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Pet Quarantine
Ms Perham: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to introduce a parallel system for pet quarantine to cover North America. [60863]
Mr. Rooker: Pet Animals arriving from North America are already subject to the same regime as animals arriving from anywhere else outside the British Isles. 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 will propose a specific way forward on the Advisory Group's recommendations after the public consultation on the Group's report ends on 31 December 1998.
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.
BSE
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the progress of the attack rate experiment examining the dose of BSE-infected cattle brain necessary to transmit BSE orally between cattle; and what evidence the experiments have produced on the relationship between the incubation period and the size of the dose. [61558]
Mr. Rooker:
In the so called attack-rate experiment, to determine the minimum amount of BSE-infected cattle brain required to infect cattle by the oral route and the effect dose size may have on the incubation time, groups of 10 cattle were deliberately infected at four months of age by feeding them with either 300, 100, 10 or 1 gram
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of BSE infected brain tissue. The cattle were then observed for the development of disease and killed when judged to be positive by clinical signs. Diagnosis of BSE was confirmed by examination of the brain post-mortem.
The experiment has now been running for 7 years and transmission of BSE has been accomplished with all four different doses of brain. All 10 animals in each group dosed with 300 or 100 grams of brain have been positively diagnosed with incubation periods ranging from 32-42 months and 32-60 months respectively. Seven of the 10 animals in each group dosed with 10 or 1 gram have been positively diagnosed with incubation periods ranging from 44-71 months and 45-71 months respectively. One animal died early from other causes not related to BSE in the group that received 10 grams of brain. All the remaining animals from the groups that received 10 or 1 gram of brain are now showing early clinical signs consistent with BSE.
The results indicate that cattle can be infected by the oral route down to a level of 1 gram of BSE infected cattle brain and that incubation period appears to be prolonged at lower doses.
The experiment has since been extended and groups of cattle have now been challenged with either one, one tenth, one hundredth or one thousandth of a gram of the same infected cattle brain used previously. The experiment has been running for 11 months and all animals are still clinically normal. It is hoped that this phase of the experiment will define the minimum dose of brain required to infect cattle and provide further information relating to the effect on incubation period relative to the infecting dose.
Mr. Martyn Jones:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the agenda items for discussion at the meeting between the Director General of the Forestry Commission and the Chair of the Commissioners of the Forestry Commission, and the Quantock Staghounds on 4 December; and if he will make a statement. [62033]
Mr. Morley:
The Chairman and the Director General of the Forestry Commission are meeting representatives of the Quantock Staghounds to hear their views on issues relating to deer management. There is no formal agenda, but the meeting will take account of the Commission's decision not to renew the Staghounds' licence to hunt over Commission land, and also the recent Harris report on stag hunting.
Mr. Derek Twigg:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans have been made to introduce measures to secure scallop stock conservation. [62675]
Mr. Morley:
Following issue of a consultative paper in June this year and careful consideration of the responses, it has been decided to proceed with the introduction of specific licensing arrangements for over 10 metre vessels fishing for scallops using mechanical dredging gear.
Permission to fish for scallops with mechanical dredging gear will be granted where vessel owners can demonstrate that they currently hold licences with a history of having caught a minimum of 1 tonne of scallops
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by this method in any calendar year during the period 1 January 1994 to 31 May 1998. The users of mechanical dredging gear will be required to complete a logbook for all fishing trips during which scallops are caught. Where licences are aggregated, the permission to fish for scallops with mechanical dredging gear will only be given if all the donor licences carried that permission.
These arrangements are planned to take effect from 1 April 1999 and will be reviewed after 2 years in the light of experience. The review will take account also of progress towards the development of more precisely targeted conservation measures.
A number of respondents to the consultation exercise proposed that scallop licensing should be introduced for vessels of 10 metres and under. This will be considered as part of broader management arrangements for these vessels. However, I should make it clear that if scallop licensing were to be introduced in this context, the reference period for determining eligibility would also be 1 January 1994 to 31 May 1998.
Fisheries Departments will be writing to all owners of over 10 metre vessels setting out the criteria for qualification for a licence and inviting applications. The letter will also deal with the arrangements for considering applications from those who do not meet the qualifying criteria but who have made a financial commitment to invest in a scallop vessel, gear or licences for aggregation onto a scallop vessel prior to 31 May 1998.
Ms Oona King:
To ask the President of the Council if she will make a statement on the progress being made by central Government departments and agencies and the wider public sector in tackling the millennium bug. [62174]
Mrs. Beckett:
I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made yesterday in the House on 2 December 1998, Official Report, columns 902-16. I have also place copies of the latest quarterly returns from Departments, agencies and key organisations from the wider public sector in the Library and on the Internet (http://www.open.gov.uk/year2000).
12. Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many letters he has received in respect of the treatment by the (a) National Westminster Bank and (b) Lombard Banking of the Tanning Shop franchise customers. [61306]
Mrs. Roche:
No letters have been received by this Department in respect of the treatment by either the National Westminster Bank or Lombard Banking of the Tanning Shop franchise customers although the former Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Griffiths) received a letter from my hon. Friend on 12 December about The Tanning Shop Ltd.
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13. Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on manufacturing competitiveness. [61309]
Mr. Mandelson:
We recognise the difficulty that the downturn in the world economy is causing certain sections of our manufacturing industry and exporters. However, not all is doom and gloom. We believe that the tough and decisive action this Government have taken is creating the conditions for stability necessary to build Britain's long-term prosperity. And as the Government's Competitiveness White Paper will show, we are taking measures to stimulate greater enterprise, innovation and exploitation of knowledge, all of which will underpin Britain's competitiveness into the new Millennium.
14. Mr. Andy King:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the average annual increase in total Government spending on science over the last 20 years. [61310]
Mr. Battle:
Information before 1986-87 is not available in the terms requested. The average real terms annual change in total Government spending on Science Engineering and Technology over the 12-year period 1986-87 to 1997-98 was a decrease of £128 million at 1997-98 prices. This excludes National Health Service SET expenditure for which information has been available only since 1995-96.
15. Ms Southworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress is being made in assisting small businesses to increase their use of electronic communications. [61311]
Mrs. Roche:
Electronic Communication--in particular e-commerce over the Internet--allows every small business in the UK to compete on the world stage. The Government's aim is to make the UK the best environment in the world for e-commerce by 2002. And we need to help small businesses grasp the opportunities this opens up. International benchmarking studies commissioned by the department show that only 11 per cent. of UK small businesses regularly use external electronic networking technologies such as the Internet. The White Paper on competitiveness which we will be publishing shortly will set out our strategy to increase this number significantly.
Fiona Mactaggart:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on how he intends to promote successful electronic commerce. [61324]
Mrs. Roche:
The Government's strategy for electronic commerce will be set out in the White Paper on Competitiveness which we will be publishing shortly. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced to the House on 25 November 1998, Official Report, column 217, the Prime Minister will be appointing a Digital Envoy to drive this strategy forward.
3 Dec 1998 : Column: 283
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