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Mr. Baldry: I fully understand that. The abattoir at Bridport is excellent and, as I said, I hope to be able to bring it into the scheme in the very near future. What happened was that the abattoirs, the renderers and the trade associations representing the abattoirs and renderers had discussions to seek to ensure that the maximum rendering capacity would be used now and in the foreseeable future.
Renderers have only finite transport facilities; there is a huge logistical issue. It made much more sense if a limited number of renderers were connected to the finite number of abattoirs in the first instance, and that is what has happened. I sent out details of that to hon. Members, in letters which I hope they received today. As I have told the House--I keep on about it because I think that it is fair that everyone should understand it--I am very keen to bring on extra abattoir capacity, including Bridport, just as soon as humanly possible, and just as soon as I can get cold storage facilities, which I reckon will be in the next two or three weeks.
I believe that it is very important that we increase the kill rate under the scheme as quickly as possible so that we can clear the backlog and farmers can be paid.
Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North):
I draw the Minister's attention to the situation in
Mr. Baldry:
I had hoped that I had dealt with that point, but let me deal with it again. I have given directions that one of the abattoirs--ABP Shrewsbury, which is teamed up with the renderers at Widnes and is slaughtering five days, at 580 cattle a day, or 2,900 a week--should be dedicated to taking cattle from Wales.I made that clear in the letter that I sent every hon. Member on Friday. At Abergavenny, there will be five days' slaughtering, at 150 cattle a day, which is 750 a week. In addition, Welsh Country Foods, at Anglesea, is slaughtering cattle for north Wales. If we take the total of those three, it comes to 25 per cent. of the immediate kill in England and Wales for the next two or three weeks.
I am told that the Welsh herd makes up about 16.5 per cent. of the English and Welsh herd. I think and I hope, therefore, that colleagues in Wales will feel that, in the context of the initial stages of this programme, Wales is not being treated unfairly. As in the rest of the United Kingdom, I very much hope that it will be possible to bring on extra slaughter capacity in Wales in the very near future--in the next two to three weeks, and as soon as we can get more cold storage facilities.
None of us can increase that rendering capacity simply by wishing or willing it. The capacity is finite. It is important that everyone appreciates that. I think that everyone--farmers, those involved in the beef industry, hon. Members and our constituents--is anxious that the scheme should start to run at its maximum capacity as speedily as possible.
Given the limitations of the transport facilities immediately available to renderers, it was agreed that it was sensible to link up individual renderers with individual abattoirs to ensure maximum throughput to the renderers in the scheme. That has happened, and I hope that, this week, slaughtering and rendering will take place at the maximum capacity.
This is a new scheme, and I do not doubt that, on day one or two, there may well be one or two places where slaughtering does not take place as speedily as it might. A couple of abattoirs have told me that their throughput today was slower than it might have been because they had to do a large number of television interviews. As the scheme gets up and going, however, I hope that the maximum rendering capacity will be met.
I want to do more, of course, which is why I am recommissioning cold storage facilities, but they will take two to three weeks to be recommissioned and to come back on line. It must also be remembered that, even when we have further cold storage facilities, it is not possible just to slaughter and store. Part of every animal that is slaughtered has to be rendered, so I am working closely with the intervention board, abattoirs and renderers to sort out the logistical issues associated with bringing into the scheme a further large number of abattoirs, but ensuring that the animals are taken away as soon as possible after they are slaughtered and with the appropriate parts taken away to a scheme renderer.
I have circulated to every hon. Member in England and Wales a chart that demonstrates how I believe the throughput might look, with the processing in England and Wales reaching about 22,000 by the beginning of July. That will involve our storing a considerable volume of stock, which will have to be rendered at some time in the future.
I know that some concern has been expressed by some abattoirs that feel they have been struck off the list of approved abattoirs. I hope that I have made it clear to the House that that is not the case. Everyone recognises--I recognise--that it would be sensible to involve more abattoirs, but there is no point in more abattoirs becoming involved until we can, in the next two to three weeks, increase substantially the flexibility of the renderers by using cold storage facilities for a product that does not need to be rendered immediately. That will enable us to increase the throughput under the scheme substantially.
My best estimate, once we have cleared the backlog, is that the scheme will involve about 15,000 animals being processed a week, including cull cows and clean beef in England and Wales, although I anticipate that the impact of the 30-month scheme will change the husbandry of many beef producers. It is likely that, as farmers find that they can get a better price for any stock under 30 months, less clean beef will come into the scheme. I hope that the House will recognise that, in England and Wales--where weekly throughput needs to be 15,000, and 22,000 will be achieved in the not-too-distant future--it should be possible to clear the backlog in a reasonable time. I hope that it will be possible to go beyond 22,000. If it is, we shall certainly seek to do so.
It is clear that it will not be possible to cull every animal tomorrow or this week, and I know that farmers appreciate that fact. The NFU, the CLA and everyone else involved has indicated that they think it would be sensible, at the outset, to give priority to clean beef, although proper regard has to be had for casualty stock, of which I shall say a little more in a moment.
There had been requests for MAFF to work out some prioritisation scheme. I am sure that the House will appreciate that, once the backlog is cleared, the available rendering and slaughter capacity will be greater than the throughput needed under the scheme, so once the backlog is cleared, farmers should have no difficulty getting their cattle culled almost immediately, provided that they give the collection centres proper notice. We are considering a comparatively short-term issue of sorting out whose cattle will be slaughtered when the cattle in the immediate backlog are dealt with.
My instinct, and I suspect the instincts of a large number of hon. Members, is that any scheme of prioritisation devised by officials is, with the very best will in the world, likely to be more bureaucratic, more inflexible and to involve greater delays. When I asked the NFU what sort of system of prioritisation it would recommend, it said that it would have to have regard to the number of animals on the farm, the viability of the farm, the profitability of the farm and many other criteria.
I do not think that it takes much imagination to recognise that such an approach will be incredibly time consuming and that it will involve every farmer with substantial extra paperwork at a time when they could do
without any more intrusions into their businesses. Such paperwork would then have to be processed, decisions would have to be taken and farmers would have to be informed. It does not take long to recognise that it would be far better for livestock marts, abattoirs and farmers to work out together how to get the maximum sensible throughput. Although some forbearance on the part of a number of farmers will be required during the first few weeks, I am sure that co-operation at local level is far better than some centrally planned bureaucracy seeking to ascertain when every cow is killed at every abattoir.
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