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Cattle Passports

Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for consultation on the proposed level of fees for cattle passports. [90839]

Mr. Rooker: The Cattle Tracing System (CTS) was launched by the Government in September 1998. The system is run by a new organisation, the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS). The new system enables a full record to be kept of cattle and where they have been throughout their lives, helping the livestock industry to provide assurance to its customers.

Since its launch and until 5 July 1999, 2,330,113 passports for cattle have been issued by BCMS, at an average rate of 11,650 per day. It is expected that between 2½ and 3 million cattle passports will be issued annually. At the current time, 90 per cent. of passports are issued within 3 working days of an application being received. In addition, since last September, 1,446,993 movements of cattle have been recorded on the new system: and 221,506 calls from farmers have been handled by the BCMS call centre since it opened in July 1998.

The Government announced in February 1998 that they would pay for setting up the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) and for running it during its first full year of operation. This represented a benefit of some £36 million to the livestock industry. The Government believe that as the main beneficiaries, the livestock industry should now take over the costs of running the CTS from 27 September

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1999. In a consultation document issued today, interested organisations are being consulted on the level of charges, what they cover and the methods of payment.

We propose that the fee should be £7 per cattle passport. This is in the lower half of the £5 to £10 range indicated in November 1997.

This proposed fee does not include the cost of time spent checking the eartags and passports of animals handled by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS). Instead it is proposed that the MHS should recover these costs directly from abattoirs. The cost to the abattoir sector is likely to be around £2 million per annum.

The Government propose not to charge for temporary passports, known also as calf passports. Calves are less valuable than older animals. The passport fee will be payable however if a temporary passport is submitted for conversion to a full cattle passport.

A copy of the consultation package, including a draft Regulatory Impact Assessment, are being placed in the Library of the House. Comments are sought by 9 August. There will be separate consultations by the administrations in Scotland and Wales, but it is expected that the fee will be at the same rate in all three countries of Great Britain.

Biotechnology

Ms Keeble: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the consumer/environmental/ pressure groups with which his Department's Ministers or officials have held meetings since June 1998, indicating in how many of these meetings genetically modified organisms or biotechnology were discussed. [90922]

Mr. Rooker: MAFF Ministers and/or officials have had more than 360 meetings with the consumer/environmental/ pressure groups listed since June 1998. Genetically Modified Organisms/biotechnology were discussed during approximately 40 of these meetings.



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    Salmon & Trout Association


    Campaign for Protection of Shechita


    National Housewives Association


    Friends of the Earth


    Anaphylaxis Campaign


    Latex Allergy Support Group


    Welsh Consumers Council


    British Trust for Ornithology


    Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals


    UK Arctic Conservation Forum


    London Conservation Working Group


    Free Radicals


    Consumers International


    Pesticides Trust


    Townswomen Guild


    Cornish Guild of Smallholders


    Small Farms Association


    North Cornwall Smallholders


    Family Farmers Association


    Council for the Protection of Rural England


    Ramblers Association


    Devon Wildlife Trust


    Compassion in World Farming


    Gaia Foundation


    Wildlife & Countryside Link


    Scottish Consumers Council


    National Federation of Badgers Group


    Sherwood Forest Trust


    English Heritage


    Wildlife Trust


    Cotswold & Gloucestershire Farm Attraction Group


    Wiltshire Rural Forum


    Wiltshire Woodland Forum


    Great Western Community Forest


    Dorset Rural Forum


    The Rare Breeds Survival Trust


    Greenpeace


8 Jul 1999 : Column: 626

Wild Boar

Mr. Green: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the number of boar living in the wild in the United Kingdom. [89954]

Mr. Meale: I have been asked to reply.

There are estimated to be around 100 wild boar living free on the borders of Kent and East Sussex, with between 12-20 in Dorset.

Common Fisheries Policy

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to the answer of 17 June 1999, Official Report, columns 216-18, what is his Department's current appraisal of tonnage of discarding for gadoids, by type. [88607]

Mr. Morley: ICES estimated for 1997 that in the North Sea (ICES reporting areas IIa and IV) some 52,000 tonnes of haddock and 17,000 tonnes of whiting were discarded. Estimates made by CEFAS on a similar basis for cod indicate discards of between 31-35,000 tonnes. The majority of these would be undersized.

PRIME MINISTER

Kosovo

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the Deputy Prime Minister's oral answer of 30 June 1999, Official Report, column 339, what British police contribution has been provided for policing activities in Kosovo. [89931]

The Prime Minister: Prior to the commencement of hostilities, two officers from the Metropolitan police were working in Kosovo as observers. When the situation became unstable, they were immediately withdrawn to Macedonia.

When NATO's military action ended, the Chief Prosecutor with the International War Crimes Tribunal made a request for assistance with the recovery of forensic evidence relating to alleged war crimes in Kosovo. The Metropolitan police were approached and agreed to send a team of officers who have specialist skills and knowledge. The team complement in Kosovo is 16, comprising forensic scientists, police officers and pathologists.

In addition, the United Nations have requested 60 UK police officers for Kosovo. We have offered to provide these officers to recruit, to train and to monitor a civil police force for Kosovo. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office are currently discussing with the United Nations and the OSCE what specific roles these officers might undertake.

Ministerial Code

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to amend the Ministerial Code as recommended by the Committee on Standards and Privileges in its Eighth report of Session 1998-99 (HC 807). [89869]

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The Prime Minister [holding answer 5 July 1999]: The Government welcome the report of the Committee on Standards and Privileges on the premature disclosure of reports of the Foreign Affairs Committee. It offers guidance where none previously existed. I will review the wording of the Ministerial Code in the light of the Report. The Government will, of course, respond to the Committee's recommendations shortly.

Cabinet Committee on Defence and

Overseas Policy

Lorna Fitzsimons: To ask the Prime Minister if he will include the Secretaries of State for International Development and for Education and Employment on the Cabinet committee relating to defence and overseas policy. [90240]

The Prime Minister: Ministers who are not members of the Ministerial Committee on Defence and Overseas Policy (DOP) are invited to attend its meetings as necessary, as is the case for any Cabinet Committee.

Junior Doctors

Dr. Harris: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his Oral answer to the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) of 7 July 1999, Official Report, column 1026, how many junior doctors were working beyond the 56 hour limit as at 31 March; what proportion of junior doctors this represents; and what percentage change this represents from the number so working in September 1998. [90801]

The Prime Minister: We are committed to improving hours and working conditions of junior doctors, and are doing so. The number of junior doctors working more than 56 hours was 4,793, or fewer than one in six in September 1998, having fallen every six months since March 1997 when it stood at 6,485.

The numbers are likely to have fallen further since then, given the continuing action to improve working hours. The regional task force chairmen--who are responsible for providing support and advice to the NHS on reducing junior doctors hours--have confirmed that, keeping to a consistent definition of hours worked, they would have expected the numbers of junior doctors working more than 56 hours to have fallen further since September 1998, continuing the trend after March 1997.

However, in December 1998, with the support and agreement of the Junior Doctors Committee, we introduced new and tougher compliance criteria in order to safeguard the quality of rest periods for junior doctors. Although they would not in fact represent a change in actual hours worked, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made clear on 19 May 1999, Official Report, column 1139, that any figures on this new basis could well be higher. As expected, around 8,500 posts were found not to be complying with this different and tougher measure, which for the first time included, for example, the number of rest hours while on call and at weekends, as well as actual hours worked. We are committed to reducing this number further.

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There is therefore no statistical basis for making the comparison requested between September 1998 and March 1999. Our best estimate is that the numbers working over 56 hours are likely to have continued to fall over that period.

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