House of Commons Hansard Debates for 15 Jun 1993

Written Answers to Questions

Tuesday 15 June 1993

AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD

Illegal Immigrants

Mr. Spellar : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether monitoring of gangmasters by his Department includes control of employment of illegal immigrants ; and how many cases have been discovered in the last year.

Mr. Jack : The role of MAFF in monitoring aspects of gangmasters' activities is restricted to ensuring compliance with the terms of the Agricultural Wages Order made under the Agricultural Wages Act 1948.

Land Use (Surveillance)

Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if reports on aerial surveillance undertaken with satellite equipment in the years 1991-92 to establish the usage or non-usage of land are to be made publicly available.

Mr. Jack : The year 1991-92 was a trial year organised by the Commission. The ownership of the work resides with the Commission, and we understand that it does not intend to publish the results.

Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what organisations of persons are responsible for the surveillance of agricultural land for the purpose of determining usage in the United Kingdom and in the member states.

Mr. Jack : Each member state is responsible for undertaking the control measures within its territory for the checking of aid applications.

Mr. Campbell-Savours : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the arrangements for the surveillance of agricultural land for the purpose of determining usage are equally applied throughout the European Community.

Mr. Jack : The EC regulations governing the integrated administration and control system (IACS) require all member states, without differentiation, to carry out administrative checks on aid applications, supplemented by on-farm checks on a sample of holdings.

Integrated Administration and Control System

Sir Richard Body : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which member states of the EEC completed the process of obtaining IACS information by 16 May.

Mr. Jack : The EC regulation governing the integrated administration and control system (IACS) provided for all member states to set a deadline of no later than 15 May for

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receipt of the completed IACS applications this year. Where applications are received after the deadline, the farmers will have their aid payments reduced under a formula set out in the relevant EC regulation. These same rules apply, of course, in all 12 member states. We do not have information on the number of applications received after 15 May in each member state.

Set-aside Payments

Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to what extent it is possible to link the amounts and scale of set- aside payments to environmental and social improvements involving (a) management of hedgerows, (b) protection of unsprayed headland, (c) reductions in the use of nitrogen, (d) the planting of trees, (e) the creation of wildlife habitats, (f) attractive landscapes and (g) the provision of new footpaths and bridlepaths ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Jack : The EC rules of the arable area payments scheme require member states to apply appropriate environmmental measures to set-aside land. The United Kingdom rules for set-aside include the maintenance of hedgerows and other environmental features and restrictions on the use of sprays and fertilisers. We expect to introduce non-rotational set-aside later this year which will allow greater opportunity for the creation of wildlife habitats and we are pressing strongly for the Community rules to encourage tree planting on set-aside land. There is at present no scope under EC rules to vary the set-aside payment. However, under the agri- environment programme we are considering a voluntary scheme to make additional payments to farmers who provide public access on suitable set- aside land.

Viral Haemorrhagic Disease

Mr. Morley : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps the Government are taking to ensure that there are suitable vaccines to treat viral haemorrhagic disease.

Mr. Soames : A product licence application for a rabbit viral haemorrhagic disease vaccine was submitted and subsequently withdrawn during 1992. Although officials in the veterinary medicines directorate are actively pursuing discussions with that applicant and with other pharmaceutical companies, no further application has been received. The decision on whether to submit an application is a commercial one for the companies concerned, bearing in mind the likely size of the market.

Equine Viral Arteritis

Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action she is taking to arrest and cure the outbreak of equine viral arteritis in the United Kingdom ; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Soames : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Spring) on 10 June at columns 307-8.

Chernobyl

Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what experiments are being conducted by her Department into the use of ammonium ferric

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hexacyanoferrate in order to fix caesium-137 from the Chernobyl radioactive fall-out in the soil and to prevent its take -up by growing plants.

Mr. Soames : Studies to evaluate the potential of a number of chemical treatments, including ammonium ferric hexacyanoferrate, for reducing radiocaesium in the vegetation of upland pastures are being carried out on two sites, one in Cumbria and one in Wales, as part of the Department's programme of post-Chernobyl research and development.

Agriculture Council

Mr. Kynoch : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Luxembourg on 14 June.

Mrs. Shephard : I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Agriculture Council on 14 June.

The Council formally adopted the legal texts implementing the package of farm prices and related measures which it had agreed at its May meeting.

The Council also discussed a number of other proposed measures, without reaching agreement. These included a proposal on the definition and designation of butter and other fats, which I criticised as being unnecessarily elaborate and prescriptive ; and a proposed directive on minced meat and other meat preparations, on which my main aim is to avoid excessively strict criteria that would put at risk traditional British products. The Council will have to return to these proposals at a later meeting.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Divorce Law

Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what action he proposes to take on Law Commission report 192, "Grounds for Divorce."

Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor is considering the Law Commission's recommendations for reform of divorce law. His review of these matters is not yet complete and he has no immediate plans for legislation.

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He continues to welcome views on the Law Commission's recommendations, and will consult further before any measures on this subject are introduced.

Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to review the administration of divorce law.

Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor is considering divorce law reform as part of the rolling programme of review of family law and business. His review of these matters, including the administration of divorce law, is not yet complete.

Legal Aid

Mr. Hardy : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will immediately take steps to secure a significantly reduced rate of interest payable by those owing statutory charges under the legal aid scheme.

Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor will shortly be laying before Parliament a statutory instrument designed to reduce the rate of simple interest levied on postponed payment of the statutory charge from 10.5 per cent. to 8 per cent.

NATIONAL FINANCE

Departmental Buildings

Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the buildings currently owned or rented by his Department, together with (a) the estimated value, (b) the annual rent and (c) the annual maintenance cost of each building in the current financial year.

Mr. Nelson : The Treasury does not own any property. All Treasury accommodation is on the common user estate, which is owned by the Crown and administered by Property Holdings. The present value of the common user estate is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The accommodation charges and contributions towards maintenance which the Treasury pays to Property Holdings and the Treasury's own maintenance costs in respect of buildings occupied by the Treasury are given in the table :

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