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Mr. D. P. McLaughlan
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to reply to the letter of 13 June from the hon. Member for Aylesbury enclosing correspondence from Mr. D. P. McLaughlan of Princes Risborough. [7038]
Mrs. Browning: I replied to the letter of 13 June from the hon. Member for Aylesbury, enclosing correspondence from Mr. D. P. McLaughlan of Princes Risborough, on 9 December 1996.
BSE
Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated direct cost to United Kingdom public funds in the 1996-97 financial year of dealing with the BSE crisis; and what is the estimated provision for 1997-98, taking account of claw back on European Community assistance. [7358]
Mr. Boswell: I will write to the hon. Member with this information shortly.
Publicity
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what promotional and public information campaigns his Department is (a) currently running and (b) planning to run during the next six months; and for each campaign (i) how much it will cost, (1) in total and (2) to his Department, (ii) what agencies or bodies are undertaking the work and (iii) what is its planned duration. [7408]
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Mr. Boswell: MAFF's planned public information campaign for the financial year 1996-97 and the projected costs are as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Food Safety and Healthy Eating | 1,377,000 |
| Animal Health and Welfare (excluding 'BSE') | 526,000 |
| Environmentally Sensitive Areas | 131,000 |
| Countryside Stewardship | 115,000 |
| 'Balance in the Countryside' | 90,000 |
| Prevention of Agricultural Pollution | 139,000 |
| Research Policy Co-ordination | 35,000 |
| CAP and other Scheme Literature | 680,000 |
| International Relations and Export Promotion | 350,000 |
| Market Task Force | 30,000 |
| Speciality Food Producers | 58,000 |
| Plant Health and Horticulture | 199,000 |
| Flood and Coastal Defence | 28,000 |
| Alternative Crops | 48,000 |
| Personal Imports | 150,000 |
| Rabies | 135,000 |
| General Environmental Information | 408,000 |
| Agricultural Events | 168,000 |
The work is undertaken by specialist contractors from the private sector who are commissioned and project managed by the Department's information division.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much his Department has spent on promotional or public information campaigns in each of the last five years; and how much he estimates will be spent on these campaigns during the (i) current and (ii) next financial years. [7540]
Mr. Boswell:
Expenditure on public information campaigns by the Department in each of the last five financial years, and estimates for the current and next financial years are as follows:
1991-92: £4,094,000
1992-93: £4,217,000
1993-94: £4,312,000
1994-95: £4,800,000
1995-96: £4,738,000
1996-97: £4,667,000
1997-98 1 : £4,416,000
1 Estimates.
Mammalian Meat and Bonemeal (Transport)
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many representations he has received concerning potential cross-contamination from the transport of mammalian meat and bonemeal in vehicles that are also used to transport grain; and if he will make a statement. [7946]
Mrs. Browning: We have received no such representations. Regulation 14 of the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order 1996 requires any vehicle used to transport mammalian meat and bonemeal, or material containing mammalian meat and bonemeal, to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected as soon as possible after the transport ceases and in any event before the vehicle is used for any other purpose.
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 107
Sheep Dips (Pollution)
Sir Cranley Onslow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the cases of pollution resulting from the misuse of synthetic pyrethroid sheep dips which have been notified to (a) his Department and (b) the Environment Agency within the past 12 months. [7802]
Mrs. Browning: There is no requirement to notify my Department of pollution incidents from sheep dips. Statistics on water pollution are published annually by the Environment Agency. The latest report, "Water Pollution Incidents in England and Wales 1995", shows that there were very few incidents of pollution from sheep dip in that year. These figures do not distinguish between pollution from synthetic pyrethroids or other sheep dips. Figures for 1996 are not yet available.
Organophosphate Poisoning
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many notified cases of organophosphate poisoning have been reported to his Department; and if he will make a statement. [7912]
Mrs. Browning: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reports of the appraisal panel for human suspected adverse reactions to veterinary medicines which are available in the Library of the House. Any cases of poisoning by agricultural pesticides other than veterinary medicines are reported to the pesticides incidents appraisal panel of the Health and Safety Executive.
Cattle Cull
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress with proposals for the future selective cull. [7914]
Mr. Baldry: The Government announced on 19 September that they would not proceed for the present with the selective cull of cattle in relation to BSE.
The decision was taken in the light of interim research findings, reported in July, in which a higher proportion of the offspring of BSE cases themselves developed BSE than a similar group of cattle which were not the offspring of BSE cases. Further analysis of that study is being undertaken. Also, the analysis published by Professor Roy Anderson and his team at Oxford university in August indicated that the epidemic will virtually die out around
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 108
2001 irrespective of any further measures, that the targeting in the original cull proposal could be improved, and that there might be other possible approaches.
This does not mean that the Government have abandoned the selective cull. The cull options will be reconsidered after further consideration of the latest scientific developments, and in the light of progress with relaxing export restrictions in relation to herds which can be certified to have had no history of BSE.
Mr. Martyn Jones:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the scientific evidence concerning maternal transmission of BSE; and if he will make a statement. [7979]
Mrs. Browning:
The Minister received advice from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee--SEAC--on the interim results of a comparative trial of cattle on 29 July. This indicated that there was evidence of maternal transmission. However, alternative scientific views were put forward subsequently. The Minister has therefore asked SEAC to reconsider this when the final results of the trial are available in the new year.
Mr. Pickthall:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations he has received on the labelling of vegetarian cheese. [7843]
Mrs. Browning:
The only representations that have been received on the labelling of vegetarian cheese in the last year have concerned that produced using genetic modification. As many of the letters received on genetic modification over this period have covered a wide range of issues it is not possible to give precise figures easily on the number that have mentioned the labelling of vegetarian cheese but it is estimated to be fewer than 25.
Sir Jerry Wiggin:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each of the agri-environmental schemes for which his Department is responsible, (i) actual expenditure in 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96, (ii) provision and estimated outturn of expenditure in 1996-97 and (iii) planned expenditure in 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000, distinguishing in each case between (a) payments to farmers, (b) running costs and (c) monitoring costs. [8007]
Mr. Boswell:
Details are contained in the following tables. It is not possible at this stage to make forward projections of running or monitoring costs.
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 107
| £000 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual | Provision(5) | Estimate(6) | Planned (7) | ||||||
| 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | ||
| ESA(8) | 10,900 | 16,500 | 20,100 | 29,100 | 37,020 | 31,803 | 33,690 | 37,708 | 41,190 |
| NSA(9) | -- | -- | -- | 2,375 | 6,100 | 3,645 | 4,740 | 5,700 | 6,050 |
| CSS(10) | -- | -- | -- | -- | 12,225 | 12,225 | 17,650 | 21,900 | 27,400 |
| HS(11) | -- | -- | -- | 950 | 2,000 | 1,420 | 1,820 | 1,880 | 1,910 |
| MS(12) | -- | -- | -- | -- | 350 | 104 | 252 | 378 | 462 |
| OAS(13) | -- | -- | 26 | 270 | 455 | 406 | 846 | 1,092 | 1,212 |
| CAS(14) | -- | -- | -- | 50 | 2,500 | 80 | 120 | 120 | 120 |
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| £000 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Provision(5)Estimate(6) | ||||||
| 1992-1993 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-1997 | ||
| ESA(8) | 7,505 | 7,968 | 7,124 | 7,053 | 5,729 | 5,729 |
| NSA(9) | -- | -- | 1,116 | 1,106 | 761 | 753 |
| CSS(10) | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4,647 | 4,850 |
| HS(11) | -- | -- | 745 | 569 | 540 | 440 |
| MS(12) | -- | -- | -- | 419 | 418 | 340 |
| OAS(13) | -- | -- | 97 | 130 | 127 | 127 |
| CAS(14) | -- | -- | 363 | 223 | 253 | 230 |
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 109
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 109
| £000 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actual Provision(5)Estimate(6) | ||||||
| 1992-1993 | 1993-1994 | 1994-1995 | 1995-1996 | 1996-1997 | ||
| ESA(8) | 3,603 | 4,244 | 2,871 | 3,318 | 2,266 | 2,266 |
| NSA(9) | -- | -- | 938 | 665 | 563 | 563 |
| CSS(10) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| HS(11) | -- | -- | 39 | 205 | 190 | 182 |
| MS(12) | -- | -- | -- | -- | 50 | 50 |
| OAS(13) | -- | -- | 170 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| CAS(14) | -- | -- | -- | 25 | 36 | 16 |
(5) Planned (1995 PES provision).
(6) Current estimated expenditure.
(7) Planned (1996 PES provision).
(8) Environmentally Sensitive Areas.
(9) Nitrate Sensitive Areas (under the agri-environment regulation).
(10) Countryside Stewardship Scheme (operated by the Countryside Commission until 31 March 1996).
(11) Habitat Scheme.
(12) Moorland Scheme.
(13) Organic Aid Scheme.
(14) Countryside Access Scheme.
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 109
10 Dec 1996 : Column: 109
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