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Millennium Dome
Mr. Paul Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he plans to announce the winning bid for the future of the Millennium Dome at Greenwich. [133774]
Mr. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he plans to announce the winning bid for the future use of the Millennium Dome at Greenwich. [133776]
Ms Armstrong: Dome Europe has won the competition to take over the Dome when the Millennium Experience ends on 31 December. We believe their proposals will deliver a high quality, innovative and economically sustainable long-term future for the Dome, of which the people of Greenwich and the United Kingdom can be proud.
The proposals will build on the remarkable achievements in constructing the Dome and delivering the Millennium Experience this year. Provision of a world-class visitor attraction will continue, and will benefit from Dome Europe's investment of around £400 million in the core Dome site over the next five years.
In supporting the Dome's transition from the current Millennium Experience to another major visitor destination, Dome Europe is proposing to create an urban entertainment resort, through a combination of uses inside the Dome and on adjacent land. The latter will include hotels, a convention centre, commercial leisure,
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restaurants, residential units, offices, retail and community facilities. While the proposals are all subject to the granting of planning permission, and much work remains to be done to complete the sale of the site, we are confident that Dome Europe's proposals will deliver an exciting contribution to the continued regeneration of the Greenwich Peninsula.
We have further decided that of the overall consideration for the sale of the Millennium Dome (details of which must remain commercially confidential at this stage), some £53 million should be paid to the New Millennium Experience Company from total expected early payments from the competition of £105 million. There is also provision for additional payment for land value in certain circumstances and a share of profits if and when the business changes hands. The remainder of this total amount, after meeting third party commitments, will go to English Partnerships. In reaching this view we took account of the benefits to the Greenwich Peninsula and the Thames Gateway in terms of continuity of jobs and assured future private investment in the site, building on the substantial public investment already made--more than one billion pounds--towards major environmental, transport and other improvements on the Peninsula.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Wild Salmon
12. Mr. Cousins: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to protect wild salmon from the consequences of salmon farming. [131275]
Mr. Morley: In the UK salmon farming takes place almost entirely in Scotland. There is no evidence that it is adversely affecting salmon stocks of English origin.
Pig Industry
13. Mr. David Taylor: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he plans to open the pig industry restructuring scheme to applicants. [131276]
Ms Quin: As I have said previously, the outgoers element of the pig industry restructuring scheme will be opened to applicants immediately following European Commission clearance of the scheme.
19. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission about state aids for pig farmers. [131282]
Ms Quin: Ministers and officials in MAFF have frequent formal and informal meetings with European Commissioners and Commission staff. The Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme and the welfare linked pigmeat promotion campaign, both UK state aids in the pig sector, have featured prominently in recent discussions.
Beef Ban
14. Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many countries have lifted bans on British beef since 1 May 1997. [131277]
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Ms Quin: The critical date is 1 August 1999 when the EU ban on the export of British beef was lifted for beef produced under the Date-based Export Scheme. Since then 26 countries have informed us that they have lifted their import bans. We have ascertained that a total of 81 countries do not have import bans.
Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill
15. Mr. Crausby: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received concerning the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Bill. [131278]
Mr. Morley: In excess of 3,000 representations have been received about the Bill. All but a few have been from members of the public and animal welfare organisations supporting the banning of fur farming.
Bovine TB
16. Mrs. Organ: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the report of the independent Husbandry Panel on TB and cattle husbandry. [131279]
Ms Quin: We welcome the report of the independent Husbandry Panel on TB and cattle husbandry which was published on 16 May and we are considering its findings in consultation with the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, the TB Forum and other interested parties.
Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the co-operation among (a) farmers and (b) others in the proactive cull sites in the MAFF bovine TB trial areas with those carrying out the trials. [131762]
Ms Quin [holding answer 24 July 2000]: Co-operation by farmers and landowners with the badger culling trial is very good and participation is in excess of 80 per cent. of those approached to participate. There has been some interference with the trial by protesters, which we deplore. The trial design allows for these factors and the Independent Scientific Group overseeing the trial has advised that it remains on course to produce valid conclusions about whether and in what circumstances badger culling can help reduce TB in cattle.
Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many badgers have been killed in each of the eight identified MAFF trial triplet areas so far identified in the (a) reactive and (b) proactive cull sites. [131760]
Ms Quin [holding answer 24 July 2000]: Culling of badgers has begun in five triplets. The data for completed operations as at 20 July 2000 is shown in the table:
| Number of badgers culled | ||
|---|---|---|
| Triplet | Proactive area | Reactive area |
| Gloucester/Hereford | 55 | 0 |
| Devon/Cornwall | 323 | 73 |
| East Cornwall | 246 | 128 |
| North Wiltshire | 602 | 0 |
| West Cornwall | 451 | 0 |
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EU Enlargement
17. Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe concerning the effect of enlargement of the European Union on agriculture. [131280]
Ms Quin: Since the beginning of the year, my ministerial colleagues and I have held discussions with our counterparts from Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania.
Organic Farming
18. Mr. Rendel: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many farmers applied in each of the last three years for grants from the Organic Farming Scheme. [131281]
Mr. Morley: The number of farmers that applied for grants under the Organic Aid Scheme in these years is as follows:
- 1997-98: 216
- 1998-99: 222
- 1999-2000: 3.
Dairy Calves
21. Mr. Paterson: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the situation relating to male dairy calves. [131284]
Ms Quin: The Government recognise that the market for male dairy calves is depressed. Following the ending of the CPAS, (which put an artificial floor to the male dairy calf market at the expense of beef finishers), prices have fallen and remain at a low level. However the Government are supporting a number of initiatives to try to improve the market.
Livestock Farming
22. Mr. Gray: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the Government's economic objectives for livestock farming in the coming year. [131285]
Ms Quin: The Government have a strategy which focuses on helping farmers become more competitive and more sustainable in the medium and long term, while it is also providing short-term relief for those sectors which are particularly hard hit by the present economic difficulties in the agricultural sector.
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