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Food (Chemical Contamination)
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what statistics his Department holds on chemical contamination incidents involving foodstuffs; and if they are available to the public.[9760]
Mr. Rooker: The Department compiles annual reports on all such incidents reported to it. These reports are available to inquirers, free of charge. The latest report by the Department's Incident Response Team, entitled "Food Protection 1996" has been placed in the Library of the House.
Cattle Slaughter Scheme
Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle have been slaughtered to date under the Selective Cull scheme; and at what cost to public funds. [7379]
Mr. Rooker: The total number of animals slaughtered under the Selective Cull scheme as at 9 July was 11,304.
Scheme expenditure to 4 July 1997 was £9,063,800.77, which is broken down as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Compensation | 8,106,720.82 |
| Incineration | 5,128.87 |
| Slaughter fees | 483,467.19 |
| Rendering fees | 241,821.69 |
| Storage and transport | 226,662.20 |
Mr. Gill: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle have been slaughtered to date under the over 30 months scheme; and at what cost to public funds. [7380]
Mr. Rooker: As at 30 June 1997, 1.533 million animals have been slaughtered under the Over Thirty Months Scheme, at a cost of:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Compensation | 751.780 |
| Slaughter | 91.735 |
| Rendering, incineration and hides | 89.806 |
| Storage and Transport | 56.357 |
| Total | 989.678 |
17 Jul 1997 : Column: 275
Old Documents
Mr. Baker: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the date and title of the oldest document or archival unit retained by his Department which has not been passed on to the Public Records Office for release for public inspection. [7201]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 8 July 1997]: The earliest records held by my Department date from 1940 and consist of three documents which form part of Public Record Office Class MAF 152: Ministry of Food war history papers (1914 to 1962).
Rodent Control
Ms Atherton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the next national rodent survey will be undertaken. [8447]
Mr. Morley: Information on the level of rat and mice infestation is being collected as part of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' 1996 English House Condition Survey. The results of the survey are expected to be published towards the end of this year.
Ms Atherton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health relating to Government responsibility for rodent control; and if he will make a statement. [8449]
Mr. Morley: The recommendations of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health were made following publication of the 1993 National Rodent Survey and they were fully considered at the time. The position will be reviewed after the results of the 1996 English House Condition Survey on rodent infestation are known later this year.
Ms Atherton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what requirements are placed upon local authorities to (a) record and (b) respond to incidents of rat infestation. [8442]
Mr. Morley: Under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, local authorities are required to keep their districts as free as practicable from rats and mice and to carry out such inspections as may be necessary for this purpose. The Act requires occupiers of land, other than agricultural land, to give notice in writing to the local authority of rodent infestations.
Ms Atherton: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has to bring about a reduction in levels of rat infestation in domestic properties. [8452]
Mr. Morley:
Although the results of the 1993 National Rodent Survey showed that there had been a small increase since the late 1970s in the level of rat infestation in properties used for domestic purposes, overall, the survey did not provide sufficient evidence to warrant a change in current rodent control policies. The situation will be reviewed in the light of the 1996 survey, the results of which are expected to be published towards the end of this year.
17 Jul 1997 : Column: 276
Ms Atherton:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many rat infestations were recorded (a) in total and (b) by local authority for each year since 1990. [8443]
Mr. Morley:
In 1993, 4.8 per cent. of properties were infested with rats. This information is not available at the level of local authority due to the small sample size. Figures are not available for other years.
Ms Atherton:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the factors underlying the growth in the incidence of rat infestation in domestic properties. [8448]
Mr. Morley:
Rodent numbers can be affected by a number of factors including climate, food availability, level and effectiveness of control, availability of breeding sites and levels of predators. The 1996 English House Condition Survey, the results of which will be available later this year, will provide more detailed information about levels of rodent infestation.
Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what specific grants are available to encourage the adoption of environmentally sound practices in agriculture in the national parks. [8507]
Mr. Morley:
MAFF operates a wide-ranging package of voluntary incentive schemes which are available to farmers in the national parks. In addition, the national parks have their own schemes.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what new plans he has to introduce cuts and savings in his Department as a result of the effect on his Department's budgets for 1997-98 and 1998-99 of the upward revisions to the GDP deflators in the Budget on 2 July; and if he will make a statement.[8298]
Mr. Morley
[holding answer 14 July 1997]: All Departments are reallocating spending within their Departmental ceilings as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Mr. Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, following the recent Budget, he will give his estimate of the total real level of his Department's budget, in 1995-96 prices, in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; if he will estimate what such figures were for (1) 1997-98 and (2) 1998-99 following the November 1996 Budget on the basis of the estimates of the GDP deflator contained in that Budget; and if he will make a statement. [8295]
Mr. Morley:
The figures requested for the Department's spending plans within the Control Total are as follows: £3,541 million, £3,149 million, £3,452 million and £3,201 million.
17 Jul 1997 : Column: 277
Mr. Martyn Jones:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the study from Oxford University on horizontal transmission of BSE, with particular regard to its relationship to stocking density; and if he will make a statement. [8695]
Mr. Rooker:
Professor Anderson, who heads the team at Oxford University, was a member of the epidemiology sub group of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) which advised Government on maternal transmission. That advice was made public through a MAFF press notice issued on 18 April 1997, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
I understand that Professor Anderson's team are shortly to publish further papers. Professor Anderson has recently been reported as saying that the higher incidents of BSE in larger herds, as compared with smaller herds, could be due to one of two factors, either:
(i) greater use of concentrated cattle feed in larger herds; or
Professor Anderson went on to say that he was not able, on the basis of the information available to him, to distinguish between these two hypotheses.
(ii) horizontal transmission from cow to cow as opposed to maternal transmission which is from a cow to its own calf.
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