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Mr. Aitken : Messrs. Wilmott and Harris have been suspended on full pay following allegations and are now the subject of an internal departmental investigation.
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the salary received and expenses claimed in 1992-93 and 1993-94 by Steven Wilmott and David Harris from his Department's press office in Plymouth.
Mr. Aitken : It is not my Department's practice to reveal details of payments made to individuals.
RAF Pilots (Leather Jackets)
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will make a statement about the military value to RAF pilots of wearing leather jackets ;
(2) how many leather jackets have been provided for RAF pilots and aircrew in the past two years ; and at what cost ;
(3) whether leather jackets are part of the uniform for RAF pilots and aircrew.
Mr. Hanley : Leather jackets are an optional item of dress and are of no direct military value to RAF pilots. They are not therefore provided at public expense.
Detective Agencies
Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on contracts with private detective agencies since 1991 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : I am not aware of any expenditure by my Department on contracts with private detective agencies. I am aware, however, that the Treasury Solicitor's Department does sometimes employ inquiry agents when pursuing debtors of the MOD and other Government Departments. While such services are not paid for directly by my Department, they will be included in the final costs submitted by the Treasury Solicitor's Department.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Mrs. Golding : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to make better known the work undertaken by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in maintaining the records, memorials and war graves of allied service people killed in two world wars.
Mr. Hanley : The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for arranging its own publicity. The MOD does, however, make a major financial contribution to the Commission's budget on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government, which includes funds for publicity.
Mrs. Golding : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what was the British Government's
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contribution to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1993-94 ; and what he proposes it will be in 1994-95 ;(2) if he will set out the factors which led him to reduce the United Kingdom contribution to the funding of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ; and if he will now restore the money as part of the D-day commemoration.
Mr. Hanley : The United Kingdom's contribution to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission takes the form of a grant-in-aid, which is discussed annually between my Department and the CWGC. In 1993-94 the grant-in-aid to the CWGC was £21,390,295. Financial provision for 1994-95, which has been agreed with the commission, is £20,532,368. This will be supplemented by a substantial surplus of around £1,700, 000 carried forward from the previous year.
The commission's budget, and our contributions to it, have increased by 50 per cent. in cash terms over the last five years. We believe that the level of funding is realistic in the light of the commission's future requirements. The commission has confirmed that it has no plans to cut any projects or commitments as a result.
Mrs. Golding : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what countries are now represented on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission ; and what consultation he had with the Governments concerned before announcing to the commission his decision to cut its funding.
Mr. Hanley : The countries represented on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are : the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa. As well as being represented on the commission, all member countries are represented on its finance committee which discusses funding.
Mrs. Golding : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the countries which contain Commonwealth war graves and memorials which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Mr. Hanley : The Ministry of Defence does not keep records of the nature requested, responsibility for which rests with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I will arrange for the Director-General of the commission to write to the hon. Member.
Colonels in Chief
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what authority appointments of colonels in chief of Army regiments are made ; what are the administrative arrangements for these appointments ; what is the total cost of all aspects of the work of colonels in chief ; what are the equivalent arrangements for the RAF and Royal Navy ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : Appointments of colonels in chief of Army regiments and corps are made by Her Majesty the Queen from recommendations submitted by the Army Board. The appointments are not salaried and involve only minimal costs incurred when visiting units. Such costs are borne by the Army, but are not separately identified and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Similar arrangements apply in both the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.Airlines (Military Transport)
Mr. Davidson : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the Government's policy in respect of the criteria to be used in determining which airline should carry military personnel abroad.
Mr. Hanley : Wherever possible, military personnel are carried on Royal Air Force transport aircraft.
Where RAF aircraft are not available, or their use is not considered to be cost effective, movement may be carried out by commercial airlines. This can either take place under charter arrangements, as in the case of large numbers of passengers moving to a specific destination, such as Germany, or by use of specially negotiated fares with British, European and other airlines which are regularly monitored and renegotiated.
In determining which airline to use, it is my Department's practice to engage in competitive tendering and best value-for-money negotiations, taking full account of Department of Transport guidelines and EC services directives, as appropriate.
Friendly Fire
Mr. O'Hara : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what procedures were enforced after the friendly fire incident in the Gulf war, in which a British Warrior armoured car was hit, to prevent a repetition of such errors ; and whether these were in place when two American helicopters were shot down recently by friendy fire in northern Iraq.
Mr. Hanley : Following the friendly fire incident in the Gulf conflict we have been working independently as well as in close consultation with the United States and our other NATO allies, on improvements to the management of combat indentification and the development of more advanced technology in support of this. The incident in northern Iraq on 14 April is the subject of a full United States inquiry in which the United Kingdom and other coalition partners are represented. The results of this inquiry will be reported to Parliament as soon as possible, and it is therefore inapopropriate at this point to attempt to draw parallels between the two incidents.
Civil Servants (Business Appointments)
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civil servants in his Department applied in each year since 1986 through the business appointments system to take up an outside appointment (a) as an independent consultant, (b) in a firm of consultants and (c) in other employment ; how many were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments ; and how many were granted.
Mr. Aitken : Business appointment records are not maintained in a format which enables applications to join firms of consultants to be identified separately. Such applications are included under "Other Employment".
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|Number of |Independent |Other |Referred |Approved
|applications|consultants |Employment |to ACBA |by ACBA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1986 |357 |32 |325 |1 |1
1987 |228 |6 |222 |8 |8
1988 |256 |10 |246 |1 |1
1989 |320 |5 |315 |2 |2
1990 |181 |45 |136 |7 |7
1991 |134 |36 |98 |7 |7
1992 |219 |113 |106 |2 |2
1993 |160 |109 |51 |3 |3
Note: Only applications from officers at Grades 1 and 2 are referred to the Advisory Panel
on Business Appointments, chaired by Lord Carlisle.
Sentries
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is his policy relating to the deployment of service personnel on sentry duty who are under investigation regarding (a) possible crimes of violence and (b) possible drugs-related offences ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what is his policy relating to the provision of weapons for service personnel on sentry duty who are under investigation regarding (a) possible crimes of violence and (b) possible drugs-related offences ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Hanley : Decisions on the deployment of service personnel on day -to-day duties, including sentry duty, are a matter for the commanding officer of the individual concerned. Where an individual is under investigation regarding crimes of violence or drug-related offences, the seriousness of the alleged offence will be taken into account when deciding whether the individual should continue to undertake sentry duty or other duties, armed or otherwise. It would be normal practice, however, for personnel under investigation for serious offences to be held under close arrest. Where a less serious offence is concerned it might be considered appropriate for an individual to continue normal duties, but under supervision.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Community Care Grants
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people made an application in respect of community care grants and loans from the social fund system at each of the social security offices between 1 April 1988 and 31 March 1994 ; of these how many were accepted ; how much was paid out ; how many were refused ; and what were the reasons for refusal.
Mr. Ancram : Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from A. Wylie to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 28 April 1994 : I have been asked o reply to your recent Parliamentary Question relating to Social Fund statistics.
I am sorry I am unable to provide information in the form you have requested as :
information is not readily available in the period 1 April 1988 to 31 March 1990 and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost ;
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details for each Social Security Office can only be given for the 1990-91 year. As the Social Fund has been managed on a District basis from April 1991 information has been supplied accordingly ; an individual can make more than one application to the Social Fund the figures shown therefore refer to the number of applications received rather than number of people making application ; information on the number of refusals is only held as a percentage of decisions made ;information is not held on the reasons for refusal of applications. The available information is set out in the tables, which are too long to be printed in the Official Report and arrangements will be made for a copy to be deposited in the Library. Statistics on Social Fund applications is also available in the Library under "Social Fund Data" and these figures are updated on a monthly basis.
I hope that you will find this information helpful.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. McGrady : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is (a) the average time and (b) the range of times taken to process a review case for disability living allowance.
Mr. Ancram : Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under its chief executive, Mr. Alec Wylie. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from A. Wylie to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 28 April 1994 : I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the average and range of times taken to process a review case for Disability Living Allowance.
I am sorry that information on the processing of Disability Living Allowance review cases is not held in the format that you have requested. The procedure is that each year I set targets for the time taken to clear review cases. For the 1993-94 year these were : 60 of cases to be cleared in 55 days and
80 to be cleared in 75 days.
Unfortunately the Agency has been unable to meet these targets. By the end of the 1993-94 year 22 of cases had been cleared within 55 days and 32 within 75 days. The reason for the failure to achieve the targets is that the number of requests for review far exceeded expectations and, by September 1993, there was a backlog of about 8, 000 cases awaiting decision. Extra staff were recruited to deal with this and with the use of extensive overtime most of the outstanding cases were cleared by February 1994.
I hope you find this information helpful.
Civil Servants (Business Appointments)
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many civil servants in his Department applied in each year since 1986 through the business appointments system to take up an outside appointment (a) as an independent consultant, (b) in a firm
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of consultants and (c) in other employment ; how many were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments ; and how many were granted.Sir John Wheeler : Civil servants applied to take up outside appointments in the following years :
Year |Independent|Firm of |Other
|consultant |consultants|employment
------------------------------------------------------------
1986 |1 |- |-
1988 |- |1 |1
1989 |- |1 |1
1991 |1 |- |2
1992 |1 |- |1
1993 |- |- |1
Three of the above applications were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. All of the above applications were granted.
Energy Co-operation
Mr. John D. Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he last met Ministers from (a) Scotland and (b) the Republic of Ireland to discuss co-operation in the provision and distribution of energy ; and if he will make a statement about energy co-operation between Northern Ireland and both Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.
Mr. Tim Smith : Regular discussions take place with Scottish Ministers on a wide range of issues including energy. Energy matters, particularly electricity, have been discussed with Ministers from the Republic of Ireland from time to time. I continue to support any co- operation in energy matters which may bring benefit to Northern Ireland.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Food (Expenditure)
Sir Ralph Howell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the net disposable income per person in pounds sterling ; what was the expenditure on food (a) as a percentage of net disposable income and (b) in pounds sterling in (i) each European Union country, (ii) Sweden, (iii) Norway, (iv) Austria, (v) Finland, (vi) the United States of America and (vii) Japan in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Jack : The information is given in the table.
The following comparable information is available for 1991 :
|Household |Expenditure |Expenditure
|expenditure |on food<2> per|on food as a
|per person<1> |person (£) |percentage of
|(£) |household
|expenditure
|(per cent.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belgium |6,614 |1,062 |16
Denmark |7,368 |1,087 |15
Germany |7,397 |<4>1,453 |20
Greece |2,780 |867 |31
Spain |4,795 |914 |19
France |7,187 |1,162 |16
Ireland |3,776 |805 |21
Italy |6,993 |1,250 |18
Netherlands |6,529 |798 |12
Portugal |2,127 |n/a |<6>34
United Kingdom |6,207 |766 |12
Sweden |8,156 |1,291 |16
Norway |7,175 |1,406 |20
Austria |6,516 |1,106 |17
Finland |7,439 |1,186 |16
USA |<3>8,423 |831 |10
Japan |8,555 |<5>1,162 |14
<1> Final consumption expenditure of resident households.
<2> Within the household except where stated otherwise.
<3> Includes expenditure by private non profit making institutions.
<4> Includes alcoholic drink and meals out.
<5> Includes alcoholic drink and tobacco.
<6> 1986.
Sources: EUROSTAT National Accounts ESA 1970-91.
OECD National Accounts 1979-91.
Colorado Beetle
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent reports she received of Colorado beetle (a) unsolicited and (b) in response to requests for information ; and if she will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : We have received 25 reports so far this year of Colorado beetle in England, of which nine were as a result of inspections undertaken by the plant health and seeds inspectorate. This brings the total number of beetles found to 44.
The United Kingdom is a protected zone under the EC single market arrangements for plant health, and Colorado beetle is accordingly a notifiable quarantine pest in the United Kingdom under the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1993. Each year we launch a publicity campaign to heighten public awareness about the pest. This has led to a good response from processors, traders and members of the public in notifying findings.
No breeding colony has been found in the United Kindom since one in 1976. The colony was successfully eradicated.
Halal Meat Company, Birmingham
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (a) dead and (b) recumbent animals have been delivered to the Halal Meat Company in Birmingham in each of the last 12 months ; what was the country of origin of those animals ; and how many prosecutions are being brought in respect of those animals which were deemed unfit for transit.
Mr. Soames : The information requested is set out in the table. The figures are indicative of the problems of handling this category of sheep. Prosecutions are a matter for the local authorities concerned ; I understand that none is pending in respect of animals which were deemed unfit for transport.
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Dead in transit and down in transit sheep
Birmingham Halal slaughterhouses
Month and origin |Dead |Recumbent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1993 April-Local |20 |38
May-Wales and Local |15 |30
June-Wales and Local |18 |28
July-Wales and Local |16 |20
August-Wales, Scotland
and Local |10 |15
September-Wales, Scotland
and Local |12 |18
October-Wales, Scotland
and Local |16 |20
November-Wales, Scotland
and Local |10 |21
December-Wales and
Scotland |7 |19
1994 January-Wales and Local |12 |44
February-Local |11 |33
March-2 Irish, 1 Polish,
2 Spanish, 30 Local |13 |35
1994 April to 26 April-Local |18 |31
Notes:
1. Total annual throughput approximately 36,000 sheep.
2. Dead in Transit' includes some that arrived alive but died overnight in
lairage.
3. Recumbent' includes some which walked off the lorry but collapsed overnight.
Fisheries
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if the protection against special access to the North sea in the accession arrangements extend to non-pressure stocks ; (2) whether Spanish and Portuguese fishing vessels will be allowed to fish in the North sea under article VII of the treaty of Rome after 1 January 1996 ;
(3) to what extent the Spanish and Portuguese will be integrated into the common fisheries policy by 1 January 1996 ; and whether they will be able to fish in all European Union waters.
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if she will give details of proposals of fisheries management agreed or tabled at the April European Union Council of Fisheries Ministers relating to (a) the possible replacement of the Irish box and (b) the restricted list of 300 Spanish fishing vessels ; and if she will make a statement ;
(2) if she will detail proposals agreed or tabled at the April European Union Council of Fisheries Ministers relating to access by Spanish fishing vessels into (a) the Irish sensitive zone, (b) west of Scotland fishing grounds, (c) International Council for the Exploration of the Seas area VII, (d) the North sea pressure stocks fishery and (e) the North sea non- pressure stocks fishery ; and if she will make a statement.
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Mr. Jack : I refer the hon. Members to the reply given to my hon. Friend, the Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 13 April 1994, Official Report, columns 183-84.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assurance she gave in Strasbourg to the British fishing industry about Spanish fishing rights in (a) the North sea and (b) the Irish box after January 1996.
Mr. Jack : Neither the Minister nor I have visited Strasbourg recently.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the United Kingdom vote in relation to granting a full concession of fishing rights to Spain under the common fisheries policy at the last Fisheries Council.
Mr. Jack : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes) on 25 April 1994, Official Report, column 79.
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations she has received from fishing industry representatives regarding the possibilities of a permit system for the Irish sensitive zone.
Mr. Jack : Officials are to meet representatives of the fishing industry shortly to discuss proposals which the Commission has made for a general system of fishing permits.
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the declared policy position of each other European Union member state with regard to fisheries effort control in the Irish sensitive zone.
Mr. Jack : The Commission is to make proposals for the zone, inter alia, by 1 June 1994. Consequently, the position of other member states is not yet known.
Sheep and Lamb Exports
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what tonnage of domestically reared lamb and sheep was exported for each year since 1979 ; to which countries ; and in what form.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 27 April 1994] : Export data specifically referring to domestically reared lamb and sheep are not available. Total exports of lamb and sheep from the United Kingdom, by destination and form, for years 1979 to 1993, are shown in the following table.
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Exports of sheep and sheepmeat
1979 to 1993
Metric tonnes
|1979 |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992 |<1>1993
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live sheep and lambs
All countries |17,261 |14,281 |8,026 |5,833 |4,348 |3,564 |2,990 |5,857 |12,767 |17,835 |22,451 |22,225 |33,040 |52,051 |30,712
EC |17,222 |14,273 |7,934 |5,810 |4,333 |3,555 |2,960 |5,785 |12,760 |17,809 |22,436 |22,217 |33,023 |51,993 |30,709
Of which:
Belgium/Luxembourg |1,429 |1,517 |2,689 |1,108 |993 |- |655 |482 |70 |342 |981 |258 |1,568 |3,071 |3,572
Germany<2> |6,257 |6,770 |1,977 |1,136 |1,993 |1,111 |- |161 |- |132 |467 |- |143 |1,830 |1,060
Irish Republic |9,377 |5,623 |907 |2,169 |1,326 |1,856 |1,662 |905 |1,921 |2,071 |2,909 |3,133 |3,704 |2,540 |10
France |- |- |2,297 |1,394 |- |- |- |4,047 |10,701 |15,175 |17,645 |18,733 |26,943 |43,250 |24,193
Non-EC |39 |8 |92 |23 |15 |9 |30 |72 |7 |26 |15 |8 |17 |58 |3
Meat of sheep and lambFresh/chilled/frozen
All countries |40,922 |36,949 |37,531 |37,041 |43,317 |47,330 |48,701 |60,019 |71,188 |75,985 |89,160 |79,697 |79,960 |105,146|95,059
EC |36,630 |33,304 |32,601 |34,676 |39,851 |44,239 |44,441 |57,134 |68,643 |73,689 |86,725 |77,371 |77,810 |103,173|92,684
Of which:
Belgium/Luxembourg |14,126 |13,704 |6,103 |5,584 |4,120 |4,053 |5,983 |7,016 |7,904 |8,068 |8,539 |8,936 |9,362 |9,615 |10,315
Germany<2> |13,593 |13,647 |5,138 |5,521 |4,529 |2,977 |2,453 |2,889 |2,544 |3,054 |3,662 |2,784 |2,118 |4,882 |4,174
France |5,107 |3,466 |19,797 |22,246 |29,953 |35,625 |34,550 |43,937 |53,865 |56,625 |66,402 |55,229 |53,383 |72,410 |65,147
Italy |2,361 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |2,262 |2,796 |2,359 |3,502 |4,477 |4,624 |3,849
Spain |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |3,822 |5,223 |1,565 |8,380 |5,838
Non-EC |4,292 |3,645 |4,930 |2,365 |3,466 |3,091 |4,260 |2,885 |2,545 |2,296 |2,435 |2,326 |2,150 |1,973 |2,375
Of which:
Switzerland |1,630 |1,529 |1,508 |1,943 |2,271 |2,158 |2,560 |2,450 |2,170 |1,964 |2,177 |1,928 |1,882 |1,557 |1,845
<1>Data for 1993 are provisional and subject to revision.
<2>Data pre-1991 covers the Federal Republic only.
<3>Data pre-1988 also includes meat of goats.
Sources:
CSO/Department of Trade Annual Edition of Overseas Trade Statistics and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
Civil Servants (Business Appointments)
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many civil servants in her Department applied each year since 1986 through the business appointments system to take up an outside appointment (a) as an independent consultant (b) in a firm of consultants and (c) in other employment ; how many were referred to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments ; and how many were granted.
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Mr. Jack : The following is a table of statistics showing the number of civil servants in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food who have applied in each year since 1986 through the business appointments scheme to take up an outside appointment. There have not been any applications which have required referral to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments during the period 1986 to the present date.
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Table showing number of civil servants in MAFF who have applied, since 1986 through the Business Appointments Scheme to
take up an outside
appointment
1986<1> 1987 1988
|Number of |Number |Number of |Number |Number of |Number
|applications|approved |applications|approved |applications|approved
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) as an independent consultant |- |- |3 |3 |5 |5
(b) in a firm of consultants |- |- |- |- |- |-
(c) other employment |- |- |8 |8 |7(3) |7(3)
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |13 |13 |11 |11 |12(3)<2> |12(3)<2>
<1> Information not immediately available with regard to (a),. (b) and (c).
<2> Non-executive director.
Column 479
1989 1990 1991
|Number of |Number |Number of |Number |Number of |Number
|applications|approved |applications|approved |applications|approved
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) as an independent consultant |3 |3 |2 |2 |3 |3
(b) in a firm of consultants |1 |1 |1 |1 |1 |1
(c) other employment |5 |4 |9 |9 |6 |6
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |9 |8 |12 |12 |10 |10
Column 479
1992 1993 1994<3>
|Number of |Number |Number of |Number |Number of |Number
|applications|approved |applications|approved |applications|approved
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) as an independent consultant |8 |8 |8 |8 |6 |6
(b) in a firm of consultants |1 |1 |1 |1 |- |-
(c) other employment |6 |6 |9 |9 |2 |2
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
Total |15 |15 |18 |18 |8 |8
<3> Statistics as at 31 March 1994.
Note:
There have been 3 applications which have required referral to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments during the
period 1986 to the present date and all were successful and are included in the figures relating to 1988 and 1990.
Column 480
Animal Diseases
Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which European countries presently have cases of (a) foot and mouth disease, (b) African swine
Column 481
fever, (c) classical swine fever, (d) swine vesicular disease and (e) Aujeszky's disease ; when she last met and what consultations she has had with the east Yorkshire and national NFU over preventing these diseases from entering Britain ; what measures she is taking to prevent these diseases entering the country ; and if she will make a statement.Mr. Soames : The information requested is set out in the table. My right hon. Friend keeps in close touch with the President of the NFU and its regions about all matters of
Column 482
current interest, including measures to help prevent the introduction and spread of disease by imported farm livestock. A number of such measures are set out in my reply to the hon. and learned Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence) on 1 December 1993, Official Report, column 590. Similar measures apply to pigs, including checking all imported pigs to keep out the threat of Aujeszky's disease. These measures are kept under constant review and the number of checks is intensified in the light of perceived disease risks.Column 481
Incidence of disease in Europe: 1994 to date
Foot and Mouth |African Swine |Classical Swine |Swine Vesicular |Aujeszky's
disease |fever |fever |disease |disease
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- |Italy (Sardinia) |Belgium |Italy |See note below
|Spain |Bulgaria |Netherlands
|Estonia
|Germany
|Italy
|Poland
|former Republic of Yugoslavia
|(including Macedonia)
|Slovak Republic
Source: Office International des Epizooties (OIE).
Note:
Aujeszky's disease is not compulsorily notifiable in all EC Member States and information on its prevalence is not readily available. However, within the EC only Denmark, Great
Britain and certain Departments in France are recognised as being free of Aujeszky's disease.
Beef
Dr. Strang : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what evidence she has for her statement that a promotion of Scotch whisky in a German chain of food shops was cancelled as a result of the stance of the German Government towards British beef.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard [holding answer 29 April 1994] : I have been informed by Food From Britain's overseas division in Germany that concerns over bovine spongiform encephalopathy have created general difficulties in arranging promotions of British products.
EC Surplus Foods
Mr. Jamieson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many (a) independent and (b) grant-maintained schools have received free surplus food products from the EC since April 1989 ; and what was its market value ;
(2) how many (a) independent and (b) grant-maintained schools have received free surplus stewing steak from the European Community since April 1993 ; and what was the total market value of the surplus stewing steak provided.
Mr. Jack : Independent and grant-maintained schools are not eligible for produce distributed under the EC surplus food scheme.
Fisheries Management
Mr. Wallace : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations (a) have taken place and (b) are proposed with fishing industry representatives regarding a fisheries management regime for the Irish sensitive zone ; and if she will make a statement.
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Mr. Jack : I have maintained close contact with representatives of the fishing industry about all aspects of the review of Spanish and Portuguese accession arrangements and will continue to do so.
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