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TRANSPORT
Manchester Airport (Environmental Protest)
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the cost to public funds to date of the actions in respect of environmental activists opposing developments at Manchester Airport; and if he will make a statement. [2012]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
The expense being incurred by the Under-Sheriff of Cheshire in removing the protesters from the site of the second runway at Manchester Airport is being met by the airport company and the contractors, without cost to public funds. The additional cost to Cheshire Constabulary of the policing operation at the site as at 17 April, the latest date for which information is available, was £111,000. The additional cost to Greater Manchester Police as at 30 May is estimated to be £274,000. There is in addition the cost of court hearings, although fees are payable towards that cost.
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Mr. Singh:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how he intends to take forward the Government's commitments to develop an integrated transport policy to fight congestion and pollution. [2626]
Mr. Prescott:
Further to my replies to the House on Tuesday, I have today launched a fundamental review of transport policy to provide an integrated transport system which meets the environmental and transport needs of all regions of the country for today and the future. The review will look at both the short term and the longer term actions that are necessary to deliver an integrated system.
The review will encompass the key areas of transport and examine transport's relationship with the economy in general and with the many environmental issues which surround it. The review will be overseen by a Ministerial team drawn from both the Transport and Environmental Departments and chaired by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Transport. He and I are determined that this review will be conducted in an open and consultative way which will provide opportunity for those with an interest in transport to input their views to the process, and wherever possible, become directly involved in the development of policy.
My aim is to publish a long term strategy White Paper next Spring which will provide a sustainable framework for decision making during the remainder of this Parliament, the next and the years beyond that. Critically it will set interim objectives for the remainder of this Parliament, against which to judge our progress. Publication of the White Paper will mark the completion of the initial analytical, goal setting and consultation phase in the development of an integrated transport policy. But there will then be a rolling programme of action, involving both central and local government, transport operators and others across all regions to make that policy a reality.
Mr. Etherington:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food where all the procedures performed by the local veterinary inspectors in connection with export health certification of the pigs exported from Dover on 15 May were carried out; if he will indicate whether these were places at which export health certification could properly be carried out under the terms of directive 64/432/EEC; how many of the pigs were (a) dead and (b) injured on arrival at Dover; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the report made by the member of his veterinary staff who accompanied the pigs on the sea crossing from Dover. [1272]
Mr. Morley:
With the exception of one lorry load, the export health certification which accompanied the pigs on the sailing of the MV Caroline on 15 May was completed at their farms of origin in accordance with the rules laid down in Directive 64/432/EEC. In order to ensure the correct identity of the pigs transported, animal health certification for one lorry load was finalised at Dover. Two of the pigs transported to Dover were found to be
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dead on arrival. Two others were found to be unfit to continue their journey and were not exported. The appropriate local authorities are being asked to consider whether prosecution would be warranted in relation to any aspects of the consignments of 15 and 16 May.
I have seen the report of the veterinarian who accompanied the pigs on their journey. I do not propose to place it in the Library. As a general principle, it is important for the proper enforcement of the rules that frank and candid reports are available for discussion within government and between government and the enforcement authorities. Such reports may also be used as part of legal proceedings where there is evidence of non-compliance. These purposes would be undermined if the practice were to publish reports such as this. They are covered by exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which enables the confidentiality of internal opinion, advice and recommendations to Ministers to be protected.
Mr. Gareth Thomas:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he will take in the light of the EU Commission's statement that other member states are not taking enough precautions against risks of BSE in cattle or sheep and the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee's latest advice. [2624]
Dr. John Cunningham:
In August 1996 the previous Government introduced a ban on the consumption of the heads of sheep and goats, following a recommendation from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee which had considered whether BSE could exist naturally in sheep. The Committee had also advised that the Government should continue to consider this issue further with its EU partners and implement a programme of further research.
Discussions took place during the latter part of 1996 in the European Union. The Commission proposed EU-wide controls on the use of spleen of all sheep and the brain and spinal cord of sheep which were more than about a year old, based on checking the number of permanent incisor teeth of the sheep. Unfortunately, despite support from the United Kingdom and a few other countries, the majority of Member States rejected this proposal.
I have raised this issue again with Commissioners Fischler and Bonino. The Commission announced on 14 May that it would be making further proposals.
In the light of this SEAC have reconsidered the question. There is still no scientific evidence indicating that there is any BSE in the national sheep population. But SEAC has recommended that it would be prudent for the Government to take early action if Community-wide measures are not agreed quickly, to extend controls, as proposed by the European Commission, to the spinal cord of sheep more than a year old--which account for around a sixth of annual consumption of sheepmeat in the UK--and to the spleen of all sheep. Similar action has already been taken by the Irish, French and Dutch Governments. This is a precautionary measure, designed to ensure that if BSE has been transmitted to sheep, all reasonable steps are taken to avoid any possible risks to consumers no matter how remote.
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On the basis of the advice from SEAC, which I am placing in the Library of the House, the Government is today opening consultations on legislation which would extend the existing controls on the heads of all sheep and goats to the spleen, and would require the removal of spinal cord of sheep and goats with at least one permanent incisor erupted (the most practical means of ageing sheep over one year old). It would also ban the use of the vertebral column of sheep and goats in the production of mechanically recovered meat.
The SEAC statement also recommends reinforcing the existing arrangements for scrapie surveillance. The Government's intention is to reinforce the existing legal requirement on farmers to notify all cases of scrapie by providing new powers for the compulsory slaughter of affected animals, with payment of compensation, and by initiating a survey of brains from abattoirs and a postal survey of farms. The results of these surveys will be published. We are today opening consultation on this compulsory slaughter and compensation scheme.
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