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Organophosphates

Mr. Curry: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when Ministers intend to meet to discuss the availability of organophosphate sheep dips. [132451]

Ms Quin [holding answer 25 July 2000]: A meeting took place on 25 July.

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Mr. Curry: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the most recent advice to Ministers was from the Veterinary Products Committee concerning the date on which organophosphate sheep dips should become available again. [132449]

Ms Quin [holding answer 25 July 2000]: The Veterinary Products Committee recently offered advice which Minsters are considering. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.

Burns Report

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in respect of implementation of the Burns report and banning hunting with hounds, what estimate he has made of the cost of disposing of fallen and other stock. [129126]

Ms Quin [holding answer 6 July 2000]: A small and limited survey, carried out by MAFF, suggested that in 1999 around 40 per cent. of calves, 32 per cent. of adult bovines and 15 per cent. of sheep were disposed of to hunt kennels. No estimate has been made of the cost to the livestock industry of using outlets other than hunt kennels to dispose of carcases. However, the safe disposal of fallen stock in an important issue and officials will continue to liaise with the livestock and disposal industries to examine the best approaches to this issue.

Soft Drinks, Confectionery and Biscuits

Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the retail price indices were for (a) soft drinks, (b) confectionery and (c) biscuits for each of the years 1980 to 1996 and for each month from May 1996 to date. [132527]

Ms Quin [holding answer 25 July 2000]: The information requested is given in Tables 1 and 2. Separate indices are not available for biscuits.

Table 1: Retail Price Indices⁽¹⁾--annual averages 1980 to 1996

	Biscuits and cakes	Soft drinks	Sweets and chocolates
1980	74.0	79.1	72.7
1981	80.9	86.4	78.6
1982	86.1	87.6	81.1
1983	90.1	91.7	84.8
1984	93.9	93.9	88.1
1985	96.1	97.8	92.9
1986	98.1	99.2	98.2
1987	101.4	103.2	100.2
1988	104.6	114.9	101.1
1989	111.5	122.9	104.2
1990	120.2	134.9	108.3
1991	129.4	143.2	115.6
1992	135.4	154.6	121.6
1993	141.0	156.2	127.8
1994	144.4	155.2	133.2
1995	145.9	162.7	137.0
1996	151.3	173.6	142.5

⁽¹⁾ January 1987 = 100

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Table 2: Retail Price Indices⁽¹⁾--monthly, May 1996 to June 2000

	Biscuits and cakes	Soft drinks	Sweets and chocolates
1996
May	151.1	173.6	141.9
June	151.7	174.5	143.1
July	153.1	174.1	144.8
August	153.0	174.2	144.9
September	151.9	174.6	144.8
October	152.4	175.0	145.0
November	151.4	174.7	144.3
December	150.6	174.9	144.2
1997
January	150.9	176.1	144.5
February	152.9	181.1	144.9
March	151.8	182.0	145.4
April	151.7	180.7	146.4
May	151.8	180.9	147.6
June	153.4	181.5	148.1
July	153.8	181.1	148.3
August	154.0	180.0	148.5
September	153.2	180.5	149.2
October	155.4	181.4	149.4
November	153.2	178.1	149.3
December	153.4	179.1	149.5
1998
January	152.4	180.7	148.8
February	152.0	185.6	148.2
March	152.0	186.6	147.7
April	151.7	184.7	148.5
May	153.4	187.1	149.9
June	155.8	186.1	151.5
July	155.8	186.0	153.2
August	155.9	186.3	153.4
September	154.9	187.1	153.9
October	157.0	187.4	154.4
November	157.0	187.1	154.2
December	157.2	185.6	154.0
1999
January	156.8	186.7	153.9
February	157.4	190.1	154.3
March	157.4	190.3	155.1
April	156.4	188.2	153.8
May	156.1	186.9	153.1
June	156.8	187.4	155.0
July	158.5	186.9	155.2
August	158.5	186.5	155.0
September	157.8	187.8	155.4
October	157.1	186.3	156.0
November	156.5	186.0	156.3
December	158.4	184.9	156.6
2000
January	158.1	185.7	156.1
February	157.7	186.1	155.3
March	157.8	187.4	155.6
April	158.3	186.9	155.9
May	157.0	188.9	157.5
June	157.2	188.4	158.0

Source:

Office for National Statistics

Sugar Beet Production

Mr. Paice: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the contribution of sugar beet production to total farm income in each of the years from 1989 to 1999; and what was the gross margin for sugar beet in each of these years. [132524]

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Ms Quin [holding answer 25 July 2000]: Sugar beet gross margins and estimates of the contribution of sugar beet production to total farm gross margin for farms in the University of Cambridge's province of the Farm Business Survey are set out in the table. Estimates for 1999 are not yet available.

Sugar beet gross margins and the contribution of sugar beet to total farm gross margin for the eastern counties of England

	Gross margin	Contribution to total farm gross margin
	(£/ha)	(Percentage)
1989	920	11.1
1990	1,116	12.1
1991	1,104	10.3
1992	1,436	11.8
1993	1,232	11.2
1994	1,153	9.6
1995	1,232	8.7
1996	1,187	9.9
1997	1,008	9.3
1998	951	8.8

Source:

Report on Farming in the Eastern Counties (University of Cambridge)

Opinion Research

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will place copies of the results of all market and opinion research carried out by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies since May 1997, in the Library. [123803]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 25 July 2000]: Decisions on whether to publish the results of all research projects, and whether to place a copy in the House of Commons Library, are taken on a case-by-case basis, as some reports may contain, for example, commercially confidential information. Some of the market research projects commissioned by this Ministry since May 1997 are therefore already held in the Library. Copies of the publicly available research projects may be provided on request and a summary of these will be placed in the Library.

Agrimonetary Compensation

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the amount of agrimonetary compensation for which farmers were eligible in each year since 1979 in (a) Scotland, (b) the UK and (c) Dumfries and Galloway region, broken down by farming sector; and how much was paid. [127695]

Ms Quin: Agrimonetary compensation has been available since 1993. Until the introduction of the euro, it was triggered when national currency strengthened against the ECU sufficiently to outweigh the effects of previous devaluations (an appreciable revaluation). The UK first became eligible following appreciable revaluations in 1997. Compensation was also made available following the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, and in 2000 following exchange rate fluctuations.

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Figures for compensation are available on a member state basis and cannot be broken down except at disproportionate cost. Compensation paid between 1997 and to the end of June 2000 in (a), (b) and (c) is set out in the tables.

Agrimonetary compensation in the UK is available

Compensation triggered/by sector	Amount available (first instalment) (£ million)
1997
Cereals	195.7
Flax and hemp	0.4
Milk	219.2
Beef	78.2
Sugar	21.9
Total	515.4
1998
Cereals	89.2
Flax and hemp	1
Beef	22.8
Sheep	13.2
Agri-environment	1.9
Total	(1)128.1
1999
Cereals	174.8
Beef	62.69
Sheep	32.14
Flax and hemp	1.6
Agri-environment	7.8
Total	279
2000(1)
Beef	54.3
Sheep	46.1
Agri-environment	9.8
Milk	22.1
Cereals	14.3
Total	146.6

⁽¹⁾ Excludes £1.9 million, cancelled following later devaluation

⁽¹⁾ Further compensation likely for arable in 2000

Agrimonetary compensation paid£ million

Year paid	UK	Scotland	Dumfries and Galloway
1997
Beef	(1)8.3	--	--
1998
Beef	109.4	34.3	6
Sheep	12.4	2.9	0.4
1999
Beef	61.6	4.5	0.9
Sheep	31.2	7.3	1.1
Arable	18.2	15.9	0.5
2000(1)
Beef	32.4	10.5	1.8
Sheep	10.1	2.4	0.3
Arable	152.6	3	0.03

⁽¹⁾ Early payment of compensation in Wales (paid in 1998 in rest of UK)

⁽¹⁾ To end June 2000

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