---

Farmers' Suicides

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes have been recorded in trends in farmers' suicides in the past 12 years. [139115]

Mr. Morley: The number of suicides and deaths from undetermined injury between 1988-1999 (the latest period for which figures are available) is set out in the table.

My Department has recently contributed £500,000 towards a Rural Stress Action Plan, implemented by voluntary organisations in England, to help alleviate stress among farmers and others in rural communities.

Deaths from suicide and undetermined injury 1988-1999 men and women aged 16-74 at the time of their death

Year of occurrence	Farmers, horticulturists and farm managers	Farm workers
1988	60	30
1989	45	27
1990	49	27
1991	54	23
1992	47	25
1993	50	28
1994	44	23
1995	41	16
1996	36	29
1997	42	17
1998	54	18
1999	51	19

Note:

Data are provisional for 1999

Source:

ONS

Vaccines

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on research into vaccines to counteract (a) bovine spongiform encephalopathy and (b) bovine tuberculosis. [139284]

Ms Quin: MAFF is not currently funding any research into the development of vaccines to counteract bovine spongiform encephalopathy. MAFF is willing to consider any research project to develop a vaccine for TSEs providing that the usual conditions of the applicant having suitable facilities to perform the research are met. TSEs are unusual diseases in that it has not been possible to identify a clear immune response to infection. Vaccines rely on priming the immune system to enhance this response and so prevent the disease. The agent which causes TSE is difficult to inactivate and again most vaccines use an inactivated form of an agent safely to produce immunity. There would be concern in using the 'live' TSE agent as this may produce either disease, or carriers for the disease, rather than immunity.

Following the recommendations of the Krebs report, MAFF is funding research into developing vaccines for bovine tuberculosis at a cost of £1.4 million annually. The development of suitable vaccines for use in either cattle

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 401W

or badgers is an important element of the Government's strategy for tackling the disease. UK researchers involved in MAFF-funded TB vaccine projects are working in collaboration with experts internationally. Candidate vaccines which could be used in either cattle or wildlife are being developed and tested, and improved diagnostic tests are also under investigation. However, it may be some years before the scientific, practical and legal issues involved in developing a successful vaccine for bovine tuberculosis can be addressed.

Fishing Industry

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many people were employed in the fishing industry in the United Kingdom in each of the last three years. [139682]

Mr. Morley: Statistics on the number of fishermen are drawn from surveys carried out by the Sea Fisheries Inspectorates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency in Scotland. The number of UK fishermen for the years 1997 to 1999 are set out in the table.

Year	Regular	Part-time	Total
1997	14,832	3,772	18,604
1998	14,394	3,453	17,847
1999	12,970	2,991	15,961

Note:

As at 31 March for England and Wales and 31 December for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Flood Defences

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to review Government guidelines identifying riparian owners as possessing sole liability for the maintenance of community flood defences; and if he will make a statement. [139498]

Mr. Morley: I have no plans to adjust the historic responsibilities of riparian owners. These are explained in the Environment Agency leaflet "Living on the Edge--a guide to the rights and responsibilities of a riverside owner".

Maintenance of flood defences is the responsibility of the riparian owner. However, where defences benefit the wider community, this responsibility has at times been assumed by the relevant operating authority, ie the Environment Agency, local authority or internal drainage board, depending on the nature and location of the watercourse. It is also open to riparian owners to seek to negotiate maintenance agreements with the relevant operating authority.

Sheep

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what studies his Department has collated on the impact of stocking sheep on unenclosed upland areas and the related changes in the character of their soils, with reference to (a) water absorbency, (b) percolation evapotranspiration and (c) run-off including measurements of variation of run-off by streams and rivers. [139973]

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 402W

Mr. Morley: Since 1991 the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has undertaken some 23 studies worth about £5 million on the impact of sheep on upland vegetation. We are currently awaiting the report of a research project to quantify and identify the causes of upland erosion. In addition, surveys have been carried out on six Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Exmoor, Lake District, North Peak, South West Peak, Dartmoor and Shropshire Hills) to quantify the level of grazing pressure (almost entirely due to sheep) on heather.

The Government recognise that overgrazing sheep can contribute to soil erosion in upland areas and are committed to actions to reduce its impact. Conditions to control overgrazing are imposed on recipients of cattle and sheep premiums and Hill Livestock Compensatory allowances as well as new entrants to agri-environmental schemes under the England Rural Development Plan. The Government have reinforced this message in the MAFF Code of Good Agricultural Practice to Protect Soil.

Farming

Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he plans to take to implement the findings of the Better Regulation Task Force report on Environmental Regulations and Farmers; and if he will make a statement. [139315]

Ms Quin [holding answer 22 November 2000]: The Government welcome this report.

The Government will give careful consideration to each of the 21 recommendations and issue a clear and positive response early in the new year.

Agriculture Council

Mr. Hood: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the outcome was of the Agriculture Council held in Brussels on 20 and 21 November; and if he will make a statement. [140122]

Mr. Nick Brown: I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Agriculture Council on 20 and 21 November. Ross Finnie (Minister for Rural Development, Scottish Executive), Carwyn Jones (Minister for Rural Affairs, National Assembly for Wales) and Brid Rodgers MLA (Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive) were also present.

The Council held a lengthy discussion of the situation regarding BSE in the Union, following explanations from Commissioner Byrne of planned new Community measures and from France about the steps it had taken in response to recent concerns about the safety of beef in that country. The Council agreed that, notwithstanding the wide range of safety provisions already in place, testing for BSE should be introduced of animals over 30 months that were either at risk or entering the food chain, as an additional safety measure. I warmly welcomed this although all meat produced in the UK (except that from Beef Assurance Scheme animals which are exempt from our Over-30-Months Scheme) comes from animals slaughtered below this age.

The Council also emphasised the importance of a Community approach to BSE, rather than reliance on national measures, a point I stressed applied no less to the

27 Nov 2000 : Column: 403W

national measures being maintained by France against UK exports than to those recently introduced against French exports. The Commission will seek rapid advice from its scientific advisers on the national measures which have been recently adopted and will propose a community approach (either calling for removal of the measures or replacing them with Community regulations) by the end of this month. An additional meeting of the Council will be called on 4 December if necessary.

Commissioner Byrne introduced the Commission's new proposals for a European Food Authority. The Council will hold an open (public) discussion of these at its next meeting.

The Council also adopted unanimously draft proposals for the WTO negotiations on agriculture. These set out the Union's ideas for negotiation covering both reductions in agricultural protection and support and measures to address non-trade concerns such as animal welfare and the environment, as well as particular measures to help developing countries. This agreement sends a clear signal of the Community's readiness to engage positively and constructively in these important negotiations.

The Council agreed by qualified majority proposals to reform the fruit and vegetable regimes. These include a very welcome simplification of the procedures for Community financing of producer groups' operational programmes as well as an increase in the ceiling on support for those programmes, whose aims include helping balance supply and demand, reducing costs and promoting environmentally sound practices. Along with Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, however, I voted against the final Presidency compromise on the ground of its excessive increase in support to processing of tomatoes, peaches and citrus fruit.

The Council also agreed by qualified majority proposals concerning the control of blue tongue disease (Greece voting against) and animal nutrition (Finland voting against).

---