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Bovine Tuberculosis

Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in how many bovine TB triplet study areas badger culling has (a) begun and (b) been suspended; and how many study areas he expects to commence in 1999. [96067]

Ms Quin [holding answer 1 November 1999]: Five triplets have been announced so far, two in 1998 and three in 1999. Culling has taken place in two of them. Operations are temporarily suspended in two others. We expect to announce one more before the end of 1999.

Common Agricultural Policy

Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the cost per claim was in 1998-99 in each of his Department's regional service centres for each of the Common Agricultural Policy schemes administered by them. [97707]

Ms Quin: The direct cost per claim (in £) of staff administration for 1998-99 at each of the Ministry's Regional Service Centres (RSCs) for each of the major CAP schemes administered by them was as follows.

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 663

Regional Service Centre	(26)AAPS	(27)BSPS	(28)SCPS	(29)SAPS	(30)HLCA	(31)CSS	(32)ESA
Bristol	83	29	92	60	31	599	154
Cambridge	109	36	101	91	--	718	121
Carlisle	27	33	76	47	26	512	110
Crewe	31	41	112	82	51	296	134
Exeter	31	34	82	66	40	568	109
Northallerton	80	37	86	64	30	408	127
Nottingham	98	41	73	65	34	501	361
Reading	60	39	89	59	--	805	143
Worcester	59	32	92	61	28	610	148

(26) AAPS--Arable Area Payments Scheme

(27) BSPS--Beef Special Premium Scheme

(28) SCPS--Suckler Cow Premium Scheme

(29) SAPS--Sheep Annual Premium Scheme

(30) HLCA--Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances

(31) CSS--Countryside Stewardship Scheme

(32) ESA--Environmentally Sensitive Areas

Note:

Cambridge and Reading offices do not process HLCA claims.

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 663

The amount of work involved in processing a claim or agreement varies according to its value and complexity. The claims processed by each Regional Service Centre will reflect the type of farming activity in its area. Where the farm businesses in a region are bigger than the average for the country as a whole, the number of hectares or animals in a claim for a particular scheme will be higher than the average. This will in turn entail longer field inspections and computer checks on more parcels of land. The figures should not therefore be used as a direct comparison of the efficiency of the nine RSCs. MAFF is currently developing efficiency measures for CAP administration by its Regional Organisation for the financial year 2000-01.

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 664

Pet Travel Scheme

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the pet travel scheme to be introduced next year will apply to the Channel Islands. [95655]

Ms Quin: There are already no controls on the movement of pet animals between the Channel Islands and Great Britain. We have no plans to introduce any. The Channel Islands have their own quarantine regulations. Whether the Channel Island authorities introduce a pet travel scheme for animals entering the islands direct from abroad is therefore a matter for those authorities.

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 665

Nuts

Jackie Ballard: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to restrict the usage of nuts and nut oils in foodstuffs, (a) in general and (b) in cases where the product is specifically marketed at young children. [96532]

Ms Quin: Young children may exhibit allergies to a range of foods such as milk, eggs, and peanuts (allergies to other nuts are much less common in childhood), but as these are among the foods that provide good nutrition for the majority of children it would be counterproductive to restrict these for children in general. The mainstay of policy on potentially severe allergens such as peanuts and 'tree nuts' (hazel nuts, Brazil nuts, etc.) has been to encourage better awareness of the problem, and in order to safeguard against exposure to foods that may cause reactions.

Nut oils are not normally used in foods for young children and experiments funded by the Ministry have shown that the refined oils that are used in food manufacture are very unlikely to cause a problem even for allergic individuals.

Meat Hygiene Service

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received regarding (a) the proposed rise in the hourly charge of the Meat Hygiene Service and (b) the need to increase the number of veterinary surgeons employed in slaughterhouses in order to meet EU protocols. [96247]

Ms Quin: My Department has received several hundred representations from Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament, industry organisations, individual meat plant operators, farmers, consumers and others about the impact of (a) proposals to increase Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) inspection charges, and (b) increased veterinary supervision in meat plants in line with EU requirements.

The Government has listened to these concerns about the future of the slaughtering sector. That is why, as my right hon. Friend the Minister announced in September, the Government has further deferred the introduction of charges for MHS supervision of Specified Risk Material controls until at least April 2002. This represents a saving of some £22 million per year to the industry. Moreover, low throughput slaughterhouses will not be required to have full-time supervision by a vet during post-mortem inspection. The MHS is now reviewing its levels of inspections in individual low throughput premises.

We are also carrying out an Efficiency Review of the MHS under an external chairman and in full consultation with the industry. The results will appear early in the New Year. Furthermore, the Government has set up the Meat Industry Red Tape Working Group (the Pooley Group) to advise on how charges and legislation can be adapted to help the industry.

In addition, the Government has sent a copy of the MLC report on meat inspection charges in other Member States to the EU Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne, and urged the Commission to investigate the way in which meat inspection charges are levied in other Member

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 666

States. In particular, we have urged the Commission to investigate the allegations of subsidy in Italy and non-collection of charges in Spain.

Specified Risk Material

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the consequences that transferring the costs of operating specified risk material controls from public funds to industry will have on the agriculture industry. [96250]

Ms Quin: My Ministerial colleagues and I have received a considerable number of representations on the impact of charges for the specified risk material controls on the agriculture and slaughterhouse industry over the past 12 months.

It was in response to these representations that we decided to defer the introduction of these charges initially for the current financial year and subsequently, as my right hon. Friend the Minister announced on 20 September, until 2002-03 at the earliest.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much funding has been given to farmers in England and Wales to alleviate the added costs of enforcing the controls on specified risk material in each of the past two years; and what funding will be provided in the current financial year. [96246]

Ms Quin: The costs of enforcing the specified risk material controls have been, and will continue to be, borne by the Government during this period. Enforcement of these controls has not therefore given rise to any added costs to farmers.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the costs of enforcing the specified risk material controls in the UK relative to those of equivalent systems in other EU states. [96262]

Ms Quin: The costs of supervising and enforcing the specified risk material (SRM) controls in the UK in the 1998-99 financial year was £17 million.

No-EU-wide SRM controls are in force and individual Member States operate national controls where it is deemed necessary. Such information as is available on the costs in other EU Member States is contained in a report on meat inspection charges and other enforcement costs published in September 1999 by the Meat and Livestock Commission. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

BSE

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many new cases of BSE were reported (a) in the UK and (b) by other member countries of the EU in (i) 1998 and (ii) 1997. [96679]

Ms Quin: Numbers of confirmed cases of BSE by year of report for the UK are as follows:

	1997	1998
United Kingdom	4,335	3,197

We do not have data for other Member States by year of report. The following figures, by date of confirmation, were reported to the Commission by Member States. The information was supplied by the Commission.

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 667

Member state	1997	1998
Belgium	1	6
France	6	18
Germany	(33)2
Ireland	77	79
Luxembourg	1
Netherlands	2	2
Portugal	30	104

(33) Germany has reported no homebred cases of BSE.

Mr. Alan W. Williams: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made towards developing a test for BSE in live animals; and what plans the Government have for implementing such a test. [97227]

Ms Quin: There are, as yet, no validated tests for the diagnosis of either BSE or scrapie in live animals. One test, developed in the USA, appears promising with respect to the diagnosis of scrapie in sheep and chronic wasting disease in elk during the pre-clinical stage of infection and while animals are alive. Scientists at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) are collaborating with their American counterparts to introduce this technology to the VLA where it will be evaluated for use to detect scrapie infected sheep. Although BSE in cattle appears to behave quite differently from scrapie in sheep in terms of tissue distribution, attempts will be made to evaluate the potential for the use of this test for BSE in cattle as well.

We have no knowledge of any other test that has been proven to have the necessary sensitivity and specificity for use on live animals.

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many new BSE cases were notified in each month from January to August, broken down by region. [96487]

Ms Quin [holding answer 29 October 1999]: The following tables give figures for suspect BSE cases reported in the first eight months of 1999 by region for England and in the first six months of 1999 for Scotland and Wales. It must be noted that BSE has not been confirmed in all of these cases.

Number of suspect cases of BSE reported to MAFF in each region from January to August 1999:

Eastern region

1999	Number of cases
January	39
February	27
March	38
April	29
May	20
June	17
July	20
August	25

Eastern Region: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Suffolk

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 668

Mid & West region

1999	Number of cases
January	62
February	62
March	79
April	58
May	60
June	66
July	61
August	46

Mid & West Region: Cheshire, Derbyshire, Hereford & Worcs, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Manchester, Merseyside, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands and Warwickshire

Northern region

1999	Number of cases
January	39
February	39
March	52
April	32
May	28
June	33
July	33
August	27

Northern Region: Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Humberside, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire North, Yorkshire South and Yorkshire West

South East region

1999	Number of cases
January	37
February	33
March	31
April	25
May	26
June	30
July	24
August	19

South East Region: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, London, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex East and Sussex West

South West region

1999	Number of cases
January	113
February	108
March	130
April	84
May	120
June	97
July	64
August	76

South West Region: Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Scilly Isles, Somerset and Wiltshire

Scotland

1999	Number of cases
January	6
February	10
March	5
April	7
May	6
June	5

10 Nov 1999 : Column: 669

Wales

1999	Number of cases
January	20
February	28
March	18
April	21
May	19
June	11

From 1 July 1999 provision of figures for Scotland and Wales became the responsibility of the devolved administration of those countries.

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