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Meat Inspection Service

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the review of the Meat Inspection Service will publish the representations submitted by the meat industry. [83248]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 4 May 1999]: As is our normal practice, any responses received as a result of consulting the meat industry during the review of meat inspection charges announced by my right hon. Friend on 21 April 1999, Official Report, column 993, will be made publicly available, except for any material identified as commercially confidential.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the final report and recommendations and the decisions on meat inspection charges will be published in full. [83250]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 4 May 1999]: The Government's decisions on these matters will be made public in due course.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the terms of reference of the review of meat inspection charges. [83251]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 4 May 1999]: As announced by my right hon. Friend on 21 April 1999, Official Report, column 993, the review will undertake a close examination of the dynamics of the slaughtering sector, of the impact of all proposed charges on abattoirs and on producers, as well as looking at the EC legislation and the way in which inspections are to be carried out, to ensure that, when charges are set, the costs are as low as possible consistent with maintaining public safety and honouring our obligations under EU law.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements he has made for consultations with the meat industry during the review of meat inspection charges. [83252]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 4 May 1999]: A consultation letter was sent to representative bodies, including those for the meat industry, on 7 May, seeking their views and input to the study. Replies have been requested by noon on 17 May. Copies of the letter have been placed in the Library of the House, and it is also available on the MAFF Internet site.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will make a statement on the official status of the review of meat inspection charges; [83325]

(2) who will chair the review of meat inspection charges. [83326]

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Mr. Rooker [holding answer 5 May 1999]: The review will be conducted by my officials, working closely with the other Agriculture Departments, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office, who, in line with normal practice, will be co-ordinating the work.

Quarantine

Mr. Reed: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to complete the review of the inclusion of the USA and Canada in the proposed reforms of the quarantine regulations outlined in the Kennedy report. [83170]

Mr. Rooker: I shall be considering the results of this review shortly, and expect to make an announcement in the next few weeks.

Krebs Trials

Mrs. Organ: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the announcement will be made concerning the triplet sites in the Krebs Trial area of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire; and which will be the control, reactive and pro-active areas in the trial. [83718]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 10 May 1999]: On the 20 April 1999, in the presence of an independent witness, the treatments were randomly allocated to the areas in the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire trial triplet. The results of the randomisation have not yet been passed to MAFF. For reasons of security and safety of staff, I do not intend to announce the treatment areas in the triplet immediately they are available to MAFF.

Mrs. Organ: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many members of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Animal Welfare team will be deployed to carry out the Krebs Trial in the two triplet sites within the Forest of Dean constituency. [83717]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 10 May 1999]: For reasons of security and safety of staff I will not provide advance information on how many of the Department's Wildlife Unit staff will be deployed to carry out particular activities associated with the trial.

Organophosphates

Mrs. Browning: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will publish the 1995 Institute of Occupational Medicine (Edinburgh) report on the study into organophosphate dips. [83715]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 10 May 1999]: I understand that the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) will be finalising its report over the next few weeks. I have confirmed that the IOM will publish its report when this process has been completed. The report will be submitted for urgent consideration by the Government's expert advisory committees and our aim is to publish the committees' advice when it is available.

Mrs. Browning: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place in the Library the results of his Department's latest tests of organophosphate residues in celery. [83779]

Mr. Rooker [holding answer 10 May 1999]: Yes. I have placed copies of the report containing these results, titled Unit to Unit Variability of Pesticide Residues in

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Celery, Plums and Kiwi Fruit, in the Libraries of the House. These results were announced by a News Release in November 1998 and copies of the report were made available by the Pesticides Safety Directorate at the time.

HEALTH

Physiotherapy

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by region the vacancy rate for (a) physiotherapists and (b) paediatric physiotherapists. [65492]

Mr. Denham: Information on vacancy rates for physiotherapists is not available centrally. For the information that is available on physiotherapy vacancy rates up to March 1997, I refer the hon. Member to the 1998 annual report of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine, copies of which are available in the Library.

Nurse Vacancies

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish data on nursing vacancies in relation to full-time establishments in (a) each hospital trust and (b) each health authority and region. [66051]

Mr. Denham: The information requested is not available centrally. For the information that is available on nursing vacancies up to March 1997, I refer the hon. Member to the 1998 annual report of the Review Body for Nursing Staff, Midwives, Health Visitors and Professions Allied to Medicine, copies of which are available in the Library.

Public Appointments

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those people he has appointed to public bodies since 1 November 1998, indicating the positions to which they have been appointed and if they receive remuneration. [76418]

Ms Jowell: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Beta Interferon

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue new guidelines on the use of beta interferon in the NHS. [80174]

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to make beta interferon universally available on the NHS. [78995]

Mr. Denham: Yes. Health Service Circular 1999/101 will be issued shortly. Copies will be available in the Library.

Prescription Charges

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) for what reasons cystic fibrosis is not exempted from prescription charges; [79162]

(2) if he will exempt cystic fibrosis sufferers from paying prescription charges. [79163]

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Mr. Denham: Entitlement to help with prescription charges is based on the principle that those who can afford to contribute should do so. People likely to have the greatest difficulty in paying charges, for example children under 16, people over 60 and those on low income do get their prescriptions free. These arrangements ensure that no one need be deterred from obtaining necessary medication for financial reasons. The current prescription charge exemption arrangements were reviewed as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. We noted that there was no consensus on what additional conditions might be included in any revised list of medical exemptions, or how distinctions could be drawn between one condition and another.

For these, and other reasons, we concluded that all current prescription charge exemptions would be protected for the rest of this Parliament. We also decided that prescription charges would rise by no more than the rate of inflation over the next three years.

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of people who are exempt from prescription charges. [83335]

Mr. Denham: It is estimated that about half of the population are exempt from prescription charges.

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