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Output Output per head
|1979 |1989 |1979 |1989
------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Agriculture, forestry and
fishing |76.8 |98.5 |<1> |<1>
(ii) Metals |118.2|124.7|68.1 |168.2
(iii) Coal and coke |136.6|105.7|96.8 |221.1
(iv) Motor vehicles and parts |132.6|126.1|78.7 |127.1
(v) Electrical and instrument
engineering |79.2 |129.1|65.0 |133.0
(vi) Medical, health and
veterinary services |<1> |105.0|<1> |<1>
<1> Not available.
Figures for local government are not available.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Afforestation
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the release of agricultural land for afforestation.
Mr. Gummer : On 16 March 1988 my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment made a statement to the House which set out the Government's
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objectives for forestry policy in England. In this we foresaw that the main potential for afforestation in England lay on arable land and improved grassland which may no longer be needed for food production.In addition, there would be some scope for broadleaved and mixed woodlands on unimproved land but the Forestry Commission was instructed not to approve new planting of predominantly conifers in the uplands of England. The only exception would be small areas where it was clear that such planting would be environmentally acceptable. I believe that this approach is still valid.
Fishing Industry, Dorset
Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans the Government have for the fishing industry in Dorset.
Mr. Curry : The characteristics of fisheries around our shores vary considerably but our overall aim is to work for effective conservation of fish and shellfish stocks as renewable resources. Further, representatives of the channel coast fishing industry who are members of the area VII whitefish industry advisory committee provide guidance on the management of quotas for the English channel.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Butler : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what forward estimates he has made of the number of cattle likely to become infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Mr. Maclean : It is not possible to predict with accuracy the number of cattle likely to be affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy. However, the incidence is not expected to decline significantly until at least 1993.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now undertake the random sampling for bovine spongiform encephalopathy of all cattle slaughtered for human consumption in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : We have no plans to do so.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he proposes any initiative to sample for bovine spongiform encephalopathy-type disease among (a) all food animals, (b) companion animals, (c) other animals.
Mr. Maclean : We have no plans to do so. However, research into the transmissibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to other animals will continue. Research is also being conducted into the possibility of finding a test in the live animal. None is available at the moment.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what advice he has issued to cattle breeders concerning the possible vertical transmissibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : Revised guidelines about all aspects of bovine spongiform encephalopathy are being prepared for issue to farmers.
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Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the occurrence of spongiform encephalopathy in a cat.Mr. Maclean : Pathologists at the Bristol veterinary school and the central veterinary laboratory at Weybridge have diagnosed a sub-acute spongiform encephalopathy in a five-year-old Siamese cat originating from the Bristol area. Inquiries are being made into the case. At present there is no evidence that the condition is transmissible, nor is there any known connection with any spongiform encephalopathies in other animal species.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he has issued any guidance to the veterinary investigation service concerning the possible incidence of spongiform encephalopathy in domestic animals ;
(2) what instruction or guidelines he has given to the veterinary investigation service to monitor for bovine spongiform
encephalopathy-type diseases in animals other than cattle ; when such guidelines were issued ; and if he will place copies in the Library.
Mr. Maclean : The veterinary investigation service is well aware of the need to monitor for the possibility of spongiform
encephalopathies in other species and will consider them as differential diagnoses in appropriate cases.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimate of the number of cattle born to cows subsequently confirmed as bovine spongiform encephalopathy sufferers, since the disease was declared notifiable, which have been (a) slaughtered
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for human consumption, (b) exported, (c) retained as suckler cows, (d) destroyed as suffering a notifiable disease, (e) retained as dairy cows or (f) otherwise disposed of ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Maclean : This information is not available.
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether any cases of possible or confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy-related conditions in domesticated animals have been reported to officials of his Department ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) whether any cases of possible or confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy-related conditions in domestic cats have been reported to officials of his Department ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies can be confirmed only by post mortem histopathology of brain tissue and, apart from bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, are not notifiable. In addition to cattle, these diseases are known to occur naturally in man and in sheep, goats, mule deer, elk and farmed mink.
Some of these diseases have been successfully transmitted under laboratory conditions to a number of species. The experimental animals used have included certain primates, mice, hamsters, sheep, goats, cattle, cats, mink and voles.
In addition, a spongiform encephalopathy has been identified in a zoo antelope and a domestic cat in Great Britain. It is not known whether these diseases are transmissible, or what relationship they have to BSE.
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Animal Diseases
Mr. Barry Field : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking in conjunction with his European Community partners to ensure that the risks of the spread of animal diseases are not increased as a result of the introduction of the Europan single market.
Mr. Maclean : In discussions in Brussels I have sought to persuade my European Community partners that changes associated with the realisation of the single market should not be achieved at the cost of an increased risk of spread of animal disease. The directive on veterinary checks on trade in certain animal products, agreed last December after lengthy negotiation, reflects that key contention and leaves me optimistic that in completing the single market we will achieve the right balance between the removal of trade barriers and continued progress towards reducing and eliminating disease threats.
Animal Feed
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list, for each of the last five years, how many imports of animal feed have been contaminated ; and, in each case, if he will list the port concerned, the type of feed, the contaminant involved and whether the feed was (a) allowed into the United Kingdom for normal distribution, (b) returned to the country concerned or (c) dispersed in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Gummer : Since enforcement of the relevant provisions is a local authority responsibility, the information sought is not available centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
The extent of the import trade is considerable--more than 4 million tonnes a year. The commercial companies involved therefore have a strong interest in maintaining their own monitoring of supplies quite apart from that of the enforcement agencies.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will require the manufacturers of all animal feeding stuffs to label their products indicating the nature and origin of their contents.
Mr. Maclean : Manufacturers will be obliged by a recently agreed European Community directive to declare the origin and the contents of animal feeds. The contents must be declared either by listing specific ingredients or categories of similar ingredients. This directive will come into force in all member states on 22 January 1992.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now ban the use of sheep and cattle-derived protein from all animal feeding stuffs.
Mr. Maclean : This material is already banned from use in feedstuffs for ruminant animals. There is no evidence of a scrapie-like disease occurring naturally or under laboratory conditions in pigs and poultry and therefore no reason to ban the use of ruminant protein in their feedstuffs.
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will now ban the use of those offals specified in the Bovine Offals Order for consumption by domestic animals.
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Mr. Maclean : No. Although inquiries will continue, there is no evidence that the spongiform encephalopathy recently found in a cat is either transmissible or connected with other spongiform encephalopathies.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the results of the analysis of the Spanish cargo of animal feed which was investigated at Goole, giving details of which organisation carried out the tests, where the contaminants came from and how the cargo came to be contaminated.
Mr. Gummer : Enforcement of the Feedingstuffs Regulations 1988, as amended, and the Agriculture Act 1970 is the responsibility of local authorities. My officials alerted local authorities and port health authorities on Friday 5 May of the possibility of a contaminated cargo of animal feed disembarking at Goole. In this particular case, the port health authorities took appropriate action and cleared the suspect cargo on Tuesday 8 May.
Pesticides
Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the advisory committee on pesticides last met ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. Maclean : The advisory committee on pesticides last met on 26 April.
The main items discussed were a request for approval of a new pesticide and reviews of four existing approvals. In addition, the committee considered tributylin esters in industrial wood preservatives and anti-fouling paints ; home-made pesticides ; mineral hydrocarbons in food ; liaison with the Food Safety Directorate consumer panel and control of the Blandford fly.
Council of Ministers
Mr. John Greenway : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received from the National Farmers Union on the outcome of the last Council of Ministers meeting.
Mr. Maclean : The price-fixing settlement reached last month has been warmly welcomed by the farming community, including the National Farmers Union.
Consumer Panel
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when his consumer panel first met ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. Gummer : The first meeting of the consumer panel took place on 12 March 1990. It discussed a wide range of issues including BSE, food irradiation, water quality and blood enzyme gels in meat products. The minutes of this meeting are publicly available.
Consumers Association
Mr. Cox : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met the Consumers Association to discuss consumer affairs.
Mr. Maclean : Representatives of the Consumers Association attended a meeting with consumer organisations which the Minister hosted on 3 April 1990.
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Discussions focused particularly on the European Community price-fixing proposals, GATT and food labelling.Small Farms
Mr. Amess : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to increase assistance to small farms.
Mr. Gummer : All farms will benefit from the recent agreement on farm prices for 1990-91, which we estimate will boost farmers' returns by at least £500 million in a full year. We have no plans to provide additional assistance to small farms.
Green Currency
Mr. Boswell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much green currency disparities have recently been reduced.
Mr. Gummer : At the farm price settlement, agreement was reached on green pound devaluations which will have the effect of significantly reducing the monetary gaps between green and market exchange rates in the United Kingdom. On the basis of exchange rates at the time of the settlement the monetary gaps for crops will be reduced by 55 per cent., for milk by 38 per cent., beef by 55 per cent., pigmeat by 86 per cent. and sheep by 56 per cent. This compares with reductions of one third originally proposed by the Commission.
Green rate changes agreed for other member states will have the effect of reducing or removing monetary gaps for all sectors except cereals in Germany and the Netherlands and cereals, rice, oilseeds, fruit and vegetables, cotton and beef in Spain where it was agreed that no changes would take place.
Salmon
Mr. Stern : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food approximately how many salmon are now fished from the River Severn and its tributaries.
Mr. Curry : Statistics provided by the former Severn Trent water authority and the National Rivers Authority are published annually by my Department. Catches of salmon in the River Severn catchment for the last five years for which figures are available are given in the table.
|1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988
-----------------------------------------------------------
Method of capture
Rod and line |545 |1,256|1,254|929 |1,362
Commercial instruments |3,376|1,651|3,300|2,963|3,511
|--- |--- |--- |--- |---
Total |3,921|2,907|4,553|3,892|4,873
Insect Damage
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what response he has given to the submission on changed risk of insect damage in a changed climate from AFRC Rothamsted ; and what funds are available for this work ;
(2) if he will list the projects contributing to the study of changes in the (a) abundance of, and (b) development of potential pest problem insects, as a result of climatological change or global warming.
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Mr. Maclean : The Department has advised the AFRC's Rothamsted experimental station that funds amounting to some £100,000 are to be set aside over three years for research there on any change in the risk of insect damage in a changed climate. Work on this project, which was submitted in response to a request by my chief scientists group as an initial step in the Department's programme of research in this area, is due to start in 1991-92.
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimates his Department has made of the need for aphid identifiers over the next decade ; and what steps he is taking to make financial provision for such training.
Mr. Maclean : No staff of this description are employed by the Ministry. Entomologists are employed in a number of capacities and their deployment and training are kept under review.
Conservation (Training Courses)
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of regional training courses on wildlife and landscape conservation that have been held for Agricultural Development Advisory Service officers in each year from 1979 to 1990 and the region in which the courses occurred.
Mr. Gummer : Information on regional training on wildlife and landscape conservation for Agricultural Development Advisory Service officers over the period specified is not available. However, records since 1987 show that more than 30 conservation courses have been held in regions. A breakdown of this total is as follows :
|1987 |1988 |1989
|(planned)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern |- |1 |1 |1
Midlands and Western |2 |4 |3 |3
Eastern |3 |2 |4 |-
South-Eastern |1 |2 |2 |1
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many regional and national training courses on wildlife and landscape conservation are planned for Agricultural Development Advisory Service officers for 1990.
Mr. Gummer : A comprehensive programme of six national and 11 regional training courses on aspects of wildlife and landscape conservation is proposed for 1990.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of national training courses on wildlife and landscape conservation that have been held for Agricultural Development Advisory Service officers in each year from 1979 to 1988.
Mr. Gummer : Records of national training on wildlife and landscape conservation for Agricultural Development Advisory Service officers are available from 1980 onwards. The number of courses held each year is as follows :
|Number
---------------------
1980 |2
1981 |4
1982 |4
1983 |4
1984 |5
1985 |7
1986 |8
1987 |2
1988 |1
Meat Exports
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he proposes to take to overturn the current West German ban on bone-in beef from the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : Following the European Community's scientific veterinary committee opinion earlier this year that British beef does not pose a problem for public health, our export trade with West Germany is getting back to normal levels under existing Community rules.
Cattle Exports
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he proposes to take in respect of the European Economic Community ban on live cattle exports from the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : We will keep the position under review in the light of new developments on bovine spongiform encephalopathy generally.
Product Labelling
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he proposes to introduce regulations to prohibit or require the labelling of products from transgenic animals.
Mr. Maclean : Subject to parliamentary approval, we intend to use powers under the Food Safety Bill to introduce regulations providing for a positive approval system for any food produced by genetic manipulation techniques, including any products from transgenic animals for food use. We have also specifically asked the Food Advisory Committee to consider, on a case-by-case basis and within the context of the Food Labelling Regulations, the need for special labelling of these products following their approval.
Scrapie
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will introduce measures requiring the processors of ruminant remains to ensure the treatment of such remains and temperatures adequate to destroy scrapie and scrapie-infective agents.
Mr. Maclean : The treatments needed to destroy scrapie-like agents during the rendering process are not known. Research will be undertaken into the inactivation of the agent.
River Mersey
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what programmes the Government have implemented or plan to implement to encourage the application and development of clean technology in the River Mersey area.
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Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
Part I of the Environmental Protection Bill will apply integrated pollution control to industrial and other processes which have a significant potential to pollute. Under integrated pollution control, discharges to the water environment will be subject for the first time to requirements to apply clean technology to minimise polluting wastes and render them harmless. Many such processes are located in the Mersey basin.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress the River Mersey campaign has made towards the agreements in the North sea conference for (a) 50 per cent. reduction in red list substances and (b) 70 per cent. reduction in heavy metals.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
It was agreed at the second North sea conference to reduce quantities of substances that are persistent toxic and liable to bioaccumulate, reaching the North sea by values in the order of 50 per cent. The Government took the view that other seas around the United Kingdom would be given the same degree of environmental safeguarding. Progress in implementation of this was published in the United Kingdom North sea action plan which was presented to the third North sea conference in March 1990. The Mersey catchment basin has made a satisfactory contribution to this progress.
It was agreed at the third North sea conference, for substances that cause a major threat to the marine environment, and at least for dioxines, mercury, cadmium and lead, to achieve reductions between 1985 and 1995 of total inputs of the order of 70 per cent. or more, provided that the use of the best available technology or other low waste technology measures enables such reductions. The Department is preparing guidance on how this should be implemented.
Sewage Sludge Disposal
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is Government policy with regard to the dumping of industrial effluent into sewerage systems.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
Treatment in a sewage works may be an appropriate solution for certain industrial effluents. The discharge of any such effluents to a public sewer requires the consent of the water service company under section 2 of the Public Health (Drainage of Trade Premises) Act 1937, and it may impose conditions. Discharges from sewage works or sewers to rivers or coastal waters require the consent of the National Rivers Authority.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Government plan to build more incinerators to dispose of sewage sludge as sea dumping is phased out.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have been asked to reply.
It is the responsibility of the water service companies to make provision for the disposal of sewage sludge. It is likely that a greater proportion of sewage sludge will be incinerated as dumping of sludge at sea is terminated.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if heavy metal and other contaminants are released into the environment at the same level in sewage sludge as in sea dumping.
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Mr. Maclean : In excess of 95 per cent. of sewage sludge is water. The solid element is largely organic matter which will decompose in the environment whether on land or in the sea. Contaminants associated with this organic matter are likely to be released into the environment. In many cases, however, contaminants such as heavy metals are rapidly reabsorbed on to other solid materials such as clay particles.WALES
Moorings
Mr. Wigley : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will arrange to discuss with his Wales tourist board, the Crown Estate and yachting and boating interests, the policy being followed by the Crown Estate with regard to charges for moorings in Welsh resorts ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Roberts : I have no plans to do so.
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