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Cattle Slaughter Scheme
Miss Emma Nicholson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to increase the age of calves slaughtered under the calf compensation scheme, as part of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy culling programme, to 21 days. [34101]
Mr. Baldry: The Agriculture Council agreed at its meeting on 24 to 27 June that the age limit for calves under the scheme should be increased to 20 days in appropriate cases to be agreed by the Commission. We will be seeking to implement this change in the United Kingdom as soon as the necessary legislative provisions are in place.
Miss Nicholson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to review compensation schemes for animals under 30 months of age in the current BSE culling programme; and if he will make a statement. [34102]
Mr. Baldry: Adult animals under 30 months of age are not covered by any measures of the sort described. The slaughter premium for calves is prescribed in Council Regulation 805/68, as amended.
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he intends to reply to the letters of 7 and 30 May from the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich inquiring about the scientific basis of the cattle cull. [34434]
Mr. Boswell: My hon. Friend the Minister of State replied to the letters of 7 and 30 May on 28 June 1996.
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to monitor the activities of dealers taking advantage of the cow slaughter schemes; and what action he takes in the event of abuse. [34266]
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 26 June 1996]: The activities of dealers are not monitored on a regular basis under the over-30 months slaughter scheme. We have, however, announced arrangements which will ensure that livestock markets get a fair share of the throughput of cattle to be slaughtered. We have also made clear that abuses of the scheme will not be tolerated.
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Any allegations of abuse of the scheme rules made to the intervention board or to the office of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will be investigated.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Alan W. Williams: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will set up an inquiry to investigate the possible linkage between the Canterbury Mills animal rendering plant at Godmersham, Kent, the farm where the first BSE-infected herd was discovered in Ashford in 1985, and the cluster of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease cases in the Ashford area. [34510]
Mrs. Browning: Extensive epidemiological studies into BSE show no correlation between the incidence of BSE and any geographical features, including the location of rendering plants. The epidemiological surveillance of CJD is the responsibility of the national CJD surveillance unit funded by the Department of Health and the Scottish
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Office. The unit publishes annual reports and has considered geographical clustering of CJD cases, but has failed to find any of statistical significance. The unit continues to investigate cases of suspected CJD, including any of the new variant, and would report any significant findings.
Wages
Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many permits issued to individuals who are incapacitated for the purposes of the Agricultural Wages Act 1948 for the payment of lower minimum rates are currently in force; and what is their distribution by (a) region and (b) rates of pay. [34585]
Mr. Boswell: Permits of exemption are issued by agricultural wages committees. The tables show the total number of permits issued by each committee, in England and Wales, grouped according to their value as a percentage of the current minimum rate for an adult full-time ordinary worker.
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| Value of permit (per cent. of minimum rate/£/week) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWC | 0-49 £0-£75.97 | 50-59 £77.52-£91.47 | 60-69 £93.02-£106.98 | 70-79 £108.53-£122.48 | 80-89 £124.03-£137.99 | 90-100 £139.53-£155.04 | Total number of permits |
| Avon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire | -- | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Cheshire and Staffordshire | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 3 |
| Cleveland, Durham and North Yorkshire | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | -- | -- | 3 |
| Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northants and Nottinghamshire | 1 | -- | 1 | 3 | 1 | -- | 6 |
| Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and West Midlands | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- | 4 |
| Humberside | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 |
| Kent, Surrey and East and West Sussex | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Norfolk and Suffolk | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Cumbria | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 17 | -- | 21 |
| Shropshire | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
| South and West Yorkshire | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- | 5 |
| Value of permit (Percentage of minimum rate/£/week) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWC | 0-49 £0-£75.97 | 50-59 £77.52-£91.47 | 60-69 £93.02-£106.98 | 70-79 £108.53-£122.48 | 80-89 £124.03-£137.99 | 90-100 £139.53-£155.04 | Total number of permits |
| Gwynedd and Clwyd | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 5 | |
| Gwent | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | |
| Dyfed | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | |
| Mid, South and West Glamorgan | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | |
| Powys | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | |
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Calf Exports
Mr. Cox: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many calves were exported to Europe in the first three months of 1996. [34600]
Mr. Boswell: Provisional overseas trade statistics show that 57,000 calves were exported from the United Kingdom to EC countries in the first three months of 1996.
Fishing Fleet (Luxembourg)
Mr. Redmond: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what proposals the Fisheries Minster for Luxembourg has made to cut that country's fishing fleet; [34590]
- (2) what is the current size of the Luxembourg fishing fleet. [34591]
Mr. Baldry: Luxembourg does not have a fishing fleet.
State Veterinary Service
Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the reviews of the state veterinary service he has undertaken over the last 10 years; in which year each review was carried out; and if he will make a statement. [35058]
Mrs. Browning: Reviews of the state veterinary service--SVS--initiated by the Minister over the past 10 years are:
1989-Next steps initiative
- This resulted in the Central Veterinary Laboratory--CVL--separating from the state veterinary service and being established as a next steps agency in 1990.
- 1990--Review of the investigation service
- The outcome was a reduction in a number of centres from 19 to 13 + one veterinary inspection unit.
- 1993--Review of the animal health and veterinary group (which included the SVS)
- As a result of this review, the veterinary investigation service merged with the CVL in October 1995, as an enlarged agency--Veterinary Laboratory Agency--and the veterinary field service has undergone a structural reorganisation.
- Throughout, the Government have ensured that their commitment to preserving the front-line resources and capabilities of the state veterinary service has been maintained.
Poultry Slaughter
Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many head of poultry have been slaughtered under the control and eradication of salmonella regulations. [34994]
Mrs. Browning: Since the start of the compulsory slaughter policy for salmonella infected flocks on 1 March 1989 until 28 June 1996, 3,706,938 birds in 414 flocks have been compulsorily slaughtered.
Rendering Plants
Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what temperature requirements he imposes on rendering plants for the heating of animal material; and if he will make a statement. [35059]
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Mrs. Browning: The various temperature requirements which have to be met by rendering plants are laid down in Council directive 90/667/EEC, implemented in Great Britain by the Animal By-Product Order 1992, as amended, and the Specified Bovine Material (No. 2) Order 1996.
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