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Beef Exports
3. Mr A.J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed): What steps she is taking to remove barriers to beef exports to EU countries. [133783]
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Margaret Beckett): I most recently discussed beef exports with Commissioner Byrne in Italy last month. The European Food Safety Authority is considering the UK case for relaxing rules on UK exports.
Mr. Beith: Does the Secretary of State recognise how crucial it is to beef farmers in Northumberland that we get support at the highest political levels to overcome obstacles that may owe more to protectionism than to science? In particular, does she realise how important it is to secure the smooth dismantling of the data-based export scheme and the over-30 month scheme, and to achieve a target of getting bone-in beef exported by next autumn?
Margaret Beckett: We fully understand the concern of beef farmers, whether in Northumbria or elsewhere. The Government's clear aim is to be able to trade on the same basis as other member states. That is what we are pursuing, but the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate that we must make sure that the right safeguards are in place and that we are giving the right reassurance. We
are doing everything we can. I reassure him that at the highest possible level we have all the support that we could want, but we have to carry others with us.
Mr. Douglas Hogg (Sleaford and North Hykeham): Would the right hon. Lady tell the House how much beef has been exported to France over the past 12 months, and, if the quantities are very small, what steps she is taking to ensure that they improve?
Margaret Beckett: I am afraid that I do not have that information with me, but I shall certainly write to the right hon. and learned Gentleman. As I said to the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith), the Government are doing everything we can to ensure that it is recognised and acknowledged that Britain has overcome many of the difficulties that were experienced in the past. We have a strong case for saying that we are no higher risk than any other EU country. We should be able to trade on that basis, and that is what we are pursuing.
Abattoirs
4. Matthew Green (Ludlow): When she will publish the action plan to support small and medium-sized abattoirs and slaughterhouses. [133784]
The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality (Alun Michael): We will publish data on the abattoir and meat cutting plant sector shortly. That will help to inform the better use of support mechanisms provided for under European Community legislation.
Matthew Green : The Minister will be aware that in 1997 there were 506 abattoirs and that by August this year the figure had fallen to 395—a fall of more than 20 per cent. in six years. By now the figure may be even lower. Given the advantages of local abattoirs in minimising transport-related stress to animals, reducing the likelihood of disease outbreaks and increasing the availability of locally produced meat to consumers, should not the Government find specific grants to support and to increase the number of local abattoirs?
Alun Michael: The hon. Gentleman makes some important points. It is also important that abattoirs are commercially viable and sustainable in the long term. Preparing the data on the current work of the sector has been time-consuming and exhaustive, but it is important to get those facts right. We are liaising with rural development agencies—indeed, I spoke to one this morning—and with Government offices for the regions to encourage planning for adequate abattoir provision in the development of regional food strategies. That goes with the grain of the hon. Gentleman's remarks.
Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde): Will the Minister acknowledge the important role that is played in the work of abattoirs by vets with experience of large animals? The findings of the recent inquiry into veterinary practice by the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which are published today, show that there is an extreme shortage
of vets with large animal experience. Will the Minister outline the steps that his Department will take to address that problem?
Alun Michael: The right hon. Gentleman will have heard the response of the chief veterinary officer to that report—he welcomed and acknowledged its findings. The animal health and welfare strategy will address those issues, which we regard as very important.
Norman Baker (Lewes): The situation described by my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Matthew Green) is even worse than he suggests. In 1975, there were 1,385 abattoirs; now, there are just 395. That huge reduction has an environmental effect in terms of extra lorry journeys, often over long distances, that are necessary to take farmers' stock from where they are reared. That not only affects the environment, but is bad for the animals and for biosecurity. Is not there a case for direct Government investment in that area?
Alun Michael: The decline in the number of abattoirs has been with us for a very long time. Indeed, the first challenge that I was given when I went into local government in the early 1970s was to deal with the Cardiff abattoir. Distance of travel is an important issue, but I remind the hon. Gentleman that finance is available in the shape of the processing and marketing grant, which offers capital grants for processing and marketing facilities to help rural businesses to become more competitive. Small and medium-sized abattoirs may be eligible for that scheme, in competition with other projects. The region concerned is the right place in which to develop a strategic approach. We hope to be able to publish the data shortly, and, on the back of that, to work with rural development agencies and Government offices for the regions to consider the regional dimension and to ensure that the sector is able to compete effectively.
Gangmasters
5. Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire): What plans she has to control the activities of gangmasters in (a) horticulture and (b) food processing. [133785]
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Margaret Beckett): My Department is working with organisations and businesses in the food chain to draw up a code of good practice and a system of accreditation for labour providers operating in those sectors. We are considering the recent report on the subject by the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Government will reply in due course.
Mr. Luff : Does the Secretary of State agree with my calculation that up to seven Departments and, according to the Committee, eight agencies have an interest in the issue? Does she understand that many of us feel that the Government have not shown enough determination or urgency in joining up those seven Departments and eight agencies; and that by their failure they are undermining the work of good gangmasters, which leads to the loss of substantial
Government revenues and enables the continued exploitation of some of the most vulnerable people in our country?
Margaret Beckett: I have great sympathy with the hon. Gentleman's concerns for those involved who are, as he says, vulnerable. He is right that a range of agencies as well as Departments are involved. However, I do not agree that insufficient work has been done. One can always improve and do better, but there has been much cross-departmental and cross-agency work, not least on Operation Gangmaster, as he knows. Several prosecutions have been undertaken and examples of exploitation—over-payment of benefit, tax avoidance and so on—have been addressed. Work is therefore being done, but I agree that we need to continue with it.
Mr. Mark Simmonds (Boston and Skegness): Will the Secretary of State acknowledge that there is a significant problem of rogue gangmasters in Lincolnshire and throughout the United Kingdom, admit that Operation Gangmaster has been a failure, with no budget, no aims, no goals and no objectives, and assure legitimate gangmasters that the Government will act and that a specific Minister will be responsible for eradicating the exploitation of vulnerable workers and stopping extensive benefit fraud and tax and VAT evasion?
Margaret Beckett: Frankly, although that was a useful rant, it was not related to the facts. In the last year for which we have full information, the Department for Work and Pensions took enforcement action in 235 cases and made more than 1,000 adjustments to benefit. Inland Revenue specialist teams dealt with inquiries in the Thames valley that resulted in repayments worth approximately £4.3 million.
Action is being taken. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman does not know that we have been working with the industry to try to set a standard of best practice and draw up a code of practice. A pilot exercise will start in the next couple of months with a sample of labour providers and users in south Lincolnshire. There is great concern in the industry, and that is natural and understandable because people with high standards who treat their work force decently are being undercut by exploitation. However, it is not right and not fair to suggest that nothing is being done.
Mr. David Lidington (Aylesbury): Is not the right hon. Lady displaying shocking complacency about Operation Gangmaster? The recent report of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which has a majority of Labour Members, was agreed and concluded that Operation Gangmaster—a flagship initiative—had been running for five years with no targets and no Minister with responsibility for its actions and had carried out no significant analysis of the problems that it was set up to tackle. The Committee also concluded that Operation Gangmaster was a convenient reference point to enable Ministers to give the impression that the Government are doing far more about dealing with the problems than is the case.
Instead of saying that the Government will respond in due course to that damning, critical report, should not the right hon. Lady urgently introduce proposals to deal
with the failures that the Committee identified? Is she genuinely content with the indolence and inertia that has characterised the Government's response to date?
Margaret Beckett: Anyone listening to that rant would believe that the problem was new. It has been going on for years and that is unsatisfactory. [Interruption.] There is no evidence that it is getting worse but it is persistent and the Government are determined to tackle it. In the past 18 months, there have been criminal prosecutions in 14 cases. Indeed, the prison sentences passed total 31 years. The hon. Gentleman should know, but perhaps he does not, that following the Grabiner report, the Government set up a working group on the informal economy. It will consider such issues and report to Treasury Ministers on their impact. Operation Gangmaster reports to the working group.
Of course, I am aware of the concerns that the Select Committee expressed. I understand Members' anxiety, but I do not wholly agree with their conclusions. However, we shall respond to them.
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