House of Commons Hansard Debates for 3 Dec 1993

Wildlife Units

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will list the locations of her wildlife units that are currently based at Ministry of Defence establishments ; what is the nature of the work being conducted by each unit ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Soames : The work of the only wildlife unit based at a Ministry of Defence establishment was outlined in the answer given to the hon. Member on 26 October at column 564.

Food Surpluses

Mr. Davidson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many tonnes of beef and butter were supplied to pensioners and those on benefits throughout the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.

Mr. Jack : In the United Kingdom, the following amounts of produce were distributed to eligible groups, including those pensioners that meet the qualifying criteria, under the EC surplus food scheme :


                |Butter (tonnes)|Beef (tonnes)                  

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

1989-90         |3,000          |3,000                          

1990-91         |3,800          |3,000                          

1991-92         |3,800          |3,000                          

1992-93         |3,700          |3,000                          

For 1993-94, 12,200 tonnes of beef is being made available.

Wages

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the minimum agricultural wages applied to those working for agricultural gangmasters in each year since 1991.

Mr. Jack : Yes, provided that the work undertaken is within the statutory definition of agriculture.

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Potatoes

Mr. Tyler : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when she expects the Council of Agriculture Ministers to discuss the proposed European Community potato regime ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack : The Commission's draft proposal was last before the Agriculture Council in May. It has not been on the agenda since then, nor is it on the agenda for December.

Badgers

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what results have been achieved to date by her wildlife unit at royal air station, Aston Down in its investigations of badgers spreading bovine tuberculosis to cattle ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Soames : The wildlife unit has an operational, not a research, role.

Set-aside Scheme

Sir Cranley Onslow : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations her Department has had with interested parties about the inclusion of riverside buffer zones in the set-aside scheme ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack : The management conditions for set-aside under the arable area payments scheme were the subject of a consultation document issued in March 1993. The 1993-94 arable area payments guide advises that set-aside placed next to sites such as rivers and streams can act as a buffer to protect those areas and help reduce run-off of fertilisers and pesticides.

Another consultation document issued in March 1993 contained proposals to create or improve a range of wildlife habitats by taking them out of production for 20 years. Water fringes are one of the targeted habitats, with the objective of protecting the water and its flora and fauna, as well as creating a wildlife habitat on the waterside banks. Our decision to go ahead with this new habitat scheme was announced on 10 August 1993 and the scheme will open for applications in 1994.

Sheep Quota

Mrs. Ray Michie : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many applications there have been for sheep quotas from the national reserve ; if she will give the number of successful applications as a proportion of all applications ; and if she will provide a breakdown of the statistics for the United Kingdom.

Mr. Jack : Before applications to the national reserves can be invited, the necessary legislation must be laid before Parliament. This will be done shortly. At the same time, I shall give details about the arrangements for making applications.

Departmental Files

Mr. Byers : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many files marked "not for National Audit Office eyes" are held by her Department.

Mr. Jack : The marking "not for NAO eyes" is used in accordance with an agreement between the Treasury and

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the National Audit Office, under which current documents relating to the handling of relations between Departments and the NAO are not automatically available to the NAO.

There are unlikely to be a great number of such files but no central file record is kept in MAFF, and to obtain this information by a departmental inquiry to all the various registries would be very time consuming and costly.

Column 850

Wages Board

Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many submissions she has received to the consultation on the future of the Agricultural Wages Board; and how many of those were in favour of the abolition of the board.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard : When the consultation period closed on 1 November 1993, some 3,566 responses had been received and 14 petitions. A further 32 responses have been received since the end of the consultation period. The vast majority were in favour of retention of the board.

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