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Disability Discrimination Act 1995
3. Ms Hodge: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to implement the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the agricultural industry. [32363]
7. Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps are being taken to implement the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the forestry industry in England. [32368]
The Minister for Rural Affairs (Mr. Tim Boswell): The employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995--with one exception relating to trade organisations--which apply to all employers
with more than 20 employees, will be commenced by 2 December 1996. Codes of practice will be available. Drafts were laid before Parliament last week.
Ms Hodge: Why has the agricultural industry, which is renowned for low wages, been singled out under the 1995 Act as the only one in which discriminatory wages have been specifically endorsed by the wages boards?
Mr. Boswell: I do not for a moment accept that the agricultural industry is unique or has been singled out. In fact, I bracketed that and the forestry industry in answering. I understand the point that the hon. Lady is seeking to address. It is precisely because my predecessors, after consultation, decided to retain the Agricultural Wages Board with its provision for a statutory minimum wage that there is any element of distinction between the treatment of agricultural employees and those in other industries.
Mr. Gerrard: Will the Minister confirm that public rights of way and public footpaths in forest areas will be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and that, when Forestry Commission estates are sold, in particular, it will be illegal for purchasers to narrow footpaths or to do anything else to restrict access? Will he tell us precisely what he is doing to ensure that employers in the forestry industry are aware of their responsibilities under the Act?
Mr. Boswell: Those are somewhat different and disparate points. After the anticipated announcements on implementation and further advice to employers by my noble Friend, we shall be ready to give advice to employers in forestry and in agriculture on their obligations under the Act. Clearly, access provisions will be bound by the general law. On forestry disposals--which I think the hon. Gentleman has in mind--wherever possible the approach will seek to safeguard access to woods that are used extensively by securing an access agreement through the local authority. I am sure that local authorities will wish to have the specific interests of people with disabilities in mind when implementing the provisions.
Mr. Riddick: Is not the best thing we can do for disabled people to ensure that there are jobs in the British farming industry for them and for other people to take up? Towards that end, does the Minister agree that it is extremely important that we boost consumer confidence in British beef? Is it not important that we tell the British people that the incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease here is no higher than in any other European country, and that the precautionary measures taken in this country probably make British beef the safest in the world to eat? Is it not the case that there is real anger among the farming industry at the way in which some food lobbyists and Labour Members--not least the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman)--have--[Interruption.]
Madam Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman is going quite wide of the question. I know that he was very keen to be called during a question relating directly to BSE, but the question does not relate directly to BSE. His question must relate to the Order Paper.
Mr. Riddick: It is about saving jobs.
Madam Speaker: I understand that the hon. Gentleman wants to save jobs, but he is going the wrong way about it.
Mr. Boswell: I can assure the House that the Government are as interested in securing economic and effective jobs as they are in the proper provision of facilities for people with disabilities. We shall certainly proclaim loud and clear the interests of the British beef industry on every possible and conceivable occasion.
Mr. John Marshall: Will my hon. Friend confirm that the disabled should look at the Government's record rather than listen to the rhetoric from those on the Opposition Benches? Will he confirm that spending on the disabled has more than trebled in real terms under this Government?
Mr. Boswell: I shall have to be a little careful in answering outside my departmental responsibilities, but the Government have an excellent record on disability. I remember being modestly engaged--in my previous job at the Department for Education--in securing some of the provisions for future and higher education, in which I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment is also engaged.
Mr. Tom Clarke: Does the Minister accept that agriculture, horticulture and forestry are very important employers of disabled people, and especially of disabled people with learning difficulties? Has the Minister of Agriculture read the programme of action from the Forestry Commission on dealing with disabled people? Does the Minister accept that there is a responsibility on the Minister of Agriculture and on all Cabinet members to promote employment for disabled people--if only because of its outstanding importance and our refusal to accept complacency on such matters?
Mr. Boswell: I can assure the hon. Gentleman that there is no complacency whatever among Ministers. We seek the right balance. Among other things, we very much wish to emphasise to employers in forestry, agriculture and elsewhere their direct responsibilities under the Act and under the codes set out under the Act and the need to have regard to the interests of disabled people. It is a difficult balance to find, but we are determined to offer advice and encouragement for them to fulfil those responsibilities.
UK Food Industry
4. Mr. Nicholas Baker: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking (a) to reduce the extent of regulation on the UK food industry and (b) to increase its global competitive- ness. [32364]
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mrs. Angela Browning): The Government's food law deregulation plan was published on 14 September 1993. It listed 29 action points. Action has already been completed on
15 of these and a further 11 are due for completion this year. In addition, the Ministry has a market task force, dedicated to improving marketing competitiveness.
Mr. Baker: The Government's activities on deregulation and the market task force are to be welcomed. I hope that my hon. Friend will do what she can to increase those activities, because they benefit the food industry, which is well poised to take advantage of world markets, not least as the common agricultural policy fades. Will my hon. Friend take action to discourage and prevent the over-zealous enforcement of food regulations by environmental health officers, which is still taking place? Does my hon. Friend agree that the last thing our excellent food industry needs is a Government formed by the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats, who are the enemies of enterprise and the apostles of over-regulation? The damage they have caused to our beef industry is already very serious.
Mrs. Browning: My hon. Friend is right to seek to draw a balance between the need, quite rightly, to protect the consumer and the need not to stultify enterprise in this important industry. The system which we have developed, and which environmental health officers enforce, is the HACCP system--hazard analysis critical control point. It looks at where the critical points are in food production, identifies where the risks are and applies the law proportionately. I hope that the House is aware that that system has been recognised in this country and is being emulated in others as well.
Mr. Corbett: Does the Minister not find it extraordinary that one of her hon. Friends should contemplate relaxing regulation on food when we have just been told of the colossal cost of clearing up the BSE scandal and when there has just been concern over the safety of baby milk? Would not the best answer be the establishment of a food standards agency, separate from the Minister's Department?
Mrs. Browning: No, I am not astonished. My hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Mr. Baker) struck the exact balance--proper enforcement proportionate to risk. I can assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that baby milk is quite safe.
Mr. Batiste: Is my hon. Friend aware that, over recent years, small independent abattoirs have had to pay huge sums in order to meet the standards set by new and ever-higher regulatory levels? It is precisely those abattoirs that are now facing devastation as a consequence of the application of the policy on BSE and the decision to use only the large abattoirs for that slaughter policy. Before my hon. Friend comes back to the House with proposals for the slaughter of more animals, I hope that she and her colleagues will think carefully about the need to be fair to those small independent abattoirs, particularly those which have in place adequate rendering facilities.
Mrs. Browning: I am aware of that, and I am sympathetic to the investment made by abattoirs across the country, many of which are seeking higher standards and the EU mark to enable them to export. That export market has now, unfairly, been denied to them. My hon. Friend will have heard the answer given by my right hon.
and learned Friend the Minister when he explained how those abattoirs have been selected for the 30-month cull scheme.
I must tell my hon. Friend that one of the encouraging things is that the British consumer is still eating beef. We can see in the supermarkets that there is still support in the United Kingdom for the consumption of beef. Therefore, there is an opportunity for all slaughterhouses to slaughter for consumption. Despite the importance of the cull scheme, we must not lose sight of the fact that abattoirs are still slaughtering for consumption, and that is the most important aspect.
Mrs. Golding:
Does the Minister not think that food safety should come before the political dogma of deregulation? Is she prepared to risk another food crisis by sticking to the dogma that deregulation is all--important?
Mrs. Browning:
We never subjugate the safety of consumers to any policy or dogma. I refute totally the hon. Lady's suggestion and I am sorry that she could not find something more constructive to say.
Mr. Spring:
Is my hon. Friend aware of how efficient the farmers in my constituency are in terms of global competitiveness? Is she also aware of the high levels of optimism among cereals farmers in Suffolk, which is manifested in rising land prices? Will my hon. Friend join me in applauding the fact that that optimism has translated itself into an unemployment rate in my constituency of only 4.2 per cent.--one of the lowest anywhere in the developed world?
Mrs. Browning:
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the competitiveness of firms in his constituency--and, indeed, the United Kingdom in general. That is why we supported the general agreement on tariffs and trade and why we are seeking to reform the common agricultural policy and move towards world market prices as soon as possible. British farms will be well placed to compete in a global market.
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