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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): I wish to inform the House about a case concerning the cattle herd of Mrs. Kremers of Newton Abbott in Devon.

On 15 December last year one of Mrs. Kremers' bull calves was disclosed during a routine test as a TB reactor. Since that time, Mrs. Kremers has raised with the State Veterinary Service concerns in relation to the Government's TB control policies generally and in relation to the testing of her herd specifically. As a result of these concerns she has specifically requested the retesting of the bull calf disclosed as a reactor on 15 December. To date, these requests have been declined. EU legislation requires the slaughter of reactors after the first positive result.
 
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In the light of further information received very recently concerning the test conducted on Mrs. Kremers' bull calf we have now taken steps to review Mrs. Kremers' case. It has become clear as a result that the Local Veterinary Inspector (LVI) who conducted the test had not carried out the test in full accordance with the instructions issued to LVIs by the State Veterinary Service (SVS).

Accordingly, the SVS is informing Mrs. Kremers of these developments, and will be granting her request for a retest. I very much regret the course of these events. We will be telling Mrs. Kremers that we will reimburse any legal costs she has incurred as a direct result of this case.

As hon. Members will be aware, in the light of the decision announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 16 February 2006 to defer the introduction of pre-movement testing of cattle for bovine TB, the Government have asked for an urgent independent survey of the preparations for introducing this policy. I am asking that this review be expanded to include the instructions and interpretative material and their use by LVIs.

Agriculture and Fisheries Council

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Margaret Beckett): I represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on 20 February 2006.

The Council adopted the three Regulations on the reform of the sugar sector.

The Council also unanimously adopted the Decision on Community strategic guidelines for Rural Development. The guidelines suggest the priority areas which Member States might address when preparing their rural development programmes for 2007–13.

The Agriculture Commissioner presented the Commission's strategy on Biofuels. The strategy sets out how the EU plans to increase the use of Biofuels both in the EU and in developing countries and to promote research into the development of more efficient biofuels, and follows on from the Commission Communication on a Biomass Action Plan. Following the Presentation, the Council held a full discussion on the Biomass Action Plan and EU Biofuels Strategy based on a questionnaire drawn up by the Presidency. The Presidency drew up "Presidency conclusions" on the discussion to submit to the Energy Council.

The Council held its first discussion on the Commission's Animal Welfare Action Plan on the basis of three questions from the Presidency. The Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection explained that there was international recognition of the high animal welfare standards in the EU, and that Animal Welfare should be seen as a commercial opportunity rather than a cost burden. He then announced that the Commission will adopt a proposal on the import of cat and dog fur within the next few months, and a revised proposal on the transport of animals before the end of the current Commission.

Under any other business: the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection updated the Council on the latest developments of the outbreak of Avian
 
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Influenza H5N1 in Europe. Following the update, the Council held a discussion which focused on bio-security measures and vaccination.

The Agriculture Commissioner updated the Council on the progress of the WTO negotiations and gave a progress report on the co-ordination of agricultural research across Member States. She also indicated that the Commission will publish a guidance document for farmers setting what hygiene rules and obligations had to be fulfilled by farmers under Statutory Management Requirement 11 as part of the cross-compliance rules on the Single Payment. The Agriculture Commissioner also stressed that the scope of application of the hygiene package was limited to primary production and did not extend to food processing. The document will be presented to the Direct Payments Management Committee in March.

Greece supported by Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Netherlands, Ireland and Cyprus expressed concerns as regards to the economic impact on the poultry sector, due to consumer reactions to avian influenza outbreaks.

Poland supported by Finland, Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, and Germany argued that the raw materials used to produce vodka should be limited to potatoes and cereals in line with traditional practices. I said that changing the definition would likely cause legal challenges within the EU and third countries from companies currently legitimately marketing their products as vodka.

Denmark and Sweden supported by Spain, Poland and Latvia drew the attention of the Council and Commission to the illegal fishing of cod in the Barents Sea.

France supported by Poland and Czech Republic drew the Council's attention to its concerns about fruit and vegetables imports from third countries.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Compact on Relations between Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Paul Goggins): I am today placing in the Library of the House copies of the report of the annual meeting to review the Compact held on 30 November 2005.

The meeting marked real progress on the Compact, which sets out the rules for engagement between Government and the sector, and affirmed the Compact as being at the heart of the relationship.

The meeting also marked a point of significant change, with work to begin on Compact Plus, to strengthen the Compact, and the appointment of an independent Compact Commissioner. The Commissioner will oversee how the Compact, including Compact Plus, operates and guide public and voluntary and community sector bodies in their dealings with each other.

This will be a challenging year, and we are determined to drive forward the work underway to build stronger relationships between the public and voluntary and
 
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community sectors. We plan to give greater weight to the Compact, so it can achieve far more for the benefit of everyone involved and result in real community gain.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Thames Valley Crown Prosecution Service

The Solicitor-General (Mr. Mike O'Brien): Since making my oral answer to the question from the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), Official Report, 9 February 2006, column 1002, further information has come to light. Following an investigation by a senior Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) manager it is now clear that there are eight cases where CPS lawyers at Banbury and Oxford sought to vacate trial dates. Three of these cases are being pursued to trial but five cases were accepted as guilty pleas and I have written to the hon. Member for Banbury setting out details of these cases.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Regional Development Agencies

The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Alun Michael): I have decided to appoint the new Board Members listed at Annex A.

RDA	Name
Advantage West Midlands (AWM)	John Crabtree
	Dr. David Brown
	Cllr Kenneth Taylor
One NorthEast (ONE)	Kate Welch
Yorkshire Forward (YF)	Barry Dodd

The new appointments for Advantage West Midlands began on13 February 2006 and the new appointments for One Northeast (ONE) and Yorkshire Forward (YF) will begin on 13 March 2006. All of the appointments will expire on 13 December 2008.1 have placed further details of the five new appointments in the Libraries of both Houses. All of them were made in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Phoenix Development Fund

The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Alun Michael): The Phoenix Development Fund is a time-limited initiative designed to explore good practice in delivering business support and to find innovative ways to reach out to communities considered hard to reach by mainstream providers. It was not designed to provide long term or core funding for business support organisations. The Small Business Service (SBS, an agency of the DTI) will not be contracting for any new activities under this programme when existing contracts end in March 2006. We are currently discussing with RDAs the arrangements for local management of the fund.

Since 2000, the Phoenix programme has done some excellent work to help budding entrepreneurs who face particular barriers when starting or growing a business. The main beneficiaries of the programme come from communities which are under-represented in business
 
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and/or live in deprived neighbourhoods. The programme is made up of two elements: the Phoenix Challenge Fund, which supports Community Development Finance Institutions; and the Phoenix Development Fund, which supports projects aimed at finding innovative ways to provide business support to the above communities.

It has been decided that the Challenge Fund will continue as a national budget of the Small Business Service for a further two years but in the main will be managed by the RDAs who have also received a contribution to the "single pot" for 2006–07 and 2007–08 for this purpose.

The Phoenix Development Fund has been successful and we now need to ensure that the innovative approaches that have been developed are built upon by mainstream providers of business support. The knowledge and good practice accumulated over the years in dozens of projects funded by the PDF is being collated and catalogued and we will be working with stakeholders and partners over the next year to ensure this legacy is embedded in mainstream provision of business support.

Delivery of initiatives to encourage more enterprise in under-represented groups and deprived communities is increasingly managed by the Regional Development Agencies and Local Authorities in line with their wider responsibilities for delivery of business support and economic regeneration. RDAs have already been awarded an increase to their funds from April 2006 in recognition of their increased responsibility that, although it will not replace the national funding, will augment their existing provision. In addition, the Government have introduced the Local Enterprise Grant Initiative that will provide £300 million over three years to local councils in the most deprived areas to encourage the development of more enterprising communities and this programme will benefit from the lessons learned through the Phoenix Development Fund as well as being joined up with the continuing work of the Phoenix Challenge Fund and the Community Development Finance Institutions that it supports.

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