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Multi-annual Guidance Programme
Sir Richard Body: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the European Commission proposes to apply financial penalties following the report on multi-annual guidance programme III; and if he will make a statement. [13869]
Mr. Morley: Under the terms of Council Regulation 3699/93, Member States which have not complied with their Multi-Annual Guidance Programme (MAGP) objectives are not eligible for EU funding in respect of vessel construction or modernisation grants. It is also open to the European Commission to invoke the provisions of the Treaty in respect of any failure to meet obligations which they consider sufficiently serious.
As far as the Commission's Report on MAGP III is concerned, the section devoted to the UK refers to two outstanding requests for adjustments to our objectives and to the need for certain discrepancies in fleet registers to be corrected.
The Commission subsequently put proposals to the Fisheries Management Committee on 27-28 October which are expected to be adopted shortly. They have the effect of amending the UK MAGP III objectives for the purposes of setting new objectives for MAGP IV. These changes would meet all the points which we have put to the Commission. Details are given in the table.
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(13) A negative percentage figure represents the over-achievement of the objective.
(14) For MAGP III, there were separate segments for demersal trawls and seines and for nephrops gears. The revised objectives and positions at end-1996 were:
Demersal trawls and seines--GRT objective: 59,470; GRT position: 64,534; Power objective: 316,399; Power position: 332,337.
Nephrops--GRT objective: 18,725; GRT position: 11,036; Power objective: 106,477; Power position: 67,790.
(15) The previous non-active/non-TAC segment has been eliminated by redistributing the vessels and related objectives across the remaining over 10 metre segments.
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Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that sheep exported from the United Kingdom are identified in such a way that they can be traced back to the holding of birth in accordance with the requirement of EC directive 92/102; and if he will make a statement. [13932]
Mr. Rooker:
A consultation letter was issued on 13 October 1997 to GB trade organisations seeking their views on changes to the legislation in Great Britain which would enable better tracing of sheep to the holding of birth. The consultation period ends on 24 November 1997. Legislation came into force in Northern Ireland from 1 August 1997 requiring sheep moved from the holding of birth to be identified with a flock or herd mark.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of cows of each identifiable breed in (a) the national dairy herd and (b) the national suckler herd. [14178]
Mr. Rooker:
The Department collects no information on the breakdown of cattle by breed, but the provisional results for England from the 1997 June Agricultural Census show that there are a total of (a) 1,701,000 cows in the national dairy herd and (b) 798,000 cows in the national suckler herd.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the total cost of resolving the computer millennium problem in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies for which he is responsible; if he will give in each case (i) expenditure incurred to date, (ii) expenditure planned for 1997-98, (iii) expenditure planned for 1998-99 and (iv) expenditure planned for 1999-00; and if he will make a statement. [13588]
Mr. Morley:
The current best estimate of cost for resolving the computer problem for each financial year is as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Expenditure incurred to date (1996-97) | 354,000 |
| Expenditure allocated for 1997-98 | 2,710,000 |
| Expenditure estimated for 1998-99 | 4,514,000 |
| Expenditure estimated for 1999-2000 | 1,813,000 |
| Making a total of | 9,391,000 |
Including Agencies, non-IT "embedded chip" aspects and possible replacement of scientific equipment, total final costs are expected to exceed £11 million.
Non-Departmental Public Bodies' costs are not included; all have been contacted and asked to progress required action.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which he is responsible completed the millennium computer compliance audits of systems; and if he will make a statement. [13590]
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Mr. Morley:
Audits of all the Department's major business-critical systems are now complete. Although the scope of the overall millennium programme continues to widen, all residual audit activity (including that relating to non-IT "embedded chip" aspects and scientific equipment) will be completed by the end of 1997.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on what funding provision has been made to accommodate the expenditure needed to resolve the computer millennium problem; and if he expects to have sufficient funding to pay for the work necessary to achieve complete millennium compliance by 1 January 2000. [13589]
Mr. Morley:
It is currently planned that funding for preventive and remedial action to resolve the computer millennium problem will be met from existing PES provision. The estimated costs are shown in the table in the reply given to the hon. Member today; current financial plans include coverage for these figures.
However, some aspects of the programme are still largely an unknown quantity. There is a likelihood, therefore, that some non-critical work may need to be deferred beyond the end-December 1998 target set by the Central IT Unit of the Cabinet Office, that additional funds may need to be sought, or a combination of both.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the action plan, due by 1 October 1997, for resolving the computer millennium problem in his Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which he is responsible; if such was fully completed on time; and if he will make a statement. [13587]
Mr. Morley:
In compliance with the Government-wide target set by the Cabinet Office's Central IT Unit (CITU), MAFF has submitted an action plan, required by October 1997. The costed action plan will be analysed by CITU and the CCTA and the conclusions reported to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who will then inform Parliament. The plans will be exempted from disclosure under the Open Government Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which permits non-disclosure prior to an announcement. However once the announcement has been made the plans will be available to the public.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which (a) Minister and (b) civil servant has overall responsibility for ensuring millennium computer compliance in his Department and its associated public bodies. [13591]
Mr. Morley:
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has overall responsibility for ensuring millennium computer compliance in his Department and its associated bodies. The Director of IT is in charge of the Department's overall Millennium Programme which consists of a number of parallel projects covering different aspects of the Department's computer systems and associated technical infrastructure. The Director (Estates) co-ordinates all aspects of a separate project which has been established to address 'non-IT' equipment containing embedded microprocessor chip technology.
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