House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 8 Jul 1996 (pt 26)

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which organisations have been consulted by his Department regarding the situation in the meat and livestock industry. [28117]

Mrs. Browning: MAFF Ministers and officials have consulted, and continue to consult, organisations representing every part of the meat and livestock industry, including producers, consumer groups, breed societies, livestock exporters, feed manufacturers, welfare organisations, the veterinary profession, scientists, the medical profession, local authorities, the Commission, other member states, abattoirs, cutting plants, cold stores, meat exporters, renderers, retailers, wholesalers, caterers, economists, hauliers, livestock auction markets, tenants, landowners, the Meat and Livestock Commission, the banking industry and research establishments. Recent consultation papers laid in the Library of the House will indicate the names of those organisations consulted.

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the cost of the slaughter of cattle of five years old and above in herds in Scotland which have had an incidence of BSE. [23364]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 28 March 1996]: It is estimated that there is somewhere in the order of 149,144 animals in Scotland in herds which have an incidence of BSE and are five years old or above. Slaughtering animals alone at a cost of about £50 head would cost around

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£7.5 million. More substantial would be the economic costs to the meat and dairy industries and compensation to farmers for loss of stock and replacement.

Mr. McKelvey: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if meat now entering the United Kingdom has had removed all the bovine offals required to be removed in United Kingdom production. [24216]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 2 April 1996]: Although some other countries have introduced similar controls to the UK, prohibiting the sale of bovine offals for human consumption, this is not a pre-condition of importation into the UK. However, imports of beef from animals aged over 30 months are currently prohibited except from 14 countries outside the EU where there have been no recorded cases of BSE.

Abattoirs (Rendering Capacity)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has, and over what period, to increase the rendering capacity available to Welsh abattoirs; and if he will make a statement. [29609]

Mr. Baldry: There are currently three Welsh abattoirs involved in the over-thirty-month scheme and the scheme carcasses from these are being processed by three approved rendering plants. Renderers are working to a national plan agreed by the industry through the United Kingdom Renderers Association. The industry is currently processing about 28,000 scheme animals each week and hopes to improve on this through the introduction of extra capacity which indirectly will be of benefit to all abattoirs, including Welsh ones, through the national plan.

Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning)

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sums were (a) allocated and (b) taken up in respect of decommissioning fishing vessels in each of the last three years; and what use was made of surplus funds. [35519]

Mr. Baldry: Sums of £8.4 million, £8.9 million and £12 million were allocated for decommissioning schemes in 1993, 1994 and 1995 respectively. Corresponding uptake in these years was £7.8 million, £8.8 million and £9.6 million. Normal Government accounting rules applied to these underspends.

Common Fisheries Policy

Mr. David Porter: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make it his policy to publish the findings of his review into the common fisheries policy before 25 July; and if he will make a statement; [35723]

Mr. Baldry: The common fisheries policy review group has almost completed its work and I understand that it plans to publish its report before 25 July. Fisheries Ministers will wish to study the report and to hear the views of the industry before reaching final conclusions on

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it. The Government have already made it clear that they will be putting proposals to the intergovernmental conference to enable the problem of quota hoppers to be resolved.

Beef Industry (Compensation)

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those areas where EU compensation payments would be automatic to support the United Kingdom beef market, setting out the circumstances and triggers whereby it would come into effect. [24000]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 2 April 1996]: Community arrangements act to support the United Kingdom beef market in several respects, including:

Premiums payable on beef cows and other male animals under the suckler cow and beef special premium schemes;
beef offered for sale into intervention when average market prices in the EU fall below 84 per cent. of the intervention price and where, in an individual member state, the average market price falls below 80 per cent. of the intervention price;
Subsidies, or export refunds, payable on cattle and beef exported to certain destinations outside the EU to enable EU exporters to complete on world markets;
Premiums payable on male dairy calves taken out of production by the age of 20 days; and
subject to upper limits, 70 per cent. of the basic compensation paid in respect of UK animals aged over 30 months which are currently unable to be sold into the human food chain.

All of the above measures are subject to detailed rules set out in the relevant Community legislation.

Veal Calves

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of British veal calves recently sent to France have been reared for beef; and what provisions exist to prevent these animals from being re-imported into the United Kingdom. [25861]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 19 April 1996]: Community rules, in place since 1990, required that any UK calf exported to another member state must be slaughtered on or before the age of six months. This precluded their use for production of beef.

Beef

Mr. Marlow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion by weight of prime British beef has been slaughtered at over 30 months of age in recent years. [25859]

Mr. Baldry [holding answer 19 April 1996]: Precise information on the slaughter age of prime beef cattle in recent years is not available. However, we estimate that between 5 and 10 per cent. of steers and heifers slaughtered annually are likely to be aged over 30 months.

Quarantine Conditions

Mr. Byers: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the minimum standards that have to be met by the owners of quarantine kennels. [28930]

Mrs. Browning [holding answer 14 May 1996]: The standard requirements under the Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974 for the

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design, construction, operation and management of authorised quarantine premises for dogs and cats are set out on form ID50. I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.

Cattle Culling

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the reasons for, and the consequences of, the halving of allocations of cattle under the 30-month scheme to the St. Merryn, Cobden's and West Devon meat abattoirs. [30802]

Mr. Baldry [holding answer 4 June 1996]: I have asked the chief executive of the Intervention Board to reply direct.

Letter from George Trevelyan to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 8 July 1996:

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about reduction in the allocations of cattle under the Over 30 Month Slaughter Scheme (OTMS) to St Merryn, Cobdens and West Devon Meat.[30802]
The number of cattle that can be slaughtered each week under the OTMS is limited by the rendering capacity that is available. In the

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first two weeks we operated the scheme in England and Wales on the basis of around 20 abattoirs. However, that was a "pump-priming" exercise and it was quite clear that it was necessary to increase the number of participating abattoirs in order to provide more equitable geographical coverage for producers. From week commencing 27 May, therefore, the number of plants was doubled and, as a consequence, it was necessary to reduce the allocations to the original abattoirs. Nevertheless, even under the new arrangements around 20% of the English allocation is in the West Country.
Since slaughtering under the scheme began more than 208,000 animals have been processed and in each of the last four weeks the throughput has averaged more than 28,000 limited only by rendering capacity. We are beginning, therefore, to make significant inroads into the backlog.
We are exploring all possible means of stepping up the rate of slaughtering. The renderers themselves are increasing their capacity over a period of time and we are bringing on stream cold storage capacity to allow carcasses to be stored prior to rendering. As a result, St Merryn Meat are now slaughtering additional cattle each week. We are also investigating the possibility of making more use of direct incineration. In combination these measures will allow us to increase the present allocations to abattoirs on the list over the coming weeks.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the House of Commons Library and the Public Information Office.