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Poultry Meat Inspection

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many poultry meat inspectors were employed by each local authority in each year since 1979. [5499]

Mrs. Browning: The Department does not hold figures on the number of poultry meat inspectors employed by each local authority. Since 1 April 1995, poultry meat inspectors have been employed by the Meat Hygiene Service, an Executive Agency of the Ministry.

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many prosecutions there have been for breaches of the Poultry Meat Hygiene Regulations 1995. [5500]

Mrs. Browning: There have been no prosecutions to date for offences under the Poultry Meat, Farmed Game Bird Meat and Rabbit Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995.

Butter

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what change has been made to the European Commission's definition of butter; for what reasons and when the change was made; and how the new definition differs from the old. [4370]

Mr. Baldry: There has been no change in the definition of butter for the purposes of administering the preferential access quota for New Zealand butter imports into the EU. The European Commission concluded in June of this year that spreadable butter did not conform with this definition and was not, therefore, eligible for the preferential rate of duty which applies to imports of butter from New Zealand under the GATT current access quota.

Environmental Auditing

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the ways in which his Department has (a) demonstrated by example and (b) promoted externally, the ability to improve efficiency and competitiveness through environmental auditing; and if he will make a statement. [4524]

Mr. Boswell: The Department will shortly undertake specific environmental audits at some of its major sites as a continuing part of its green housekeeping strategy. We are committed to observing wherever possible best environmental practice in the management of our estate, in our approach to purchasing goods and services, in the disposal of waste and in all of our day-to-day operations.

25 Nov 1996 : Column: 99

We promote sound and cost-effective environmental practices and foster an understanding of environmental issues amongst the staff.

The Department also has a number of wider initiatives to improve environmental performance. These include appraisal of the environmental impacts of policies where these are significant; monitoring and evaluation of policies to provide feedback on environmental performance; and annual review of the Department's environmental commitments in "This Common Inheritance; UK Annual Report". I am the Department's nominated Green Minister, charged with integrating environmental considerations into our strategies and policies.

The Department also supports initiatives in the agricultural industry to improve environmental performance and competitiveness through achieving recognised environmental standards. The LEAF initiative--linking the environment and farming--is one example of an industry-led environmental audit. The MAFF codes of good agricultural practice set out industry-wide standards for the protection of air, soil and water.

Surplus Beef

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will assess the advantages of introducing a distribution scheme to give away surplus beef held in storage. [4580]

Mr. Baldry: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Norfolk, North (Sir R. Howell) on 19 November 1996, Official Report, column 471.

Planning Constraints

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to ensure that planning constraints on agricultural buildings are applied equally to a small and large farm holdings; and if he will make a statement. [4924]

Mr. Boswell: We have no plans to seek a change to the thresholds for agricultural permitted development rights in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 under which holdings of less than five hectares have more limited rights than larger holdings.

European Union

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of his Department's time and resources are spent dealing with administrative and policy matters connected with British membership of the European Union. [4951]

Mr. Boswell: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Food Surpluses (Storage)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries

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and Food if he will list the nature and quantity of foods of European Union surpluses that are in storage within the United Kingdom. [5437]

Mr. Baldry: Tables showing levels of all produce held in intervention within the EU, with levels for the UK separately identified, are placed in the House at regular intervals, most recently on 19 November.

Arable Area Payments Scheme

Mr. Tipping: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list by county the (a) average, (b) minimum and (c) maximum payment made in 1995 under the arable area payments scheme. [5699]

Mr. Baldry: The following table sets out the information requested for payments in England. Some claimants will have received more than one payment. The minimum figures given are for the smallest payments actually made; for most counties the minimum would otherwise have been nil because some claims will have been totally disallowed.

Payments made under the arable area payments scheme 1995

	Average	Minimum	Maximum
	£	£	£
Avon	8,957.45	770.40	98,449.00
Bedfordshire	18,632.90	53.83	390,472.31
Berkshire	28,668.27	1,477.35	792,867.03
Buckinghamshire	15,888.25	37.50	405,279.32
Cambridgeshire	18,272.41	137.88	797,212.91
Cheshire	6,785.81	527.47	218,279.78
Cleveland	11,615.11	229.81	461,016.46
Cornwall	6,409.09	559.87	171,403.29
Cumbria	4,561.96	16.15	55,680.97
Derbyshire	8,666.02	26.92	99,167.67
Devonshire	6,409.35	157.58	203,031.07
Dorset	18,716.02	365.47	375,819.31
Durham	10,233.91	30.64	222,335.50
Essex	19,470.52	21.89	1,288,422.08
Gloucestershire	15,993.52	9.13	343,884.26
Greater London	14,060.20	577.80	123,089.56
Greater Manchester	8,254.15	875.46	62,030.03
Hampshire	25,068.52	17.79	479,531.00
Hereford and Worcester	11,000.01	8.08	201,475.14
Hertfordshire	23,452.43	105.69	492,836.12
Humberside	14,014.43	8.08	504,590.31
Isle of Wight	16,375.53	1,449.03	159,465.65
Kent	19,971.69	8.08	365,691.47
Lancashire	8,994.95	454.89	106,690.12
Leicestershire	15,732.99	75.37	1,393,446.80
Lincolnshire	17,802.00	8.08	936,939.64
Merseyside	10,442.46	509.96	107,555.56
Norfolk	18,738.42	88.82	491,188.22
Northamptonshire	19,077.02	21.41	393,030.42
Northumberland	16,615.81	218.86	253,130.33
Nottinghamshire	15,050.19	478.05	538,302.03
Oxfordshire	22,294.35	302.03	482,672.54
Shropshire	12,039.26	61.91	345,143.01
Somerset	9,222.55	409.14	132,165.99
Staffordshire	11,920.43	13.46	260,347.02
Suffolk	17,632.38	148.83	653,988.67
Surrey	13,880.98	8.08	117,844.05
East Sussex	15,679.02	256.07	178,973.32
West Sussex	20,011.65	269.17	703,922.49
Tyne and Wear	11,949.72	667.54	94,157.14
Warwickshire	15,949.47	54.55	276,512.10
West Midlands	11,021.91	323.00	153,924.64
Wiltshire	20,870.87	354.56	294,572.13
North Yorkshire	11,750.97	14.83	368,992.73
North Yorkshire	14,168.18	78.51	357,455.21
South Yorkshire	13,025.53	137.28	191,983.40
West Yorkshire	10,804.57	168.53	249,824.05

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Culled Cattle Storage

Mr. Tony Banks: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many culled cattle are currently in storage awaiting destruction; where they are stored; and what is the total cost to date of storage. [5700]

Mr. Baldry: As at 15 November 907,477 animals had been slaughtered under the over-30-month scheme, of which 33,624 had been directly incinerated. The carcases of 177,586 animals were held in 40 cold stores at various locations throughout the UK. In addition 112,803 tonnes of meat and bonemeal and 71,451 tonnes of tallow from the rendered remains of OTMS cattle were held in seven MBM stores and two tallow stores awaiting eventual incineration. Storage costs since slaughtering under the scheme began in May were £3.39 million.

Departmental Decisions (Appeals)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those administrative decisions of his Department affecting (a) United Kingdom citizens and (b) non-citizens where there is no right of appeal. [6019]

Mr. Boswell: I regret that the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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