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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many parliamentary questions tabled in the last Session of Parliament were not answered on the grounds that the information sought was not held centrally by the Department.
Mr. Jack: According to the POLIS database, eight parliamentary questions, out of a total of 2,061, were answered during the last Session with the response that the information requested was not held centrally.
Slaughter Industry
Mr. Olner: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what support his Ministry is providing to encourage expansion of the United Kingdom slaughter industry.
Mrs. Browning: Since there is over-capacity in the slaughter industry, the demand will be determined by the market place.
Mr. Olner: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated number of animals transported live for slaughter from the United Kingdom in (a) 1993, (b) 1983 and (c) 1973; and what was the total numbers of carcases exported for each of those years.
Mrs. Browning: Data on numbers of animals exported for slaughter and on numbers of carcases are not available. Figures for total recorded numbers of animals and weight of meat exported are given in the table. The figures given for live animals may be too low and are being investigated. I shall write to the hon. Member to inform him of the results of this investigation.
|(a) |(b) |(c)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Live animals exported |Number |Number |Number
Cattle |391,130 |240,154 |174,837
Sheep and goats |662,982 |92,991 |134,964
Pigs |151,149 |571,245 |55,533
Poultry |20,450,736|11,274,078|6,330,613
Horses etc |13,801 |8,900 |12,247
Weight of meat exported |Tonnes |Tonnes |Tonnes
Beef |182,654 |186,016 |65,478
Mutton, lamb and goat meat |95,060 |43,317 |27,376
Port |97,417 |44,638 |11,604
Poultry meat |81,499 |22,834 |2,712
Horsemeat etc |1,189 |7,055 |1,402
Source:
H M Customs and Excise.
Advisory Committees
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of the reports and submissions produced by each of the hill farming advisory committees in (a) 1992, (b) 1993 and (c) 1994.
Mr. Jack: The Hill Farming Advisory Committee for England, Wales and Northern Ireland is chaired by my noble friend the Earl Howe. The committee advises Ministers on hill farming matters. It does not produce reports or submissions and my Department provides the secretariat.
The following table shows the number of meetings held, the budgeted expenditure and actual expenditure for the years 1992, 1993 and 1994.
|Number of meetings |Budgeted expenditure|Actual expenditure
£ |£
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 |2 |7,000 |7,000
1993 |2 |9,000 |8,500
1994 |1 |4,000 |3,000
Note:
Costs do not include MAFF staff time.
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the functions and objectives of (a) the consumers committees, (b) the agricultural dwelling house advisory committees, (c) the hill farming advisory committees, (d) the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and (e) the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee.
Mr. Jack: The functions of the consumers' committees for Great Britain, for England and Wales and for Scotland are laid down in section 19 of the Agricultural Marketing Act 1958. The committees consider and report to Agriculture Ministers on the effect of approved schemes on consumers of the products concerned. Currently, there are approved schemes for potatoes and wool only.
The agricultural dwelling house advisory committees' functions and objectives are to give information and impartial advice to local house authorities on the agricultural need and urgency for the re-housing of agricultural tied cottage occupants so as to make their vacated accommodation available to incoming agricultural workers. The hill farming advisory committees' functions and objectives are to advise the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Wales on the exercise of their powers under the Hill Farming Act 1946 and on any matter relating to farming in the less-favoured areas that may be referred to the committee by them.
The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has been given the responsibility of maintaining an
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overview of research into the spongiform encephalopathies as well as advising the government on all matters relating to the spongiform encephalopathies.The functions and objectives are of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides are published annually in its annual report, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of the reports and submissions produced by each of the agricultural dwelling house advisory committees in (a) 1992, (b) 1993 and (c) 1994.
Mr. Jack: Agricultural dwelling house advisory committees, which are statutory bodies under the Rent Agriculture Act 1976, are convened in England,--separate parallel arrangements apply in Wales--as required, by the chairman of the local agricultural wages committee. Secretarial support is provided by MAFF staff from the Ministry's regional service centres. In most instances, the Agricultural Development Advisory Committee provides a technical appraisal of the farm business involved.
The budgeted and actual expenditure for these committees is as follows:
Expenditure |1992-93 |1993-95 |1994-95 ------------------------------------------------------------ Budgeted |43,304 |37,000 |35,000 Actual |26,243 |31,888 |<1>17,059 <1> To 31 October 1994.
The budgeted costs and actual expenditure in respect of the ADAS appraisals, on a financial year basis, were:
|1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95
-------------------------------------------------------------
Budgeted Expenditure |<1>- |180,000 |126,000
Actual Costs |- |154,400 |<2>66,750
<1> Internal recharging for these services did not apply. No
separate budget allocation was therefore made.
<2> To 31 October 1994.
The remit of the committees is to give confidential advice to local housing authorities on the agricultural need for and urgency of re-housing applications. The following information summarises the conclusions reached by the committees on the cases examined:
|1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95<1>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agricultural need identified |165 |146 |68
No agricultural need identified |25 |29 |15
<1> To 31 October 1994.
On the urgency of the application, immediate rehousing was advised in the following numbers of cases where an agricultural need had been identified:
|Number
-------------------------
1992-93 |40
1993-94 |32
1994-95<1> |18
<1> To 31 October 1994.
Animal Transportation
Dr. Strang: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the place of departure and the place of destination given in (i) the certificate required under article 5 (d) of the Welfare of Animals during Transport Order 1992 and (ii) the journey plan required under article 5 (e) of the order, in respect of a consignment of calves flown at approximately 9 am on Wednesday 7 December from Coventry airport to Rennes.
Mr. Waldegrave: I am unable to release the precise information which covers matters of commercial confidentiality but am informed that the calves began their journey from premises in Somerset. Their final destination was notified as being to premises at Cherance Craon, in France.
Market Testing
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those services that have been market tested by his Department and won by the private sector, indicating the organisation that won the tender and its value.
Mr. Waldegrave [holding answer 12 December 1994]: The services that have been market tested by my Department and won by the private sector, together with the organisations that have won tenders, are as follows:
Term Commissions for Architectural and Engineering Design Services:
--Jefferson Sheard
--Rogers and Grundy
--Ferguson Bucknall Austin
--Lawrence Hewitt Partnership
IT Outsourcing (MVS):
--Data Sciences
Reprographics Services (ADAS):
--Rank Xerox
Supply of Overseas Trade Statistics:
--MDS Transmodal
Library Services (Books and Journals):
--Dawson UK
--Swets UK
--Hammicks
--Blackwell
--National History Book Service
--Dillons
--Eastlake Information
General Recruitment:
--MSL Advertising
--PA Consulting
--Austin Knight
Buildings and Estate Management:
--Balfour Beatty
--BET
--MJN
--Symonds Facilities Management
--Planned Maintenance Ltd
--Amey Facilities Management
--Haden Facility Management
--Lawrence Hewitt Partnership
--PSA North East
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--Ferguson Bucknall Austin--Henry Boot Management
--Drivers Jonas
--Knight, Frank and Rutley
Relocation Work (CSL):
--PE International
Pesticide Residues Testing in Bread:
--Severn Trent Laboratories
Pesticides Evaluation Work:
--Applications
--P Nichols
--Til Occam Ltd
--Campden Food and Drink Research Association
--Hazleton Europe Ltd.
R and D
--Whitbread plc
--Paterson Institute: Christie Hospital NHS
--Animal Health Trust
--A E Johnston
--Processors and Growers Research Organisation
--UMDS--Guys Hospital
--P E International
--Ashbourne BioSciences
--Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants
--RPS Clouston
Land Research Associates
W S Atkins
Mylnefield Research Service Ltd.
In order to preserve the legitimate commercial confidence of tenderers and contractors and protect the position of my Department in current or future tendering activities, the value of winning tenders cannot be disclosed.
Pigs
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what grant aid is available to pig producers in England to convert sow tether and stall accommodation.
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 12 December 1994]: In 1991, we decided that by giving producers eight years to phase out stalls and tethers the cost was reduced to containable levels and it was not a priority for the limited funds available. That remains our view.
Lindane
Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy on the use of the pesticide lindane.
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 12 December 1994]: Lindane is approved for certain uses by the six Government Departments responsible for pesticide safety. The independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides initiated a review of agricultural uses in April 1992 and plans to complete this review by next spring.
Its review of other uses of lindane was completed in December 1992, and the committee recommended that these should continue. Ministers accepted this recommendation and the evaluation documents are available from the Pesticides Safety Directorate.
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