| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Sheep
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the size of the sheep flock in Cumbria (a) at present and (b) in each of the last five years. [95749]
Ms Quin: The figures for the sheep breeding flock and all sheep and lambs in Cumbria are given for the period from June 1993 to June 1998.
| Sheep breeding flock | Total sheep and lambs | |
|---|---|---|
| June 1993 | 1,271,741 | 2,695,724 |
| June 1994 | 1,267,248 | 2,677,013 |
| June 1995 | 1,253,766 | 2,663,066 |
| June 1996 | 1,237,833 | 2,621,297 |
| June 1997 | 1,262,823 | 2,692,223 |
| June 1998 | 1,301,724 | 2,807,546 |
Notes:
The figures are taken from the June Agricultural and Horticultural Census. The data relate to main holdings only.
County level figures for June 1999 are not yet available. They will be published on the MAFF website and can be found by selecting 'Statistics'. 'Publications', 'June 1999 Census analyses' and then 'Regions and Counties--Livestock: Sheep'.
BSE Inquiry
Dan Norris: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total cost to date of the BSE inquiry. [95529]
Ms Quin:
The total cost to date of the BSE Inquiry, including the costs of liaison units and legal support for witnesses from the main departments involved, is approaching £20 million.
2 Nov 1999 : Column: 161
Miss Geraldine Smith:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps the Government plan to take to improve the export market for British beef. [95757]
Ms Quin:
We have set up a Beef Export Liaison Group with those involved in beef exports in order to monitor the progress of the Date Based Export Scheme and identify and exploit key export markets. We are also in contact with a number of third countries to obtain export clearance.
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the monthly figures for the export of British beef, by country of destination, since the formal lifting of the ban on exports. [96294]
Ms Quin
[holding answer 29 October 1999]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister to my hon. Friend for Clwyd, South (Mr. Jones) on 21 October 1999, Official Report, columns 570-71.
Miss Geraldine Smith:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the Government help available for dairy farmers. [95761]
Ms Quin:
Dairy farmers receive help from the CAP dairy regime. They will also benefit from the Government's package of support measures, which includes the suspension of the £7 charge for cattle passports which will be met by Government until 2002-03 at the earliest.
Mr. Llwyd:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of the meat produced in the UK has been exported during each of the last five years. [96252]
| Home production of meat (37) (th. tonnes) | Carcase meat exports (38) (th. tonnes) | Live exports (39) (th. tonnes) | Total exports as a % of production | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 3,756.2 | 613.2 | 112.3 | 19.3 |
| 1995 | 3,840.9 | 778.5 | 104.8 | 23.0 |
| 1996 | 3,596.0 | 534.5 | 80.3 | 17.1 |
| 1997 | 3,682.2 | 564.7 | 56.1 | 16.9 |
| 1998(40) | 3,784.6 | 585.3 | 53.6 | 16.9 |
(37) Carcase meat, bacon, ham and poultry meat. Includes the meat equivalent of live exports. Excludes offal.
(38) Expressed in carcase weight equivalent. Excludes exports of preserved or manufactured meat products. May include some re-exports of meat previously imported into the UK.
(39) Meat equivalent of live exports other than pure-bred. Adjusted as necessary for unrecorded trade.
(40) Provisional.
Meat Imports
Miss Geraldine Smith:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures the
2 Nov 1999 : Column: 162
Government are taking to ensure that imports of meat are produced under the same food safety and animal welfare standards as British produced meat. [95760]
Ms Quin:
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) on 21 October 1999, Official Report, column 558.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those United Kingdom organisations that will be consulted in consequence of Com (99) 382, on closer co-operation with the fishing industry; what Her Majesty's Government's policy was on such closer co-operation; and if he will make a statement. [96501]
Mr. Morley:
The proposal in Com (99) 382 on closer dialogue with the fishing industry concerns financial matters arising from the European Commission's reorganisation of its Advisory Committee on Fisheries (ACF) so as to focus on communication and consultation with EC-level rather than national organisations. It will be for the European organisations represented on the ACF to consult as they consider necessary with national organisations in individual member states. Representations on the ACF cover fishermen, fish farmers, processors and wholesalers, trade unions, and consumer, environment and development non-governmental organisations. Representatives of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations and the Scottish Fishermen's Federation have been included as Europeche nominees in the plenary committee and working groups of the ACF.
The Government welcome ways of strengthening the dialogue with the industry and broadening the range of activity. Thus I have made clear that consultation at the regional level must be strengthened in parallel with consultation through the ACF.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list those countries which are held by the European Commission not to have upheld MAGP IV limits; and if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy thereon. [96585]
Mr. Morley:
The latest available information published by the Commission was in its Annual Report to the Council and to the European Parliament on the results of the multi annual guidance programmes for the fishing fleet at the end of 1997. A copy is in the Library (ref. COM 175/1999). This showed that two countries (France and Netherlands) had failed to meet the objectives of the MAGP III by the end of 1997 and were not on target to meet their objectives for MAGP IV. The report also noted that the status for Italy could not be determined because of a major revision of their fleet register.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many annual payments to individual farms for set-aside land exceeded (a) £25,000, (b) £100,000, (c) £250,000 and (d) £1,000,000 per annum in each of the past four years. [95817]
2 Nov 1999 : Column: 163
Ms Quin
[holding answer 28 October 1999]: Set-aside payments under the Arable Area Payments Scheme are made in respect of claims which may include one or more individual farms. Records therefore relate to claims paid rather than numbers of farms. The following is the information requested in respect of the set-aside element of each claim paid by MAFF in 1995-98 (with figures given on a cumulative basis--ie lines (b) to (d) are included in (a) etc.):
| Number of payments exceeding | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (a) £25,000 | 673 | 401 | 139 | 111 |
| (b) £100,000 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 2 |
| (c) £250,000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (d) £1,000,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Animal Feed
Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to introduce legislation to require animal feed containing GM ingredients or derivatives to be labelled. [96209]
Ms Quin [holding answer 28 October 1999]: Legislation on animal feed is harmonised in the EU and the Government cannot therefore take unilateral action on compulsory labelling. This is expected to be covered in a forthcoming Novel Feeds Regulation, which the Minister has been pressing the Commission to bring forward as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Government are exploring the possibility of voluntary national labelling arrangements with the feed trade, farmers and retailers.
Fox Hunting
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will examine whether future farm support can be tied to a policy of not allowing hunting on recipients' land. [96293]
Mr. Morley [holding answer 29 October 1999]: The Government's position on hunting was set out in the reply by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay) on 25 October 1999, Official Report, column 715. For so long as hunting remains legal, there would be no grounds for withholding agricultural support payments from those who allow hunting on their land.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |