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Capital Modernisation Fund

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the applications made to date by his Department to the Capital Modernisation Fund giving the (a) purpose of the application, (b) intended recipients, (c) financial value and (d) outcome of each application. [120636]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 3 May 2000]: The information requested by the hon. Member is as set out:

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Capital modernisation fund

Application	(a) Purpose	(b) Intended recipients	(c) Financial value (£000)	(d) Outcome
Round 1
National Flood Warning Project	To deliver improvements in quality and effectiveness to the flood warning service in England and Wales through public and private sector partnerships	MAFF and Environment Agency	5,000	Unsuccessful
Pilot Public Private Partnership Project for coast protection work at Scarborough	Setting-up costs of a pilot project to encourage local authorities with responsibility for coast protection to utilise long-term strategic plans in considering alternative methods of procurement	Scarborough borough council and MAFF	2,000	Unsuccessful
Electronic Data Interchange for Seed Certification	To enable efficiency and cost savings by minimising manual data entry from statutory seed certification forms, provide a speedier service to industry and gain experience in EDI application for similar services	MAFF	50	Unsuccessful
Establish managed telephone services to support delivery of schemes under Common Agricultural Policy	Seedcorn funding for installation of computerised call-handling system at MAFF Regional Service Centres on a pilot basis to improve level of customer service	MAFF	50	Unsuccessful
Fishing Capacity Rationalisation	To achieve a better balance between fishing capacity and available fishing opportunities by encouraging fishing industry to develop its own plans for restructuring	MAFF	5,000	Unsuccessful
Redevelopment of Central Veterinary Laboratory at Weybridge	To update facilities	MAFF	up to 70,000	Unsuccessful

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Cattle Imports

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the countries from which live cattle were imported to the United Kingdom in each of the last five years and the number of live cattle imported from each of those countries in each of those years. [120567]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 3 May 2000]: The number of live cattle imported into the United Kingdom for the period 1995-99 is shown in the following table.

Country	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Austria	0	59	30	0	0
Belgium/Luxembourg	53	33	162	0	73
Canada	87	71	239	161	1,730
Denmark	99	35	282	177	468
France	491	247	2,232	469	216
Germany	122	113	764	98	195
Hungary	0	0	0	8	0
Ireland	22,086	12,698	7,942	7,315	23,959
Isle of Man	0	0	0	0	5
Italy	0	0	17	16	4
Jersey	0	19	0	0	0
Netherlands	1,627	2,704	12,308	1,956	1,082
New Zealand	0	0	34	0	0
Romania	0	0	59	294	0

Source:

Great Britain figures were obtained from the Ministry's computer system which issues export health certificates. Department of Agriculture Northern Ireland figures were obtained from their Veterinary Division. The figures are provisional and subject to change.

Abattoirs

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the costs incurred by farmers as a result of the recent changes in the regional distribution of over-thirty-months scheme abattoir contracts. [120559]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 3 May 2000]: The award of 20 contracts for over-thirty-months scheme (OTMS) abattoir services in the UK followed a competitive tender and looked to ensure that sufficient slaughtering capacity was available having regard to the main production areas. Where abattoirs have changed, some individual farmer's costs have increased a little because their abattoir is now further away; but others have decreased.

Electronic Communications

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the savings to be gained as a result of the electronic provision of his Ministry's forms. [120566]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 3 May 2000]: Savings resulting from the electronic provision of forms will arise both in relation to the time of those farmers who

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choose to use electronic interactive forms and in administrative time in the Department. Projects are under way to assess the technology. The pilot for electronic submission of IACS forms in Anglia Region has already had a successful start.

Consultation Exercises

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for each formal consultation exercise solely or jointly undertaken by his Department since May 1997, what was the period allowed for submissions by the parties consulted. [121432]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: Information on the response periods for individual consultation exercises is not collected centrally and could be made available only at disproportionate cost.

BSE

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Government's official scientific advisers are satisfied that the procedures routinely used in the production of gelatine in France are sufficient to destroy any trace of BSE infectivity in this product. [121416]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: The Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the Government's independent scientific advisory body on BSE, has concluded that gelatine is safe for use in food given the large reduction in theoretical infectivity in the production of gelatine from raw material from which Specified Risk Materials (SRM) are excluded. In the case of France, there are controls on SRM removal both in relation to home production and to imports of raw materials for gelatine production.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has (a) consulted and (b) been consulted by the French Minister of Agriculture over the possibility of other ways of BSE transmission. [121414]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: Extensive discussions took place between myself, the French Minister of Agriculture and the Commission at official and ministerial level about BSE-related issues. There has been a very full exchange of scientific opinion underpinning public decision making on this issue.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from which budget the unbudgeted expenditure on the BSE inquiry has been funded. [121424]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 18 April 2000]: All costs of the BSE inquiry are met from within the existing budget of my Department and the budgets of the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive Rural and Agriculture Department, the National Assembly for Wales Agriculture Department and the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in what instances he would seek a review of the BSE risk status of an EU member state. [121415]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: The EU Scientific Steering Committee is nearing completion of its assessment of geographic BSE and risk in the EU and some third countries.

Regional Service Centres

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish estimates of the value of his Department's Regional Service Centres if they were sold for development. [121436]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: Were any of the Regional Service Centres to be sold, this information would be commercially sensitive. Not all of the Regional Service Centres could be sold for redevelopment because some are leasehold, some are used by other Government Departments as well as ourselves, and in some cases the local planning authority might not agree to redevelopment of sites.

Organic Food Production

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has collected about the national standards that apply in each EU member state regarding the duration of the conversion period required for land used to grow organic crops. [121430]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 9 May 2000]: Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 requires land used to grow organic crops to be subject to a conversion period not less than two years, or three years in the case of land used to grow perennial crops other than grass. However, the regulation permits these conversion periods to be reduced in the light of previous use of the land immediately prior to conversion. It does not specify a minimum conversion period.

As we understand the current position, six member states, including the UK, require a minimum conversion period of 12 months. The other member states permit conversion periods shorter than 12 months in exceptional cases. However, the Commission is reviewing the position with the aim of achieving a greater degree of consistency of practice between the member states.

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