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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will announce the membership of the Ad Hoc Expert Advisory Group on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements. [61013]
Mr. Rooker: Details of the membership of the Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals were given in my replies to my hon. Friend for Croydon, Central (Mr. Davies) on 12 November 1998, Official Report, column 314, and my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) on 7 May 1998, Official Report, columns 456-57. The only change from the information given in those replies is that Professor Woods has stood down from the Group.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the guidance which he gave to the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on its terms of reference on vitamin and mineral supplements [61014]
Mr. Rooker: The Terms of Reference of the Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals are to:
- establish principles on which controls for ensuring the safety of vitamins and mineral supplements sold under food law can be based;
- review the levels of individual vitamins and minerals associated with adverse effects;
- recommend maximum levels of intakes of vitamins and minerals from supplements if appropriate;
- report to the Food Advisory Committee.
- The group will also be able to advise on the levels of vitamins and minerals in fortified foods, if it considers this is appropriate.
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Dr. Gibson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to ensure that the new Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements has access to expert opinion from Europe and the USA. [61015]
Mr. Rooker: The Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals will consider all relevant scientific information on the safety of vitamins and minerals through comprehensive searches of world-wide databases of information and by making a public call for interested parties to submit relevant information.
Pesticides
Mr. Flight: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to require that the testing of fruit and vegetable products at supermarkets against excessive concentrations of pesticides takes place at depots. [61179]
Mr. Rooker: I have no plan to change current arrangements. Fruit and vegetables and other commodities are tested for a range of pesticide residues as part of the Working Party on Pesticide Residues annual surveillance programme. This programme is designed to sample foods typically available to the consumer from a range of retail outlets across the United Kingdom. Every effort is made by the Working Party to ensure the integrity of both its sampling and analysis techniques. In directing the sampling technique the importance of checking carefully the origin of the produce is stressed to the samplers. It would not be practical to ask them to sample produce direct from supermarket depots.
Quarantine
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to reduce the quarantine period for pet animals from (a) North America and (b) Europe. [61478]
Mr. Rooker: The Advisory Group on Quarantine has recommended that quarantine should be replaced for cats and dogs leaving the UK and returning after visits to the European Union and European Economic area countries, and rabies free islands in the rest of the world; quarantine would also be replaced for cats and dogs entering the UK from such countries. Quarantine would be retained for cats and dogs coming into the UK from other countries. The Government are sympathetic to these recommendations.
The Advisory Group recommended that further consideration be given to the risks arising from allowing cats and dogs from North America into Great Britain without undergoing quarantine. This study is underway.
The Government will propose a specific way forward on the matters covered by the Advisory Group's report after the public consultation on the Advisory Group's recommendations ends on 31 December 1998.
Mr. Luff:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he plans to publish the draft bill to establish the Food Standards Agency; and if he will make a statement. [61467]
2 Dec 1998 : Column: 219
Mr. Nick Brown
[holding answer 30 November 1998]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Corbett) on 25 November 1998, Official Report, column 10.
I shall make a further announcement in the light of discussions with colleagues.
Mr. Walter:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the use of digestive enhancers in the poultry industry. [61890]
Mr. Rooker:
There are currently five antimicrobial growth promoters permitted by EC legislation for use in poultry or chickens for fattening. They are bacitracin zinc, spiramycin, virginiamycin, flavophospholipol and avilamycin. The European Commission has proposed a ban on bacitracin zinc, spiramycin and virginiamycin with effect from 1 January 1999. The proposal is due to be considered in the Commission's Standing Committee on Animal Nutrition today.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the rules governing relations with the media which apply to (a) special advisers, (b) press officers and (c) Government Information Service officials. [61620]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
Guidance on relations with the media for all civil servants--including members of the Government Information and Communication Service and Special Advisers--is set out in "Guidance on the Work of the Government Information Service". Copies are in the Library.
Rowett Research Institute
Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Scottish Office has (a) had direct or indirect involvement in the personnel and recruitment policies of the Rowett Research Institute and (b) made representations or recommendations to the Institute in relation to the early retirement or dismissal of staff. [61721]
Mr. Macdonald: The Rowett Research Institute employs staff under terms and conditions laid down by the Joint Negotiating and Consultative Committee of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department, as the major funder of the Institute, has a limited involvement in the Institute's general policies on personnel, recruitment and retirement of staff, but that involvement does not extend to individual cases which are a matter for the Institute's Governing Body.
Private Finance Deals
Mr. Salmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what monitoring he undertakes of the sale price
2 Dec 1998 : Column: 220
achieved for land and capital assets transferred to private companies as part of private finance deals and then sold on. [61702]
Mr. Dewar
[holding answer 1 December 1998]: My Department does not maintain a central register of information on such disposals. It is the responsibility of the disposing public body to ensure that value for money is obtained. The National Audit Office as external auditor has authority to report to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of such contracts.
Mrs. McKenna:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the non-domestic rate poundage for Scotland will be in 1999-2000. [62354]
Mr. Dewar:
It will be 48.9p, the same as in England.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the impact on indigenous species of trees of the import for planting of seeds of those same species. [61898]
Mr. Macdonald:
Seed and planting stock of many indigenous tree species, including oak, have been imported into Britain from continental Europe for several centuries. Much of this material is well adapted to British conditions with the result that it can be very difficult to identify trees which are truly of native origin. Scientists are developing methods for identifying the origin of indigenous species. For example, analysis of the chemical constituents of native Scots pine has identified seven distinct areas of pine in Scotland.
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