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Electronic Tagging (Cattle)

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will introduce electronic tagging and data collecting for cattle; and if she will make a statement. [24070]

Mr. Morley: The Department is currently reviewing all aspects of electronic identification of livestock together with farming industry representatives. In addition, the European Commission is undertaking extensive field trials of various electronic devices and we are awaiting the results of those trials to see what EU-wide rules might be agreed. The introduction of electronic identification in England will need to take account of this work.

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress has been made in developing electronic tagging technologies for the identification of livestock. [24736]

Mr. Morley: The Department is currently reviewing all aspects of electronic identification of livestock together with farming industry representatives. In addition, the European Commission is undertaking extensive field trials of various electronic devices and we are awaiting the results of those trials to see what EU-wide rules might be agreed. The introduction of electronic identification in England will need to take account of this work.

IACS Payments

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures she is taking to ensure the timely payment of Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) cheques. [24071]

Mr. Morley: The Rural Payments Agency has, since 20 August, been affected by industrial action. Several thousand days of processing time have been lost and this is impacting on its ability to process claims as quickly as it would normally do.

Most schemes are affected to some degree but the greatest impact has been on the Arable Area Payment Scheme (AAPS).

AAPS payments under the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) are made between 16 November and 31 January following the harvest. For land growing non-food crops the final payment date is 31 March.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is doing everything that it can to ensure that delays in making payments are kept to a minimum. These include:

Encouraging overtime working


Redeploying all RPA staff with relevant experience on to the AAPS


Back filling staff redeployed with casual/agency staff


Increasing the number of staff authorising claims


Using validation reports to determine which claims can best be handled by less experienced staff so that better use is made of those with more experience


Switching staff periodically from case-work to payment authorisation


Deploying staff returning from FMD duties.

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Poultry (Additives)

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 5 December 2001, Official Report, column 395W, on the Advisory Group on Veterinary Medicines, what plans she has to make available the AGVR minutes before the Food Standards Agency 'Feed Additives in Poultry' stakeholders meeting on 16 January 2002. [23645]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 18 December 2001]: It is very unlikely that these minutes will be available before 16 January 2002. As indicated in an earlier answer, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate will have to seek the agreement of all former members of the Advisory Group on Veterinary Residues to their release. This is in accordance with Part II, Paragraph 14 a) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, Second Edition (1997). This is a time-consuming exercise but officials will complete the exercise as quickly as practicable.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the total amount of poultry (a) produced and (b) sampled for (i) nicarbazin, (ii) lasaloci, (iii) dimetridazole and (iv) other residues in the last month of (A) 1998, (B) 1999, (C) 2000 and (D) 2001. [23594]

Mr. Morley: [holding answer 18 December 2001]: The total amounts of poultry produced in the last month of 1998, 1999 and 2000 are set out in table 1. The figures for 2001 are not yet known. The numbers of samples taken from poultry throughout the United Kingdom for testing for the substances listed for the same months are set out in table 2. The figures for the last month of 2001 are the numbers of samples requested by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.

Table 1: UK poultry slaughteringsMillion

	December 1998	December 1999	December 2000
Broiler birds	50.63	50.21	51.99
Boiling fowls	2.90	2.89	2.76
Turkeys	3.65	3.05	3.29
Ducks(57)	1.42	1.50	1.50
Geese(57)	0.083	0.083	0.083

⁽⁵⁷⁾ Figures only available for annual production. Figures shown are based on one twelfth of annual production.

Source:

UK livestock surveys

Table 2: Number of UK poultry samples taken for analysis for veterinary residues in December

	1998	1999	2000	2001(58)
Nicarbazin	n/a	26	14	26
Lasalocid	n/a	30	23	26
Dimetridazole	n/a	164	18	177
Other	n/a	533	291	709

⁽⁵⁸⁾ Figures for December 2001 relate to the number of samples requested.

Older People

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will set out for each of the conclusions in section 6.4 of the

8 Jan 2002 : Column: 767W

Performance and Innovation Unit report, "Winning the Generation Game", (a) what progress her Department has made and (b) what future plans her Department has for acting on them; and if she will set out against each of the conclusions the targets and deadlines that have been set. [24197]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 19 December 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, on 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 335W.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to reply to the Question of 5 December, ref. 21336, from the hon. Member for Buckingham on sickness absence. [24755]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 19 December 2001, Official Report, columns 423–24W.

Feed Additives

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what timetable for the replacement of the currently marketed antibiotic feed additives containing mycelial grade substances with premixes containing pharmacopoeial grade active substances was agreed at the Veterinary Products Committee meeting of 18 October; and if she will make a statement. [22960]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 19 December 2001]: At its meeting of 18 October the Veterinary Products Committee agreed the following timetable for the replacement of mycelial grade antibiotics with pharmacopoeial antibiotics:

by 1 December 2003—marketing authorisation holders to submit to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) valid applications for new marketing authorisations or to vary existing marketing authorisations;


by 1 December 2004—VMD to complete assessment of the relevant applications;


by 1 June 2005—marketing authorisation holders to implement the change.

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Failure to meet this timetable could lead to the revocation of marketing authorisations.

Rural-based Grants

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what amount of rural-based grants from (a) the EU and (b) other sources was paid in each year since 1990, broken down by (i) constituency and (ii) local authority; [24906]

(2) what amount of rural-based grants was made by the Government broken down by (a) constituency and (b) local authority in each year since 1990. [24905]

Alun Michael: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Rural Pubs and Post Offices

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) pubs and (b) post offices there were in rural areas, broken down by (i) constituency and (ii) local authority in each year since 1990. [24896]

Alun Michael: The information is not available in the form requested. Information on numbers of rural pubs is not held centrally and I understand from Consignia that information on numbers of rural post offices by constituency and local authority is not available. The Government have been monitoring the position on rural post offices and a number of initiatives have been taken to provide a secure future for rural post offices and other local facilities wherever possible.

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