Londonderry.
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many reports have been received by the Fisheries Conservancy Board of poaching and illegal salmon stripping on the Grillagh, Clady and Maine rivers since November 1988 ; and what action has been taken.
Mr. Brooke : The Fisheries Conservancy Board receives a substantial number of reports, mostly oral, about poaching throughout its area of responsibility, but, as no central record of reports is maintained, it is not possible to quantify the number received in relation to specific watercourses. All reports are investigated by board staff.
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In January 1989 the board received information from a local angling club that there were dead salmon in the Grillagh river. On investigation a board bailiff found a number of dead fish some of which had been cut open. Subsequently allegations were made that board staff were involved in the stripping of salmon and the illegal operation of a hatchery.Because of the alleged involvement of its staff the Fisheries Conservancy Board referred the investigations to the Royal Ulster Constabulary for investigation. Following the submission of its report the Director of Public Prosecutions directed "No prosecution".
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many subject access requests under the terms of the Data Protection Act his Department has received ; what was his estimate of the number of requests that would be received ; what consideration he is giving to the subject access fee charged by his Department as a result ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Cope : The Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Departments have received a total of 28 subject access requests since November 1987. The estimated number of requests was 3,800 annually. I have no plans to reconsider subject access fees.
Strangford Lough
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals he has to issue new leases of the foreshores of Strangford lough ; and if he has any plans for its future management under a locally based democratic and representative structure.
Dr. Mawhinney : The issuing of leases of the foreshore of Strangford lough is a matter for the owners. The Crown Estate is the major owner of the foreshore.
The future management of foreshore contained in the Strangford lough area of special scientific interest is a matter between individual owners and occupiers and the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. The Department will consult widely regarding the formulation of management plans for Strangford lough in the context of the proposed marine nature reserve.
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he has any proposals for the leasing of the beds of Strangford lough ; and what proposals there are for its future management under a democratic representative structure based within the local community.
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