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Scottish Parliament
Mr. Swinney: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Scotland to produce a concordat setting out arrangements for relations between his Department and the Scottish Executive after the establishment of a Scottish parliament; and if he will make a statement. [25476]
Mr. Morley: Concordats cannot be finalised until after the Scottish Parliament is elected in 1999. However, our officials and those of the Scottish Office are engaging in preparatory work on some of the possible administrative working arrangements that might apply in the agriculture, fisheries and food areas after devolution. The White Paper, "Scotland's Parliament", makes clear the Government's commitment to the development of mutual understandings covering the exchange of information, advance notification and joint working to facilitate good communication after devolution.
BSE
Mr. Michael J. Foster: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in appointing experts to support Lord Justice Phillips in the inquiry into the emergence of BSE and new variant CJD. [25619]
Dr. John Cunningham:
The Government have now appointed Mrs. June Bridgeman CB, a retired senior civil servant and formerly Deputy Chair of the Equal
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Opportunities Commission to be the member of the Inquiry with experience in public administration and Professor Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Professor of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, as the scientific member of the Inquiry.
Mr. Gray:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many non-United Kingdom nationals are currently practising in the United Kingdom as official veterinarians in abattoirs; what assessment he has made of their level of competence in the English language; and what tests are used to ensure that the level of language competence is adequate. [22829]
Mr. Rooker:
The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) is responsible for Official Veterinary Surgeons (OVSs) working in abattoirs in Great Britain. Nine of the OVSs directly employed by the MHS are non-United Kingdom nationals. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for OVSs working in abattoirs in Northern Ireland. Three of its OVSs are non-United Kingdom nationals. In both cases, the selection process includes a formal interview during which communication skills must be demonstrated.
The MHS also contracts out OVS services to veterinary agencies and practices. Seventy-eight (out of 486) are non-United Kingdom nationals.
In liaison with the University of Bristol, the MHS is responsible for the management of the OVS training courses. The MHS has introduced an assessment for non-United Kingdom nationals to assess their ability to understand and communicate in English.
Mrs. Ballard:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what plans he has to make spot checks on consignments of imported beef to ensure that SRM removal has been carried out to United Kingdom standards; [23598]
(3) if he will make a statement on the mechanisms by which the Government intend to enforce the restrictions on beef imports. [23597]
Mr. Rooker:
The Government's new unilateral controls to ensure that certain food and feed products do not contain and were not derived from specified risk material (SRM) require products to be certified as such in their country of origin by national veterinary services. Products produced before 1 January and products derived from animals born, reared and slaughtered in Australia or New Zealand, provided they are certified as such, are not subject to the SRM-freedom requirements. All consignments imported into the UK from third countries are checked at designated Border Inspection Posts. EU Single Market rules permit random spot-checks only at destination. Consistent with those rules, a daily sample of randomly selected consignments from EU member states are checked for conformity with the new unilateral controls.
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Mr. Bayley:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the implications of his White Paper, "The Food Standards Agency: A Force for Change", for the location, continued employment prospects and managerial lines of accountability of the staff working for (a) the Meat Hygiene Service and (b) other divisions and agencies of his Department at his Department's offices at King's Pool, York. [24040]
Mr. Rooker:
The White Paper proposes that the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) should continue to operate as a separate entity but report in future to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and through it to Department of Health Ministers, rather than to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as at present. The MHS is currently expected to retain its headquarters in York and its network of regional offices. There will be a continuing requirement for its staff to be based at meat plants throughout the country.
The White Paper does not propose any changes to the location of the other divisions and agencies based at the Department's offices in Kings Pool, York.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the forecast annual cost to the livestock industry of tagging and identification requirements. [23702]
Mr. Rooker:
As regards the costs of the computerised Cattle Tracing System, I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend gave to the right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) on 4 December 1997, Official Report, column 356. The additional cost to the industry of the second tag required for cattle born or imported after 1 January 1998 is estimated at approximately £3 million per annum.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what is the forecast cost to the industry of the Meat Hygiene Service for the calendar year 1998; [23703]
Mr. Rooker:
Information regarding the cost of the Meat Hygiene Service to industry is not available on a calendar year basis. However, the income and expenditure of the Meat Hygiene Service(MHS) is published on a financial year basis in its Annual Report and Accounts.
The total cost of the Meat Hygiene Service to the industry for 1996-1997 was £26 million. Certain MHS enforcement costs, such as for Specified Bovine Material controls, were met by Government.
The latest estimate of the total cost to industry for 1997-98 is £28.7 million. This similarly excludes those MHS costs met by Government.
The MHS budget for 1998-99 is currently being prepared. Figures for 1998-99 are therefore not yet available. However it is proposed that the cost of MHS enforcement of Specified Risk Material controls in
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licensed premises should also be charged to industry from 1 April 1998. The estimated maximum cost to industry of this proposal is £48 million.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide a schedule of all government levies, charges and other financial impositions upon the agriculture industry and agricultural products together with their estimated cost in the most recent year for which figures are available. [23701]
Mr. Rooker:
The details of levies, charges and financial impositions for which my Department or its agencies are responsible are shown in the tables. The figures provided in the tables show the most recent 12 month accounting period for which information is available but the dates of the accounting periods used vary according to the scheme. An estimated annual cost is shown where a charge has been imposed for less than 12 months.
(2) how he intends to monitor the removal of SRMs from de-boned imported beef; [23599]
(2) what was the total cost to the industry of the Meat Hygiene Service for the calendar year 1997. [23704]
| Description of charge | Total annual cost (£ million) |
|---|---|
| Export Certification of Plant Exports | 0.323 |
| Plant Health Propagation Scheme | 0.049 |
| Seed Potato Classification Scheme | 0.204 |
| Plant Passporting | 0.097 |
| Brown Rot Testing Imported Potatoes | 0.032 |
| Testing and Inspections of seeds under Seed Certification Scheme | 1.918 |
| Intellectual Property Register of plant breeders' rights | 0.818 |
| National listing of approved seed varieties | 1.304 |
| Dairy Products Hygiene Charges | (21)1.410 |
| Monitoring of Veterinary Medicines Residues | 2.261 |
| Meat Hygiene Service charges | 26.000 |
| Official supervision of salmonella testing under Poultry Breeding and Hatcheries Order 1993 | 0.013 |
| Licences and approvals for artificial breeding of livestock | 0.186 |
| Cattle Health Scheme | 0.470 |
| Deer Health Scheme | 0.001 |
| Poultry Health Scheme | 0.047 |
| Swill Feeder Licensing | 0.059 |
(21) Estimate.
Statutory levies, authorised by legislation for which MAFF is responsible, are charged on certain products. The income from these levies is used primarily for marketing and research to benefit the sector concerned. The rate of levy is proposed by the relevant sector. The cost of these levies is shown in the table:
| Description of charge | Total annual cost (£ million) |
|---|---|
| Milk Development Council levy on milk producers | 4.858 |
| Apple and Pear Research Council levy | 0.300 |
| Horticultural Development Council levy | 3.362 |
| British Potato Council levy on potato producers | (22)6.500 |
| Home Grown Cereals Authority levy | 10.777 |
| Meat and Livestock Commission levy | 37.001 |
| Levy under The Sugar Beet (Research and Education) Order | 2.293 |
(22) Estimate.
MAFF is also responsible for the legislation which leads to drainage charges paid by farmers to the
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Environment Agency and the Drainage rates paid by farmers to Internal Drainage Boards. Together these lead to charges of some £13.7 million per annum.
The Meat Hygiene Service is also responsible for enforcing Specified Risk Material controls in licensed premises. These enforcement costs are currently met by the Government. However it is proposed that these costs should be charged to the industry from 1 April 1998. The estimated maximum cost to the industry of this proposal would be £48 million per annum.
Finally, the costs of the Cattle Tracing System will be recovered through a charge on cattle passports. The estimated running costs of the system for each of the first three years of operation are likely to be around £15 million per annum.
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