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Food Safety
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what responsibility his Department has for enforcement of food safety pending the establishment of the Food Standards Agency. [106066]
Ms Quin: Most food law enforcement is carried out by local authorities, and will continue to be after the Food Standards Agency is established. MAFF is responsible for the enforcement in England and Wales of fresh meat legislation. This is carried out in licensed premises by the Meat Hygiene Service, an executive agency of MAFF that will transfer to the Food Standards Agency. MAFF also enforces dairy hygiene controls at production holdings in England and Wales, and responsibility for this will also transfer to the Agency. MAFF's ongoing responsibilities after the establishment of the Food Standards Agency will continue to include the enforcement of some functions relevant to food safety, in particular on residues of pesticides and veterinary medicines and on animal health, in addition to some enforced by local authorities.
Abattoirs
Mr. Cox: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last placed an item on the agenda of the European Union Agricultural Minister's meetings relating to study of the hygiene and operating conditions of abattoirs in each of the member states. [107120]
Ms Quin: We supported the request by the Danish and Dutch delegations, at the June 1999 Agriculture Council, that the Commission review the operation of the meat inspection system established by the EU Fresh Meat Directive with the aim of basing inspection methods more on risk assessment principles. In response, the Commission undertook to carry out a wide-ranging review of the current meat inspection system. Encouragingly, discussions between my officials and Commission representatives on the ongoing exercise to consolidate and simplify existing EU food and veterinary legislation, including the meat hygiene Directives, have also indicated that the Commission sees risk-based inspection systems as the way forward.
We have also drawn to the Commission's attention the concerns of the farming and meat sectors about over-regulation of the meat slaughtering and processing industries and about the apparent lack of uniformity in individual member states' application of Community rules on charging for meat inspections. We will continue to take every opportunity to press the Commission to modernise meat hygiene controls and to ensure that trade in the EU is carried out on a level playing field.
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Export Licences
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions export licence application 6078 was put before the Interdepartmental Committee; and what were the dates of the first and last such occasions. [108477]
Dr. Howells: Export licence application 6078 was put before the interdepartmental committee on one occasion, the meeting of 18 October 1999.
HIPC Debt
Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much (a) by value and (b) by percentage of the debt owed to the UK by HIPC countries is for defence-related business. [108708]
Mr. Caborn: Debt owed by Heavily Indebted Poor Countries to ECGD under Paris Club rescheduling arrangements amounts to £1.6 billion. In addition, non-rescheduled debt in arrears and current exposure is some £300 million. Much of the rescheduled debt relates to contracts entered into the 1970s and 1980s, when ECGD did not record exposure by the nature of the goods exported. However, recent researches indicate that the amount of debt, all rescheduled, currently owed by HIPCs and which resulted from military sales is only £12.7 million or 0.67 per cent. of the total.
Ilisu Dam
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when Balfour Beatty applied for export credit support in respect of the Ilisu Dam in Turkey; under what statutory provision the application (a) was made and (b) is being considered; and if he will place a copy of the application, together with all supporting documents, in the Library. [109004]
Mr. Caborn: Balfour Beatty's application was made under, and is being considered under, Section 1 of the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991.
Under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, the application and its supporting documents are classified as "Third Party's Commercial Confidence" and therefore cannot be placed in the Library of the House.
Deregulation
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 25 January 2000, Official Report, column 196W, on deregulation, what assessment he has made of the economic impact on business associated with the deregulation and contracting out orders listed. [108809]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 7 February 2000]: It is not possible to give an assessment of the cumulative impact of all the deregulation orders as prior to August 1998 there was no requirement to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment on regulations expected to reduce costs to business.
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As far as the orders made since that date are concerned, the Deregulation (Weights and Measures) Order 1999 is expected to save businesses involved in the manufacture, installation and repair of weighing and measuring equipment up to £5 million a year. The Deregulation (Pipelines) Order 1999 is expected to save oil and gas companies involved in laying pipelines up to £10,000 for each application for planning permission in respect of short pipes.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact on the ECGD of the recent decision to extend the number of countries which will be given ECGD cover only for productive expenditure; what contracts have been cancelled as a result of this decision; what plans he has to seek to extend this restriction to all low income countries; and what assessment he has made of the impact on the ECGD of such an extension. [108770]
Mr. Caborn
[holding answer 7 February 2000]: In view of the volume and nature of business previously supported by ECGD in the affected countries, the recent decision to extend the range of countries for which ECGD cover is available only for productive expenditure is likely to have only a limited impact on ECGD and its customers. No contracts have been cancelled and, as there are no plans at present to extend this restriction to other countries, no assessment of the impact on ECGD of such an extension has been made.
Mr. Beith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if guidelines have been issued for Enterprise grants and the revised form of regional selective assistance which came into operation on 1 January. [108505]
Mr. Caborn
[holding answer 7 February 2000]: The Government Offices and Business Links are currently distributing copies of the Enterprise Grant brochure (with application form) which provides applicants with details of the scheme's qualifying criteria, levels of grant and areas in which grant is available. Copies of the brochure have also been placed in the Libraries of the Houses. Regarding Regional Selective Assistance (RSA), new criteria will be issued when the Assisted Areas map is approved. Where interim arrangements for RSA applications are concerned, I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave to the right hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley) on 27 January 2000, Official Report, column 290W.
Mr. Chidgey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effect on competition in the banking service sector of the break-up of the Link network. [108780]
Dr. Howells
[holding answer 8 February 2000]: In the first instance, it is a matter for the Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT) to consider the competition effects of changes to the LINK agreement. After 1 March, any changes can be considered by the DGFT under the prohibitions of the Competition Act 1998.
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In addition, the Cruickshank Review is looking into competition in the banking sector.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the serious issues mentioned in his press release of 20 January regarding the collapse of TransTec which the public interest requires to be investigated by independent inspectors. [109218]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 8 February 2000]: The criteria for appointing inspectors are listed under Section 432(2) of the Companies Act 1985.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library the criteria by which civil servants are financed by his Department for courses and related expenses that are not connected with their departmental employment. [109216]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 8 February 2000]: The Department's present policy is to delegate the majority of its budget for training and development to local management units which are accountable for the use to which their resources are put.
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