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National Changeover Plan

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what meetings he has held with farmers' representatives to involve them in the National Changeover Plan. [134021]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: The Government are working in partnership with business, the wider public sector and the voluntary sector to continue the planning necessary to give the UK a genuine option to take a decision early in the next Parliament to join a successful single currency.

My officials have consulted farmers' representatives about the option of receiving CAP payments in euro. In early August I announced the introduction of an arrangement making available payments in euro to traders for certain types of CAP market support measure.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much his Department has spent on the National Changeover Plan to date broken down into the main items of expenditure. [134022]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: Information on investments in changeover planning by the public sector was set out in the Second Outline National Changeover Plan, published on 9 March 2000.

Pig Industry

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what conditions the European Commission has imposed on his proposed Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme; and what plans he has made for the allocated funding if the conditions are not met. [134024]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: The Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme was developed in close consultation with the National Pig Association and the Meat and Livestock Commission. In order to ensure that the scheme kept within state aid rules, we also kept in close contact with the European Commission. There is no reason to believe that the Commission will impose any conditions over and above what is laid down in its guidelines for state aids of this type. As the industry has been fully involved with the scheme's development and is as flexible as state aid rules and financial propriety will allow, I expect British pig producers to make full use of the funding available.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the total cost to date incurred by pig farmers in complying with BSE regulations in force in the United Kingdom. [134016]

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Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: No such assessment has been made; however, I acknowledge that the pig industry, like other livestock and related industries, has faced increased costs as a result of measures to eliminate BSE from the British cattle herd.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what costs his Department will be seeking from the British Pig Industry Support Group following its court case against the Government. [134017]

Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: The Government are seeking to cover their legal costs in this case. The amount claimed does not include the considerable time that officials in policy divisions spent on drawing up witness statements and compiling relevant documentation.

Ragwort

Sir Nicholas Lyell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many notices under section 1 of the Weeds Act 1959 have been served during each of the past three years; and on how many occasions he has exercised default powers under section 3 of the Weeds Act 1959 in respect of common ragwort. [133956]

Mr. Morley: During 1998, staff at MAFF Regional Service Centres, acting on the Minister's behalf, served one notice under section 1 of the Weeds Act 1959; one notice was served in 1999 and one has been served so far this year; default powers were exercised last year in respect of the 1998 notice.

Sir Nicholas Lyell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many complaints about common ragwort his Department has received in each of the past three years; and how many landowners have been approached or written to by his Department's officials following such complaints in each of the past three years. [133984]

Mr. Morley: During 1998, MAFF Regional Service Centres received 290 complaints from occupiers of farmed land about injurious weeds; 242 complaints were received in 1999; 249 have been received so far this year. Most of these complaints related to common ragwort.

Figures for the number of occupiers of infested land who were approached or written to following complaints are not held centrally. However, Regional Service Centre staff endeavour to contact all such occupiers, providing their whereabouts are known.

Milk (Schools)

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what arrangements he has made for continuing the present level of take-up of milk in schools from January 2001. [134399]

Ms Quin: The Government are currently considering whether to top up the EU subsidy for school milk, which is being reduced from 1 January 2001 and we hope to make an announcement soon. In addition we are co-operating actively in the Commission's review of administration arrangements to see whether this can be made simpler for schools which wish to take part.

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Coastal Erosion

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about Government policy on coastal erosion. [133339]

Mr. Morley: The Government remain committed to the aim of reducing risks to people and the developed and natural environment from coastal erosion by encouraging the provision of sustainable defence measures. I announced in July a further increase of £30 million in the plans for Ministry funding of capital flood defence and coast protection works, bringing the total for the next three years to £267 million.

Bees

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make available a grant of £600 per annum to enable beekeepers to take basic beekeeping exams. [134640]

Ms Quin: The Ministry funds a range of measures costing around £1.3 million annually to assist the beekeeping sector to deal with bee health issues. The emphasis is on providing cost-free regional and national training in good husbandry and disease recognition and control for all beekeepers. In each of the last two years, the National Bee Unit has organised over 700 such events working closely with beekeeping associations. We consider this to be the best use of available resources.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many outbreaks of foul brood and European foul brood have been identified in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [134639]

Ms Quin: American and European foul brood are notifiable diseases under the Bee Disease Control Order 1982. All new suspected cases have to be reported, and in England and Wales investigations are carried out by the National Bee Unit. The number of colonies confirmed infected with either of these diseases since 1997 is as follows:

	1998	1999	2000(1)
American foul brood	229	148	103
European foul brood	879	865	1,039
Total	1,108	1,013	1,142

⁽¹¹⁾ Figures for 2000 are provisional

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will set up a field trial to eliminate bee colonies with European foul brood; and what steps he is taking to ensure colonies with European foul brood are destroyed. [134636]

Ms Quin: The Ministry is already undertaking a range of measures to combat this notifiable disease. All colonies too heavily infected with European foul brood to respond to treatment are destroyed. Lightly infected colonies are treated with antibiotic by field inspectors employed by the National Bee Unit, part of the Central Science Laboratory. The Unit is conducting well publicised trials for the

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long-term control of the disease without the need for destruction of the bees in these valuable colonies. Preliminary results are promising.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time bee inspectors are employed by his Department. [134637]

Ms Quin: This year, the National Bee Unit employed (a) eight full-time Regional Bee Inspectors and (b) 37 Seasonal Bee Inspectors to provide statutory inspection and advisory services for beekeepers in England and Wales.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will reintroduce (a) a regular checking of beehives in order to discover and eliminate disease; and for what reasons such checking has been discontinued. [134638]

Ms Quin: Inspection and treatment of bees for the notifiable diseases American foul brood, European foul brood and varroa are mandatory under the provisions of the Bees Act 1980 and the Bee Disease Control Order 1982. The National Bee Unit organises regular annual checks of bee colonies throughout England and Wales for these diseases, particularly in high risk areas. Approximately 26,000-27,000 colonies in 4,500 apiaries are inspected each year. In addition to this service, the National Bee Unit provides training and education to help beekeepers become more self-reliant in the identification of bee diseases through improved bee husbandry.

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