House of Commons Hansard Debates for 25 Apr 1991

Advertising

Mr. Dobson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give separate figures for the spending by his Department on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising, (c) newspaper advertising and (d) other promotional material in 1979-80 and in each following year ; and what are his latest estimates for 1990-91 and budgets for 1991-92.

Mr. Curry : Expenditure by the Department in the financial year 1982 -83 and each subsequent year was as follows :

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                |(a)            |(b)            |(c)            |(d)                            

                |TV             |Radio          |Press          |Other publicity                

                                                |advertising    |material                       

                                                |£            |£                            

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

1982-83         |nil            |nil            |3,000          |n/a                            

1983-84         |nil            |nil            |27,000         |n/a                            

1984-85         |nil            |niil           |26,000         |575,000                        

1985-86         |nil            |nil            |29,000         |656,000                        

1986-87         |nil            |nil            |54,000         |825,000                        

1987-88         |nil            |nil            |12,000         |693,000                        

1988-89         |nil            |nil            |380,000        |1,004,000                      

1989-90         |nil            |nil            |116,000        |2,373,000                      

1990-91         |nil            |nil            |53,000         |2,379,000

Figures for publicity advertising prior to 1982-83 are not available as the information for those years includes recruitment and other types of advertising. Information is not readily available to distinguish between expenditure on advertising in newspapers and that in the press generally. Separate figures for expenditure on other publicity material prior to 1984- 85 are available only at disproportionate cost.

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The overall publicity budget for 1991-92 is estimated to be £4.4 million.

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Fish Imports

Mr. Battle : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the level of imports of Icelandic fish, both as a total figure and as a percentage of all imports of fish.

Mr. Curry : In 1990, the latest year for which we have complete figures, United Kingdom imports of fresh, chilled and frozen fish from Iceland totalled 109,198 tonnes. This is 36 per cent. of the total United Kingdom imports for 1990, or 302,313 tonnes.

Chernobyl

Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about his reasons for refusing to grant permission for the publication in the New Scientist of a scientific paper by scientists from his Ministry about the behaviour of radioactive caesium in the soil following the contamination of British soil arising from the Chernobyl accident.

Mr. Gummer : My Department took the initiative for and prepared this article. A text for publication was submitted to the New Scientist on 4 April, and I hope that it will publish it in a future edition. The hon. Member's information is therefore not correct.

Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the area in acres and hectares, the number of sheep, and the number of farms currently under restriction, including the county or counties involved, as a result of the radioactive contamination following the Chernobyl accident.

Mr. Gummer : Following the release of some areas from restriction this January, the information for England is as follows : county : Cumbria

area : approximately 104,000 acres (42,000 hectares)

holdings : 144

sheep : 130,000 (estimated post-lambing figure).

Mr. Flynn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list all actions taken by his Department since the Chernobyl accident to mitigate the effects upon United Kingdom farmers of the radioactive fallout from the Soviet accident. Mr. Maclean : Full details of the Department's actions were submitted to the Agriculture Select Committee in May 1988. The development of live-monitoring techniques and the introduction of "mark and release" arrangements were designed to minimise disruption of normal husbandry practices of those farmers whose sheep have been caught by post-Chernobyl movement and slaughter restrictions and the Government have so far paid over £8

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million in compensation to the farmers concerned. In addition, we have funded an extensive scientific research programme aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the behaviour of radiocaesium in the affected upland ecologies and at identifying any options for remedial treatment of either the land or the sheep which graze it. However, our first priority has been to ensure that consumers remain fully protected at all times and, by successfully maintaining public confidence in the quality and safety of British produce, the Government have helped to sustain healthy markets for British farmers both at home and overseas.

Clenbuterol

Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any evidence of the use of clenbuterol in cattle ; what precautions have been taken to detect the importation of clenbuterol from Community countries ; what new controls have been introduced this year to control the importation from the Republic of Ireland of beef strengthened by clenbuterol ; and if he will make a statement on the existence and use of clenbuterol in the beef industry.

Mr. Maclean : Clenbuterol is the active ingredient in three veterinary medicinal products licensed under the Medicines Act for use, only on prescription, to treat respiratory disease in calves and horses and as an aid to cattle at the time of calving. At present, there is no evidence of any existence or use of illegal clenbuterol in the beef industry in Great Britain.

Last year, around 300 liver samples were taken from slaughterhouses in Great Britain and tested for clenbuterol. No positives were detected. Surveillance in 1991 is being stepped up, both in terms of the number of animals tested, and the age range of cattle covered. Within the Ministry's imported meat monitoring programme, which includes checks on meat from EC countries such as the Republic of Ireland, 114 liver samples have been tested and no positives found.

Carcases (St. Tudwals)

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were the results of his Department's investigations into the carcases of red deer and sheep on the island of St. Tudwals, near Abersoch, Gwynedd.

Mr. David Hunt : I have been asked to reply.

Samples were submitted for examination to the veterinary investigation centre at Bangor by a private veterinary surgeon. This was an ordinary commercial transaction and as with all such work the results are confidential.

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