HC Deb 18 February 1963 vol 672 cc6-8
11. Sir A. Hurd

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the country's poultry has now been protected from fowl pest by the use of approved vaccine.

17. Mr. Hilton

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will state, to the nearest convenient date, the percentage of poultry keepers who have applied for vaccine to combat fowl pest, the number of poultry vaccinated, and the cost to his Department of this vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the effects of vaccination against fowl pest.

Mr. Soames

Since 5th November, last year, my Department has sold some 32 million doses of subsidised vaccine purchased at a cost of approximately £170,000 and resold to poultry-keepers at just under ½d. per dose for about £64,000. It is estimated that not more than about 10 per cent. of poultry-keepers in England and Wales have applied for vaccine, and that protection has been given to not more than about one-quarter of the turnover of poultry in the country during this period.

The organisations representing the poultry industry, and in particular the County Fowl Pest Committees, have helped greatly in publicising the use of the vaccine, but the response so far from poultry-keepers has been disappointing. The vaccine we are using is, in general, proving to be very effective against fowl pest. There have been cases of vaccinated flocks going down with the disease, but this is not unexpected while such a high proportion of our birds remain unvaccinated, and where vaccinated birds are exposed to a very heavy weight of infection as they are in some parts of the country today. This is why it is so vital that many million more birds must be vaccinated in the next six weeks if the risk of a serious spread of disease is to be avoided when the slaughter policy comes to an end on 31st March.

Sir A. Hurd

I wholly agree with what my right hon. Friend has said and feel as disappointed as he does. Cannot we rub it in more effectively to poultry keepers, now that the weather is a little open, that they must protect themselves by the end of March and that no longer will the Government provide compensation on slaughter through fowl pest and that it rests with the industry as well as with the Ministry to get on with this job, attend the demonstrations, see how the job is done, and find out that it is not all that difficult or expensive?

Mr. Soames

I agree with everything that my hon. Friend has said. I hope that his Question and the Answer to it will receive suitable publicity in the poultry industry. We have sent to every known poultry keeper in England and Wales a leaflet about the scheme and an application form for the vaccine.

Mr. Hilton

I am sure that the Minister will agree with me that this is a most depressing report——

Mr. Speaker

We must have questions at Question Time, not speeches.

Mr. Hilton

Will the Minister agree that the report is really depressing since the vaccination of poultry started in this country? Is he satisfied that all the vaccine used is of the required standard? Is he considering whether to make vaccination compulsory in view of the small percentage of poultry keepers availing themselves of this method of trying to combat fowl pest?

Mr. Soames

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the efficacy of the vaccine is not in doubt. What has happened is that an insufficient number of poultry keepers has taken advantage of it. We should like to see an 85 per cent. coverage. I hope and believe that, when both the effects of this scheme and of failure to carry out vaccination are fully understood, we shall get a much better coverage than hitherto.

Mr. Hilton

What steps does the right hon. Gentleman propose to take to put over to poultry keepers, especially the smaller ones, the value of having poultry vaccinated? This seems to be the real difficulty. There must be more advertising of the value of vaccination.

Mr. Soames

Apart from what I said about circularising known poultry keepers, the National Fowl Pest Campaign Committee is organising an intensive campaign to be launched within the remaining weeks of this month before the slaughter policy ends on 31st March. We need to have 14 million doses of vaccine taken up weekly to get adequate coverage.