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Arable Stewardship
Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he intends to publish details of the proposed pilot schemes for arable stewardship. [14047]
Mr. Morley:
We will be publishing a leaflet which explains the objectives of the arable stewardship pilot scheme and gives brief details of the measures, the location of the two pilot areas and the project officer contacts in the middle of November. It will be sent to all farmers in the pilot areas, members of the National Agri-environment Forum and other interested organisations. The detailed scheme literature and application forms will be available from 5 January 1998 when we will open the scheme to applications.
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Mr. Ainger:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will ensure that the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 relating to the docking of pigs' tails is properly enforced by inspectors and veterinarians at abattoirs; and if he will make a statement;[13943]
Mr. Morley:
I am keen to discourage the routine tail docking of piglets, a practice which is far too prevalent considering that the law only permits it in certain circumstances. I am considering how best to achieve this. No prosecutions relating to the docking of tails have been brought by MAFF under schedule 3 of the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 during 1995-96 or 1996-97. Prosecutions brought by local authorities or other bodies are not recorded centrally.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to receive the advice of the Forestry Commission on the hunting of foxes on Commission land; and if he will publish all the advice given. [14045]
Mr. Morley:
The Forestry Commission is reviewing its policy on hunting over commission land, and we expect to receive its advice soon. This is an internal review and the advice will therefore not be published.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received regarding the use of meat and bonemeal in continental pig production; and if he will make a statement. [14169]
Mr. Rooker:
Representations have been received from UK pig farmers reflecting their disappointment at the differences between our own controls on feed and those imposed by our European partners.
Farmers in other Member States are permitted to feed meat and bonemeal (MBM) to non-ruminant livestock. In the UK, mammalian MBM has been prohibited from all farmed livestock feed, including pig, since March 1996. This extension of our ban, which formerly only applied to ruminant feed, was introduced on the specific advice of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to avoid the risk of any cross-contamination between ruminant and non-ruminant feed. Such cross-contamination could lead to the perpetuation of the BSE epidemic in British cattle.
The UK has had far more cases of BSE than other Member States, and that is why we have a range of measures here which go considerably further than those taken elsewhere.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will invite the Committee on Toxicology of Chemicals in Food to reconsider the
3 Nov 1997 : Column: 39
research evidence on vitamin B6 in dietary supplements on which they based their advice, with special reference to the study by Dalton and Dalton; what assessment he has made of the criticism of the Committee's research evaluation; and if he will ensure that the members of the Committee have no interest which could be relevant to their advice. [14042]
Mr. Rooker:
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) has considered the data on the toxicity of vitamin B6 on two separate occasions. It is aware that the validity of some of the science on which its recommendation was based--including the study by Dalton and Dalton--has been questioned but it has not been persuaded that this issue needs to be looked at for a third time. The Government has every confidence in the rigour with which the COT reviewed the data and in the robustness of the recommendation it made. We see no reason to invite the Committee to reconsider the evidence.
Members of the COT are appointed by the Chief Medical Officer as independent scientific and medical experts on the basis of special skills and knowledge. However, it is inevitable that most experts will have gained experience by applying scientific and toxicological skills to address questions of a commercial nature. In order to ensure that these commercial interests do not conflict with the need to obtain independent expert advice, members are required to declare any commercial interests on appointment and, again, during meetings if a topic arises in which they have an interest. Details of the interests declared by COT Members have been placed in the Library. The Government is wholly satisfied with the integrity of the members of the COT and with the independence of its advice.
Mr. Paice:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to receive the Krebs report into the incidence of TB in the badger population and its impact on dairy and beef producers; and if he will publish the report in full. [14046]
Mr. Rooker:
I expect to receive the report before the end of the year. The report will be published in full.
Mr. Jenkins:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total number and percentage of businesses in (a) Tamworth and (b) Staffordshire with between (i) 0-9 employees, (ii) 10-49 employees, (iii) 50-99 employees, (iv) 100-249 employees and (v) 250-500 employees; and how many people are employed in each size band. [13889]
Mrs. Roche:
The information is not kept in the form requested by my hon. Friend. However, data from the Annual Employment Survey showing size band distributions of employment in Tamworth and in Staffordshire are set out in the tables. A unit does not correspond to the terms "firm, company" or; "business", by which employers are sometimes identified, but is roughly equivalent to a workplace.
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(2) how many farmers have been prosecuted under the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 for the illegal docking of pigs' tails in (a) 1995-96 and (b) 1996-97; and if he will make a statement. [13942]
| Employment size band | Number of units | Percentage of units | Number of employees | Percentage of employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamworth | ||||
| 1-10 | 501 | 60.8 | 1,999 | 10.4 |
| 11-49 | 222 | 26.9 | 4,987 | 26.0 |
| 50-99 | 55 | 6.7 | 3,850 | 20.1 |
| 100-199 | 35 | 4.2 | 4,634 | 24.2 |
| 200-499 | 9 | 1.1 | 2,543 | 13.3 |
| 500 or more | 2 | 0.2 | 1,155 | 6.0 |
| Total | 824 | 100.0 | 19,168 | 100.0 |
| Staffordshire | ||||
| 1-10 | 15,091 | 72.9 | 57,937 | 16.3 |
| 11-49 | 4,386 | 21.2 | 97,718 | 27.5 |
| 50-99 | 648 | 3.1 | 44,910 | 12.6 |
| 100-199 | 350 | 1.7 | 47,790 | 13.4 |
| 200-499 | 165 | 0.8 | 50,349 | 14.2 |
| 500 or more | 49 | 0.2 | 57,065 | 16.0 |
| Total | 20,689 | 100.0 | 355,766 | 100.0 |
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the growth and barriers to growth of small businesses; and what her Department has identified as the main barriers. [13892]
Mrs. Roche: The Department has commissioned the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Business Research of the University of Cambridge and Public and Corporate Economic Consultants (PACEC), to carry out research on growth constraints on Small and Medium Firms.
Management and employee development and expertise was found to be the key to sustained growth over a period of several years.
Particular constraints were:
Caroline Flint:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations she has received regarding the renewal of domestic coal contracts by the generating companies in 1998; and if she will make a statement. [13144]
Mr. Battle:
I have received representations from one of the coal companies in respect of power station contracts being negotiated for the period beyond March 1998. The negotiations are primarily a matter for the private sector companies involved.
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the level and depth of internal management capability and human resource development;
internal resource management, particularly in relation to budgeting, costing, invoicing and payment procedures;
the firm's management systems;
insufficient awareness of the range of facilities of computer based IT systems as a cost/time saving management tool;
the need to address skill shortages through effective training or recruitment;
a too narrow customer/product base;
the need for external providers of finance to be an enabling rather than constraining forces (as many firms in the study perceived them to be).
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