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Students
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many higher education students who have temporarily withdrawn from their courses due to ill health have benefited from the revised guidelines issued by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland to the education and library boards in July 1995. [15293]
Departmental Suppliers
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to ensure that his Department identifies the size of its suppliers by the number of their employees. [15603]
Sir John Wheeler:
The majority of suppliers in Northern Ireland are small and medium-sized enterprises.
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However, any supplier seeking business through the Government purchasing service is asked to complete a supplier questionnaire as part of the tendering process. One of the requirements of the questionnaire is that all firms give details of the average annual manpower and number of managerial staff employed over the past three years.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what strain typing studies his Department is currently funding into BSE cases; and what plans he has to extend them to cover cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. [7214]
Mrs. Browning: This Department is currently funding the following strain typing study of BSE, at the neuropathogenisis unit, Edinburgh:
"Strain typing of BSE pathogen in mice and comparison with strains from natural sheep scrapie".
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the possibility of domesticated animals other than bovines developing spongiform encephalopathy. [7233]
Mrs. Browning:
The Department has commissioned a number of pieces of work to look at the transmission of BSE to other domesticated species; work has also been done independently. This work has shown that sheep, goats and mink develop spongiform encephalopathy when fed with brain from cattle clinically affected with BSE.
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Pigs have succumbed when BSE infected brain has been injected intra-cerebrally but not when fed infected brain. The only domesticated species in which BSE type disease has occurred naturally, rather than being experimentally induced, is the cat.
All species of animals and poultry are protected against the risk of infection with BSE by the ban on the use of specified bovine offals in feed, which was introduced in September 1990.
Mr. Marlow:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many animal health officers are paid for by his Department; what is their cost; and what was the equivalent figure in 1990. [15745]
Mrs. Browning:
At 1 January 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food employed 137.1 animal health officers and 29 senior animal health officers. Based on 1995-96 standard salary costs, this amounted to a total cost of £3,463,002 per annum.
At 1 January 1990, there were 135.5 animal health officers and 46 senior animal health officers. Applying Treasury GDP deflator dated November 1993 to the 1995-96 standard salary costs, this amounts to a total cost of £3,052,032 per annum.
Dr. Strang:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much of the total (a) 1980, (b) 1985, (c) 1990 and (d) 1995 CAP budgets in ecus was spent on (i) export refunds, (ii) intervention buying and storage, (iii) arable area payment schemes, (iv) other direct payments, (v) production aids and (vi) removing produce from the market (1) in cash, (2) at 1996 prices and (3) as a percentage of the total CAP budget. [15341]
Mr. Douglas Hogg:
The information is as follows:
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| 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (i) Export refunds | 5,695 | 6,716 | 7,798 | 7,803 |
| (ii) Intervention buying and storage | 1,631 | 4,440 | 5,477 | 338 |
| (iii) Arable area payment schemes | (13,491) | |||
| (iv) Other direct payments(24) (to farmers) | 1,252 | 3,694 | 9,038 | 23,009 ( 8,409) |
| (v) Production aids (paid via processors) | ( 1,109) | |||
| (vi) Removing produce from the market (withdrawals and similar operations) | 298 | 894 | 648 | 564 |
Notes:
For expenditure prior to the CAP Reform of 1992, there is no breakdown of arable area scheme; payments, other direct payments and production aids and these have been group together.
(23) 1980 expenditure is in millions of European Units of Account.
(24) Excludes some direct payments to farmers which are subsumed under CAP programmes for remote regions.
Sources:
1980, 1985, 1990 Annual FEOGA Financial Reports, 1995 Commission Working document VI/72/95 (12 December 95).
1996 Prices calculated using deflator of private consumption. Source: European Economy--Annual Economic Report.
1995 No. 59 and European Economy (Supplement A) Economic trends No. 12 December 1995.
Notes:
For expenditure prior to the CAP Reform of 1992, there is no breakdown of arable area scheme; payments, other direct payments and production aids and these have been group together.
(25) 1980 expenditure is in millions of European Units of Account.
(26) Excludes some direct payments to farmers which are subsumed under CAP programmes for remote regions.
Sources:
1980, 1985, 1990 Annual FEOGA Financial Reports, 1995 Commission Working document VI/72/95 (12 December 95).
1996 Prices calculated using deflator of private consumption. Source: European Economy--Annual Economic Report.
1995 No. 59 and European Economy (Supplement A) Economic trends No. 12 December 1995.
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Notes:
For expenditure prior to the CAP Reform of 1992, there is no breakdown of arable area scheme; payments, other direct payments and production aids and these have been group together.
(27) Excludes some direct payments to farmers which are subsumed under CAP programmes for remote regions.
Sources:
1980, 1985, 1990 Annual FEOGA Financial Reports, 1995 Commission Working document VI/72/95 (12 December 95).
1996 Prices calculated using deflator of private consumption. Source: European Economy--Annual Economic Report.
1995 No. 59 and European Economy (Supplement A) Economic trends No. 12 December 1995.
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20 Feb 1996 : Column: 117
Dr. Strang:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much of the total 1996 CAP budget, in ecus, will be spent on (a) export refunds, (b) intervention buying and storage, (c) arable area payment schemes, (d) other direct payments, (e) production aids and (f) removing produce from the market (i) in cash and (ii) as a percentage of the total CAP budget. [15340]
Mr. Douglas Hogg:
The 1996 budget provisions are as follows:
| 1996 | (i) mecu | (ii) As percentage of total CAP budget |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Export refunds | 7,182 | 17.4 |
| (b) Intervention buying and storage | 1,278 | 3.1 |
| (c) Arable area payments | 15,545 | 37.6 |
| (d) Other direct payments(28) (to farmers) | 11,983 | 29.3 |
| (e) Production aids (paid via processors) | 1,139 | 2.8 |
| (f) Removing produce from the market (withdrawals and similar operations) | 790 | 1.9 |
Note:
(28) Excludes some direct payments to farmers which are ubsumed under CAP programmes for remote regions.
Source:
1996 Adopted Budget of the European Union, (Official Journal L22, Volume 39 of 29 January 1996).
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