---

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Milk

2. Mr. Bryan Davies: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money the United Kingdom will receive from the EU to help pay for milk in secondary schools and milk in school catering in 1995-96. [4128]

Mr. Douglas Hogg: We estimate that EU expenditure on the discretionary elements of the school milk scheme will amount to approximately £6.1 million in the United Kingdom in 1995-96. Doing away with the discretionary element will result in public expenditure savings of about £4 million.

17. Mr. Khabra: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what will be the cost to the EU of the common agricultural policy milk and milk products regime in 1995. [4145]

Mr. Baldry: The provisional outturn for the cost of the EU diary regime in the 1995 FEOGA year is 4 billion ecu.

Dr. Strang: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make publicly available the submission by the United Kingdom to the European Commission requesting a derogation allowing the United Kingdom to continue to use EU aid for milk used in the preparation of school meals; and if he will place a copy of the submission in the Library. [3382]

Mr. Hogg [holding answer 30 November 1995]: I am arranging for a copy of the document to be placed in the Library of the House.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

15. Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met representatives of the dairy industry to discuss BSE. [4143]

Mrs. Browning: The Minister last met representatives of the dairy industry to discuss BSE-related issues on 6 December.

Mrs. Jane Kennedy: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received concerning the number of cases of BSE in the United Kingdom. [4141]

Mr. Douglas Hogg: I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) this afternoon.

14 Dec 1995 : Column: 828

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to ban from human food all specified offals from calves under the age of six months. [4849]

Mrs. Browning: The controls on the specified bovine offals are designed to ensure that all tissues that potentially harbour BSE infectivity are removed from cattle at slaughter and are destroyed. These tissues should not, therefore, enter the human or animal food chain. The current controls are based on scientific evidence and are endorsed by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. The six-month cut-off was originally based on the distribution of scrapie agent in infected sheep. Experimental studies show that BSE infectivity cannot be detected in either the brain or spinal cord up to and including 18 months after cattle were fed a large dose of infected brain. Indeed, infectivity has been found in no tissue other than the small intestine in these experiments so far. The small intestine from cattle of any age is banned from entering the food chain. The six-month cut-off for brain and spinal cord therefore represents a very wide margin of safety in relation to the experimental results and there is no reason to revise them.

Hill Farming

16. Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his policy for encouraging the younger generation to enter hill farming. [4144]

Mr. Boswell: I refer the reply given earlier by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mr. Griffiths).

In addition, farmers in the less-favoured areas benefit from the substantial public funding in the form of livestock subsidies. These are expected to amount to £610 million in 1995, rising to £655 million in 1996.

Common Agricultural Policy

18. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by what amount the planned expenditure of the EU on the CAP in 1996 differs from actual expenditure last year. [4146]

Mr. Baldry: The 1996 draft budget for the CAP exceeds expenditure in 1994 by about 7.9 billion ecu, or £6.7 billion at current rates of exchange.

Fruit and Vegetables

19. Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his plans to reduce the trade deficit in fruit and vegetables. [4147]

14 Dec 1995 : Column: 829

24. Mr. Simpson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the United Kingdom trade balances in fruit and vegetables; and what action the Government are taking to improve it. [4152]

Mr. Boswell: The trade deficit in horticultural products, currently standing at some £3 billion, reflects a range of factors, including imports of non-indigenous and out-of-season produce. Our strategy--which includes the appointment of a horticultural export promoter to the Department's market task force--is to encourage the industry to play to its strengths and match the excellence of its product with high-class marketing.

Farm Animals (Slaughter)

20. Dr. Spink: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he has taken to promote the slaughter of farm animals before transport. [4148]

Mrs. Browning: We have an excellent record on meat products, which are well up on last year, when they exceeded live exports in value terms by a factor of nearly 7:1. We are working with the industry and the Meat and Livestock Commission to convert even more of the trade in live animals to a trade in meat.

Fish Diseases Laboratories

21. Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people are employed in (a) his Department and (b) the new fish diseases laboratories in Weymouth; and what was the investment in the laboratories. [4149]

Mr. Boswell: At 1 October, the total number of staff employed in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, inclusive of the agencies, was 11,195. Of this number, 54 were employed at the fish diseases laboratories at Weymouth. The anticipated outturn cost for the provision of the laboratories at Weymouth is approximately £13 million.

Farmers (Early Retirement)

22. Mr. Alan W. Williams: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will introduce a scheme of voluntary early retirement for farmers. [4150]

Mr. Boswell: No. Council regulation 2079/92 permits member states to provide early retirement pensions to farmers aged between 55 and normal retirement age who release their land for amalgamation with other holdings or for non-agricultural use. This option has not been taken up in the UK because we take the view that its terms are not appropriate to the conditions of agriculture here.

Rural White Paper

23. Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the rural policy White Paper. [4151]

14 Dec 1995 : Column: 830

Mr. Boswell: During the preparation of the White Paper "Rural England--A Nation Committed to a Living Countryside" about 380 organisations and individuals responded to the invitation to give their views. Regional seminars involving key representatives from various interest groups in all regions were also held. Since the White Paper was published there have been a number of occasions attended by Ministers which have provided the opportunity for further representations to be made. In that period we have also received five letters to Ministers on the White Paper.

Pesticides

25. Mr. Rathbone: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to monitor the use of pesticides. [4154]

Mrs. Browning: The Government undertake a comprehensive monitoring programme which covers pesticide usage, residue levels and wildlife incidents. This information is reported to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and is used by the regulatory Departments to inform their policies relating to approval and control of pesticides. All monitoring results are made publicly available.

Dairy Crest

26. Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the sell-off of Dairy Crest. [4155]

Mr. Baldry: It is the responsibility of the Residuary Milk Marketing Board to decide, in the light of commercial and market conditions, when and how the disposal of Diary Crest is to be effected.

Farmers (Lichfield)

27. Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will meet farmers from the Lichfield area to discuss EU documentation; and if he will make a statement. [4156]

Mr. Boswell: I have no plans to meet farmers from the Lichfield area at the moment. However, as I announced on 9 November, we have set up an efficiency scrutiny which aims to reduce the burden of paperwork, including EU documentation, on farmers in England and Wales.

---