| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Departmental Cash and Running Costs Limits
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what changes will be made to the cash and running costs limits for his Department, the Office of Telecommunications, and the Office of Gas Supply, and to the external financing limit of the British Coal Corporation. [71254]
Mr. Byers: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimates:
- (i) the cash limit for class V vote 1--Department of Trade and Industry: programmes and administration--will be increased by £136,634,000 from £1,286,873,000 to £1,423,507,000. This net increase results from:
- (a) an increase of £135,200,000 in the provision for Nuclear Liabilities;
- (b) a transfer of £1,851,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry's Science Vote (Class V Vote 2) in respect of the Teaching Company Scheme;
- (c) a transfer of £34,000 in running costs from the Cabinet Office (Class XVIII Vote 1).
11 Feb 1999 : Column: 413
- (d) a transfer of £8,000 from the Department of the Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor (Class VIII Vote 6).offset by:
- (e) a transfer of £334,000 to the Department of Social Security (Class XII Vote 3) to cover the costs of a new service in respect of the setting up of a helpline for the National Minimum Wage;
- (f) a transfer of £115,000 to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Class VI Vote 5) to cover the capital requirements of the Government Offices;
- (g) a transfer of £10,000 to the Home Office (Class VII Vote 1) in respect of the enforcement costs of the Telecommunications Data Protection Directive.
- In addition, the Department will be increasing its gross expenditure provision for Sections A, B, C, D, G and L by £35,216,000, which will be offset by a corresponding increase in appropriations in aid, following the ruling that VAT receipts for contracted out services should not be carried on a net sub-head.
- Within this total, the gross running costs limit for the Department of Trade and Industry will be increased by £34,000 from £360,241,000 to £360,275,000.
- The increase of £135,200,000 in the provision for Nuclear Liabilities will be offset by reductions of £52,200,000 in the provision for Coal Liabilities in Section B of the Vote and £83,000,000 in the External Financing Limit of BNFL. It will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure;
- (ii) the cash limit for Class V Vote 2--Department of Trade and Industry: science--will be reduced by £1,038,000 from £1,368,497,000 to £1,367,459,000. This net reductions results from:
- (a) a transfer of £1,851,000 to the Department of Trade and Industry's Programmes and Administration Vote (Class V Vote 1) in respect of the Teaching Company Scheme;offset by:
- (b) a transfer of £813,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Class IV Vote 2) to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) in respect of redundancy costs at BBSRC Institutes;
- In addition, the Department will be increasing its gross expenditure provision for Section K by £20,000, which will be offset by a corresponding increase in appropriations in aid, following the ruling that VAT receipts for contracted out services should not be carried on a net sub-head.
- (iii) the cash limit for Class V Vote 8--Office of Telecommunications--will be increased by £1,000 from £2,000 to £3,000 in order to implement the ruling that VAT receipts for contracted out services should not be carried on a net sub-head. In addition, the running costs limit will be increased by £17,000 from £10,949,000 to £10,966,000 which will be offset by a reduction of £17,000 in the capital expenditure provision. The token £1,000 increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure;
- (iv) the cash limit for Class V Vote 9--the Office of Gas Supply--will be increased by £1,000 from £1,000 to £2,000 and the running costs limit will be increased by £1,582,000 from £11,124,000 to £12,706,000. This is in order to meet the costs of handling an increase in calls to the Consumer Helpline service; to undertake a review of internal organisation; to meet increased legal costs; and to implement the ruling that VAT receipts for contracted out services should not be carried on a net sub-head. There will be an offsetting increase of £2,349,000 in appropriations in aid to cover the costs of funding these additional items. The token £1,000 increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure;
- In addition to these changes, the External Financing Limit of the British Coal Corporation has been reduced from £19,000,000 to £12,300,000 to reflect the transfer of responsibility for most of its property liabilities to the Coal Authority.
11 Feb 1999 : Column: 414
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to his Department for answer on a named day in (a) the current and (b) the last session of Parliament; and what proportion received a substantive answer on that day in each case. [70629]
Mr. Byers: In the current session, 317 named day questions have been answered, 23 per cent. of which have received a substantive answer on the due date. This compares with a total of 1,973 named day questions in the 97-98 session, 32 per cent. being given a substantive answer on the due date.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Animal Exports
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has made to (a) the French Government and (b) the European Commission in order to prevent UK sheep being slaughtered in France at this year's Aid-el-Kabir festival in breach of Council Directive 93/119 on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter or killing; and if he will make a statement. [67941]
Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend the then Minister wrote to the French Minister and to the Agriculture Commissioner in March 1998 to express concern about poor slaughter practices during the festival and to support the measures being taken to improve matters. I am sure that the French authorities remain well aware of our concern on this subject and that they will continue to take steps to contain and reduce the problem. We will keep checking the matter with them in our ongoing contacts.
Mr. Etherington: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what plans he has to contact (a) the National Farmers Union and (b) the National Sheep Association to urge them to try to persuade their members not to export live sheep to France for outdoor religious slaughter during the Aid-el-Kabir festival in March; and if he will make a statement; [67939]
- (2) what steps he plans to take to discourage UK farmers and exporters from sending live sheep to France for outdoor religious slaughter during the Aid-el-Kabir festival in March; and if he will make a statement; [67938]
(3) what plans he has to contact Farmers Ferry Ltd. to urge them not to carry live sheep which are destined for outdoor religious slaughter in France during this year's Aid-el-Kabir festival in March; and if he will make a statement. [67940]
Mr. Morley: The Government look to all those who produce, market, transport or export sheep to avoid trading them on in a way which will lead to their being slaughtered inhumanely or in breach of the law in other ways. We attach importance to this and will take suitable opportunities, between now and the festival, to emphasise to those concerned that this is our very firm view.
Food Standards Agency
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what criteria he will adopt relating to
11 Feb 1999 : Column: 415
the professional qualifications and experience of prospective candidates for the chairmanship of the Food Standards Agency. [69824]
Mr. Rooker:
Responsibility for appointing the chairman of the Food Standards Agency will rest with the Secretary of State for Health, and his equivalents in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The appointment will be made in accordance with guidance issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government will be looking to appoint a person of high standing with relevant experience and qualifications who will command the confidence of the public.
Mr. Alan Simpson:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what evidence he has obtained which raises concerns about adverse human or environmental health implications from the introduction of genetically modified organisms into the food chain. [70047]
Mr. Rooker:
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are only approved for food use after a rigorous safety assessment. Consequently I am not aware of any such evidence for GMOs that have been approved for use in the food chain.
Charlotte Atkins:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the link between bovine TB and birds; and what plans he has to commission research on this. [69706]
Mr. Rooker:
Birds do not give bovine TB and there is no significant evidence of them being a carrier of this infection. However, birds infected with avian TB can pass infection to cattle. This rarely produces clinical disease in cattle but can cause cross reactions to the tuberculin skin test. To overcome this we conduct a comparative skin test so that if cattle react to the avian tuberculin test as well as the bovine tuberculin test the interpretation of the results can be adjusted. This reduces the number of false positive cattle which are slaughtered unnecessarily.
Sir Peter Emery:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what data his Department has collated on change in the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle over the last two years; if he will list the areas severely affected; and what action he is taking to overcome the problem. [70350]
Mr. Rooker
[holding answer 10 February 1999]: The figures for new confirmed incidents of TB in cattle herds in Great Britain indicate a 9 per cent. increase between 1996 and 1997. Figures for 1998 are not yet available, but provisional estimates indicate an increase in the region of at least 46 per cent. over 1997. The areas most severely affected by TB are in the South West of England and parts of the West Midlands and South Wales, the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire having the highest number of new confirmed incidents in both 1997 and 1998.
We need to know why TB is increasing. Last August I announced a new strategy. MAFF and DH are taking action to ensure public health is not put in jeopardy. We test cattle regularly for TB, and slaughter those at risk. We are spending over £10 million on work to underpin a
11 Feb 1999 : Column: 416
science based policy which can be sustained in the long-term, and control TB in the interests of cattle, badgers and people. There are three elements:
work to develop a vaccine: although this will take 10-15 years and success is not guaranteed, many see it as the best long-term prospect;
research to improve our understanding of the disease and how it spreads;
a trial designed to show the most effective means of culling.
It will be some time before we have results from the whole programme. But as results become available we can design policies around them.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |