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Welsh Health Common Services Authority
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Welsh Health Common Services Authority to secure an independent evaluation of the bidding procedure for the materials management contract of the authority under market testing. [26837]
Mr. Hague: I have had no consultations with the chairman about the market testing exercise which is being carried out in line with established procedures.
Copyright
Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress his Department has made towards obtaining a photocopying licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency to ensure compliance with copyright law. [26712]
General Practice Beds
Mr. Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 22 April, Official Report, columns 39-40 to the hon. Member for Cardiff, West on general practice beds, what consultations he has had with the chairman of the Llandough Hospitals trust, and the Bro Taf health authority and GP fundholding practices in the Vale of Glamorgan concerning the supervision of the GP beds at the Barry community hospital. [26838]
Mr. Hague: None. This is a matter for the Bro Taf health authority and the local NHS trusts.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department (a) hold public meetings, (b) conduct public consultation exercises, (c) conduct consultation exercises with outside commercial interests, (d) publish a register of members' interests, (e) publish agendas for meetings and (f) publish the minutes of meetings (i) under a statutory requirement and (ii) voluntarily. [20117]
Mr. Boswell [holding answer 12 March 1996]: The information is as follows:
25 Apr 1996 : Column: 274
- (a) None
(b) The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes
The Farm Animal Welfare Council
The Food Advisory Committee
(c) The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes
The Farm Animal Welfare Council
The Food Advisory Committee
(d) The Consumer Panel and the Veterinary Products Committee publish a register of members' interests.
The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, the Advisory Committee on Pesticides and the Food Advisory Committee state members' interests in their annual reports.
The interests of the members of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Committee are made available each year via an arranged PQ.
(e) The Consumer Panel, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes and the Food Advisory Committee publish agendas for its meetings.
(f) The Consumer Panel publishes the minutes of its meetings.
Dr. Wright: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department have a statutory base, and which (a) publish their advice to Government, (b) publish an annual report and (c) lay an annual report before Parliament (i) under a statutory requirement and (ii) voluntarily. [20104]
Mr. Boswell [holding answer 12 March 1996]: The following advisory non-departmental public bodies have a statutory basis:
The Advisory Committee on Pesticides
The Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committees
The Consumers' Committee for Great Britain
The Committee of Investigation for Great Britain
The Committee on Agriculture Valuation
The Hill Farming Advisory Committee
The Veterinary Products Committee
The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes
The Consumer Panel
The Farm Animal Welfare Council (majority of reports)
The Food Advisory Committee
(b) Annual reports are published by:
(c) An annual report is laid before Parliament by the Veterinary Products Committee under a statutory requirement.
The Veterinary Products Committee under a statutory requirement;
and on a voluntary basis by:
The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes
The Advisory Committee on Pesticides
The Consumer Panel
The Food Advisory Committee
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the penalties for
25 Apr 1996 : Column: 275
contravening the regulations preventing specified bovine offal entering the food chain; and how many prosecutions there have been to date. [22942]
Mrs. Browning: The penalties which would apply on summary conviction for a contravention of the controls in the Specified Bovine Offal Order 1995, as amended, which prevent SBO entering the food chain, are a fine of up to £5,000 and where appropriate a further fine of up to £1,000 for each 508 kg of SBO, beyond the initial 508 kg of SBO, in respect of which the offence is committed. Furthermore, a person who has been convicted for contravening the provisions of the SBO Order is liable in the court's discretion on a further conviction for a second or subsequent offence against the order to imprisonment for a term of up to one month in lieu of the applicable fine.
To date, there is one case before the court. A number of other cases are under investigation.
Sir Wyn Roberts:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will introduce an eradication scheme for BSE. [23382]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 28 March 1996]: This Department has been taking steps to eradicate BSE since July 1988, when the ruminant feed ban was introduced. This has resulted in a substantial decline in the number of cases, which is now less than one third of the rate at the height of the epidemic.
Sir Wyn Roberts:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the measures necessary to eradicate BSE. [23383]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 28 March 1996]: BSE is believed to have been caused by cattle consuming contaminated feed containing infected bovine or ovine material. Preventing the recycling of such material in feed should prevent cattle being exposed to the BSE agent and so becoming infected. A ban on the feeding of ruminant protein to ruminants was introduced in 1988. Unfortunately, some leakage in this ban has occurred and a number of measures have been taken over the past few years to strengthen the controls. The total prohibition on the inclusion of mammalian meat and bonemeal in all feed for farm animals and fertiliser for use on farms, which has just been introduced, should prevent any further infection of cattle by BSE material in feed, and eradicate BSE from the national herd.
Mr. Luff:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he intends to make to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers on measures to improve the methods used by other member states to detect BSE in their cattle herds. [23149]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 28 March 1996]: BSE is notifiable in all member states. Suspect cases are examined by a state veterinarian for clinical signs of the disease, and slaughtered and destroyed if BSE is believed to exist. The diagnosis is confirmed by examination of brain tissue after death, using protocols which are internationally agreed and validated.
Dr. Strang:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects the research commissioned by his Department into (a) maternal and (b) lateral transmission of BSE to be reported. [23201]
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Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 28 March 1996]: The detailed cohort study into the possibility of maternal transmission of BSE will not be complete until early 1997. Some information about this experiment has been published in the progress report on BSE laid in the Library of the House in November 1995, but the result cannot be interpreted until it is complete. A report of earlier experiments on maternal and lateral transmission of BSE was published in the "Veterinary Record", volume 136, pages 312-318 of 1 April 1995, details of which were given in the progress report laid in the Library of the House in May 1995.
Mr. Welsh:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the incidence if BSE in England and Wales by (a) type of herd, (b) age of herd and (c) region. [23363]
Mrs. Browning
[holding answer 28 March 1996]: As at 22 April 1996, 64.61 per cent. of all dairy herds had had at least one case of BSE and 15.95 per cent. of all beef herds.
| Per cent. | |
|---|---|
| East Anglia | 40.3 |
| East midlands | 35.3 |
| North | 31.48 |
| North-west | 48.16 |
| South-east | 44.59 |
| South-west | 48.8 |
| West midlands | 40.74 |
| Yorks/Humberside | 35.99 |
| Wales | 30.06 |
The information is not recorded by age of herd.
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the relationship of feed from scrapie sheep and BSE. [23367]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 28 March 1996]: The relevant research projects are:
| Project code | Project title | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OC8964 | BSE Deactivation Studies | Commissioned/evaluated |
| SE0201 | BSE: Epidemiological Studies | Commissioned/evaluated |
| SE0209 | BSE: Epidemiological Studies | Commissioned |
| SE1404 | Susceptibility of BSE and Scrapie isolates | Commissioned/evaluated |
| SE1405 | Susceptibility of BSE agent to chemical and physical inactivation in the field/laboratory | Commissioned/evaluated |
| SE1413 | Strain typing of Scrapie agent in meat and bone meal | Proposed--not yet approved |
| SE1417 | The effect of PrPgenotype on the thermostability of scrapie agent | Commissioned |
| SE1421 | BSE and scrapie agent susceptibility to laboratory facsimilies of rendering practices (was SE1404) | Commissioned |
| SE1422 | Practical aspects of inactivation of BSE and scrapie agents (was SE1405) | Commissioned |
25 Apr 1996 : Column: 277
Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the incidence of BSE in Scotland by (a) type of herd, (b) age of herd and (c) region. [23362]
Mrs. Browning [holding answer 28 March 1996]: As at 22 April 1996, 37.5 per cent. of all dairy herds had had at least one case of BSE and 14.01 per cent. of all beef herds.
| Region | Incidence per cent. |
|---|---|
| Borders | 26.97 |
| Central | 16.08 |
| Dumfries | 33.85 |
| Fife | 29.67 |
| Grampian | 22.24 |
| Highland | 8.24 |
| Lothian | 24.85 |
| Strathclyde | 20.95 |
| Tayside | 25.83 |
| Islands | 4.67 |
The information is not recorded by age of herd.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now publish the papers discussed by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. [23839]
Mrs. Browning:
Many of the papers discussed by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee contain interim reports on research, medical case reports and commercial information provided in confidence. It would not be appropriate to make such information publicly available. Indeed, to do so would harm the working of SEAC, as people would be unwilling to provide it with much important information.
Dr. Wright:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the minutes and proceedings of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee since its inception in 1990. [23767]
Mrs. Browning:
Much of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee's discussions, as recorded in the minutes, cover interim reports on research, medical case reports and commercial information. It would be inappropriate to make this information publicly available. To require this information to be published could make people reluctant to provide this committee with material, which could seriously harm its ability to make well judged and timely recommendations to the Government.
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