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Pesticides Safety Directorate
Mr. Coe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what targets have been set for the Pesticides Safety Directorate in 1996-97. [25929]
Mr. Douglas Hogg: I have set the Pesticides Safety Directorate the following targets relating to financial performance, efficiency, the delivery of pesticides approval services and policy advice in 1996-97.
To achieve 100 per cent. recovery of costs.
To comply with budgetary controls resulting from the public expenditure survey and the supply estimates.
| Application stream | Applications completed | Maximum processing time (working weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Technical secretariat(10) | ||
| Normal | 255 | 43 |
| Administrative fast | 400 | 4 |
| Fast | 325 | 21 |
| Experimental permit | 30 | 36 |
| Off label | 200 | 12 |
| Other | 205 | -- |
| New substances(10) | ||
| Sift (EC and UK) | 13 | 24 |
| Active substance | -- | -- |
| UK: National rules | 8 | 54 |
| EC: UK rapporteur | 1 | 54 |
| UK reviews | ||
| Full | 3 | -- |
| Other | 4 | -- |
| EC reviews | ||
| UK rapporteur | 7 | -- |
| Non-rapporteur (monograph co-ordination) | 15 | -- |
| Total | 1,466 | -- |
(10) The processing time targets apply to 85 per cent. of applications received except the EC and UK sifts for new substances, where the figure is 100 per cent.
1. The quality of the directorate's scientific and policy work will be subject to separate quality audits.
2. Details of performance in 1995-96 will be set out in the agency's annual report and accounts to be published during July 1996.
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Beef Industry
Mr. Coe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what financial support will be provided to the United Kingdom beef producers and slaughtering sector. [25930]
Mr. Douglas Hogg: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made on 16 April 1996, Official Report, columns 513-16.
In addition to the support measures previously announced, particularly for the rendering industry and for the slaughter of young bull calves, the measures set out below have now been implemented. Parliamentary approval for additional provision and for the funding of new services will be sought in supplementary estimates for class III vote 1, intervention board--executive agency: common agricultural policy market support and administration, and class III vote 2, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: operational expenditure, agencies and departmental administration. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £190 million will be met by repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund.
1. Supplementary compensation payments on steers and heifers--older beef cattle whose market value is greater than cull cows.
Cost: £80 million on class III vote 1. An advance from the Contingencies Fund of the full amount is required.
2. Emergency aid to the slaughtering industry, comprising two elements:
(i) immediate payment to slaughterhouses calculated on the basis of bovines slaughtered during 1995-96. Cost: £30 million on class III vote 2.
(ii) purchase of unsaleable stocks of beef held by licensed slaughterhouses and cutting premises. Cost: £80 million on class III vote 1.
An advance from the Contingencies Fund of the full amount--£110 million--is required.
3. Scheme to purchase beasts over 30 months old and to dispose of their carcases safely to prevent beef from these cattle from entering the human food chain.
Cost: £550 million on class III vote 1, 70 per cent. of compensation payments to be funded by the EU.
Deregulation
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to introduce further deregulation regarding food hygiene and public health regulations. [24925]
Mr. Boswell: Hygiene legislation is very largely harmonised at the level of the European Community, and is under review by the European Commission. In anticipation of EC proposals, the Government have consulted widely about possible simplification and rationalisation of food hygiene legislation. This revealed widespread support for consolidation of the large number of directives involved, providing necessary public health protection is not diluted. EC proposals are expected shortly.
Lindane
Mr. Allen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if his Department has yet located the container of lindane that was washed overboard in the English channel in 1991; [25453]
18 Apr 1996 : Column: 617
- (2) what estimates he has made of when the container of lindane lost overboard in the English channel in 1991 will corrode and release lindane into the sea; and what assessment he has made of the consequences of that release upon fish and marine life. [25454]
Mr. Baldry: We are not aware of the loss of a container of lindane in 1991, but a quantity of this insecticide was lost when the vessel MV Perintis sank in the channel on 13 March 1989. Despite considerable
18 Apr 1996 : Column: 618
efforts by the UK and French authorities, location and retrieval of the cargo container in which the lindane was being transported was not possible. The container was believed to be undamaged when it sank which, together with the type of packaging used, indicates that any seepage into the sea would be at a very slow rate. This would rapidly dilute and disperse and not give rise to any food safety or environmental concerns. Water samples are taken from the area each year and these continue to show that concentrations of lindane have remained at background levels.