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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Cattle Records

Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will establish a national cattle database as a means to identify, trace and age every bovine animal in the United Kingdom. [30830]

Mrs. Browning: We are urgently working on new measures to improve animal identification and traceability. A mandatory cattle passport for animals born after 1 July 1996 is being introduced. We shall also be introducing a system of double ear tagging. Currently, only one official tag is required.

Cattle Slaughter Scheme

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the estimated cost per head of (a) beef and (b) dairy cattle sent for slaughter in the Untied Kingdom on 1 March. [24493]

Mr. Baldry: The average live weight market price in the week ending 3 March was:

Cull cows: 79.06 per kg
Clean cows: 119.81 per kg

Figures on the cost per head are not collected on a weekly basis.

Dr. Strang: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle were slaughtered in the United Kingdom under the 30-month scheme in the weeks beginning 20 May and 27 May. [35659]

Mr. Baldry: A total of 26,129 cattle were slaughtered in the week beginning 20 May and 25,170 were slaughtered in the week beginning 27 May.

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 5 June, Official Report, columns 478-79, if he will list the options currently under review by his Department for the eventual disposal of meat and bonemeal. [32807]

Mr. Boswell [holding answer 13 June 1996]: The options of incineration, use as fuel in power stations and eventual landfill, are currently under review.

Cattle

Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle (a) dairy and (b) non-dairy there are in the United Kingdom; and what is their estimated market value. [23213]

Mr. Baldry [holding answer 1 April 1996]: According to the census carried out in June 1995, there were 4.7 million cattle in the dairy herd and nearly 7 million cattle in the beef herd. The farm gate value of total UK beef production for 1995 was £2.8 billion. It is difficult to estimate the market value of a cow in milk production, but based on an average figure of £1,200 per head, the UK dairy herd is worth around £6 billion.

Beef Imports

Sir Cranley Onslow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much beef for

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human consumption has been imported into the United Kingdom from other EC countries in each month since 1 January 1995. [31009]

Mrs. Browning: The table shows UK imports of beef from other member states since January 1995. Information concerning trade since the BSE scare will not be available for a few weeks.

UK imports of beef for human consumption

	UK reported-imports statistics (C and F)	UK reported-imports statistics (C and F)
	tonnes	£000s
1995
January	7,837	17,406
February	7,721	19,357
March	10,407	19,854
April	6,563	17,326
May	8,303	18,860
June	10,942	29,730
July	8,011	23,079
August	8,484	26,108
September	9,691	31,660
October	9,971	29,562
November	7,009	17,956
December	6,036	16,374
1996
January	4,879	13,612
February	4,988	12,848

Source: MAFF, statistics (commodity and food).

Unit: as indicated.

Milk Testing

Mr. Callaghan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the contaminants for which milk is tested before sale; and if he will make a statement. [35057]

Mrs. Browning: Under the Dairy Products (Hygiene) Regulations 1995, it is the responsibility of industry to ensure that appropriate tests are carried out on milk to detect any residues of substances having pharmacological or hormonal action or of other substances which are harmful to human health, or which might be harmful to human health if those residues exceeded permitted tolerance limits. The regulations also include microbiological standards for milk. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the requirements are complied with and that dairy products are safe for human consumption. In addition, as part of its surveillance plan, MAFF carries out surveillance for a range of contaminants in milk. Results of the surveillance are published in annual reports or through the food safety information bulletin. Milk supplies are routinely tested for bacteriological quality and antibiotics, but not for other contaminants.

Access Agreements

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many access agreements have been concluded with farmers in each of the environmentally sensitive areas in the United Kingdom. [35312]

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Mr. Boswell: The following number of management agreements in environmentally sensitive areas include land entered into the access tier:

	Number
Pennine Dales	2
South Downs	2
Broads	4
West Penwith	1
Suffolk River Valleys	6
South West Peak	1
Lake District	13
Cotswold Hills	1
Dartmoor	3
Essex Coast	1
Upper Thames Tributaries	2
Argyll Islands	1

ESAs in Northern Ireland do not provide for public access.

Mr. Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review his policy on concluding access agreements in environmentally sensitive areas where access routes traverse permanent grassland only. [35313]

Mr. Boswell: The Ministry will review the access provisions of the agri-environment schemes in the next financial year.

Whaling

Mr. Colvin: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the International Whaling Commission held in Aberdeen on 24 to 28 June. [36109]

Mr. Morley: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is Her Majesty's Government's policy on the use of the electric lance; and will he make a statement. [35469]

Mr. Baldry: The International Whaling Commission's 48th annual meeting was held in Aberdeen from 24 to 28 June. The UK delegation was composed of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, assisted by officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Department of the Environment, and representatives of environmental organisations.

The United Kingdom's principal objective at this meeting was to ensure that the moratorium on commercial whaling, which has been in force since 1986, was not weakened in any way. I am pleased to report that this was achieved. A request by Japan for a quota of 50 minke whales for its coastal communities, which we and many others considered would have breached the moratorium, was once again rejected. The UK's opening statement made it clear that we would continue to oppose all efforts to end the moratorium, for the reasons set out in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan) on 8 May.

The UK and New Zealand put forward a proposal for a ban on the use of the electric lance, which is used to kill whales that are wounded, but not killed, by an explosive harpoon. Although this received a wide measure of support, it did not secure the majority of three quarters of those voting needed for adoption under IWC rules. However, it was clear that our argument that the electric lance is inhumane was widely accepted; even many of

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those who voted against a formal ban did not favour continued use of the electric lance. Japan, while continuing to defend its use of the electric lance, indicated that it planned to undertake research into possible alternatives, and would be reporting the results to the next IWC meeting. The IWC will return to this issue then.

The United States presented a proposal for an aboriginal subsistence whaling quota of five grey whales for its Makah indian tribe, and the Russian Federation sought a quota of five bowhead whales for indigenous peoples in Siberia. Both proposals aroused a good deal of concern, and as discussions progressed it became evident that neither was likely to obtain the three quarters majority needed for adoption. In those circumstances, both the United States and the Russian Federation withdrew their proposals.

Little progress was made on developing a revised management scheme, which is being devised to regulate all aspects of any future commercial whaling that might be permitted in the future. The United Kingdom continues to participate constructively in this work, as we believe that if commercial whaling ever did resume it would be essential to have in place tough and enforceable procedures to ensure that whaling took place only on stocks that were at healthy levels and was on a fully sustainable basis. The IWC did, however, endorse new guidelines on carrying out surveys and on calculating estimates of whale numbers; it also agreed new procedures designed to ensure better IWC oversight of these activities.

At the scientific committee meeting, there was a lengthy discussion of new estimates of minke whale numbers in the north-east Atlantic. The committee eventually agreed that the most recent estimate, derived from a survey carried out in 1995, was adequate for use in the revised management procedure--the part of a future revised management scheme under which catch limits for a particular stock would be calculated--and Norway claimed that this justified its decision to increase the number of whales it is planning to take this year under its commercial whaling operations. Most countries, however, continue to believe that Norway's whaling activities weaken both the moratorium and the authority of the IWC and a resolution was adopted by a large majority calling on Norway to reconsider its objection to the moratorium, under which Norway is legally entitled to continue commercial whaling, and to halt all commercial whaling operations immediately. The UK strongly supported this resolution.

We also supported a resolution calling on Japan to stop its scientific whaling and, in particular, to halt all scientific whaling within the southern ocean sanctuary. Again, this was adopted by a very large majority.

In the scientific committee, the outcome of the recent workshop on the effects of climate change on cetaceans was discussed, and steps were agreed to take forward work on this important issue. These were fully endorsed by the IWC itself through a resolution adopted by consensus. It was agreed, in particular, that the scientific committee would set up a standing working group to co-ordinate its work on environmental change, and that it would seek increased co-operation with other international organisations working on this subject.

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A number of other issues were discussed during the meeting. The UK introduced a resolution on small cetaceans, which was adopted by consensus, drawing attention to earlier resolutions on threatened species of small cetaceans and encouraging the scientific committee to continue to identify species under threat and to advise on possible remedial action. A resolution was adopted on whalewatching. It endorsed guidelines proposed by the scientific committee and drew them to the attention of coastal states responsible for regulating whalewatching. Resolutions were also adopted on improving controls on trade in whalemeat and calling on Canada, which withdrew from the IWC in 1982, to rejoin the IWC if it wishes to authorise aboriginal subsistence whaling.

Overall, this was a satisfactory meeting for the UK, and we achieved most of our objectives. While we were not successful in securing a ban on the use of the electric lance, we made encouraging progress and are well placed to take the issue up again at the IWC's 49th annual meeting, which will take place in Monaco in October 1997.

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