§ 5. Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on new regulations relating to abattoirs.
§ Mr. SoamesWe have received many representations and have been able to reassure a large proportion of them of the flexibility and care with which we will be implementing the regulations.
§ Mr. EvansIs my hon. Friend aware that massive bills are landing on the floors of many of our small and medium-sized abattoirs? I have one here. It is going to cost a small abattoir more than £20,000 extra per year for a vet as well as a meat inspector. Can nothing be done about such massive veterinary charges, which seem to have no rhyme or reason but are acting like a tax on our abattoir owners? If something cannot be done about the charges, 992 can anything be done about the directive? If we cannot amend it, perhaps we can interpret it as loosely as some of our European Community neighbours interpret other legislation.
§ Mr. SoamesI am grateful to my hon. Friend, who faithfully represents the great concern felt on both sides of the House about that serious matter. All other major meat-producing countries insist on veterinary supervision of meat production and a dual standard for slaughterhouses and meat hygiene is no longer acceptable. All those people who have come to see us agreed about the importance of hygiene standards. Their real concern is over the level of veterinary charges for inspection. My right hon. Friend and I are doing all that we can to bring some sense and order to that matter. There has been extensive consultation with the local authorities and we await the full detail of their response before we consider Our next move. I assure my hon. Friend that we are entirely seized of the necessity to get the costs down and we shall continue to make the strongest possible representations to the veterinary profession about that.
§ Mr. HainI welcome the Minister's statement. I draw his attention to the case of Mayberrys abattoir in Pontardawe in my constituency, which has been charged £70,000 in vets' fees for no more than a few hours' work a day during the week. Will the Minister investigate that case as a matter of urgency and consider the extra costs that fall on abattoirs as a result of the wider impact of the directive, which is having a severe effect on employment. opportunities at that important local employer?
§ Mr. SoamesI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for presenting his case in a measured way. I cannot comment on an individual case, but if he would like to get in touch with me, I shall, of course, consider it closely.
Veterinary charges are causing the great difficulty in this matter and we continue to press the British Veterinary Association and the other professional organisations to come up with a proper and sustainable regime of charging. At the moment some of those charges are utterly unacceptable.
§ Mr. KingMay I reinforce what my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) said? There is no point in having achieved the exemption level, which we much appreciated, if that benefit is negated by high veterinary charges, which make it impossible for small slaughterhouses to continue. I ask my right hon. and hon. Friends to redouble their efforts to ensure that small slaughterhouses are not genuinely disadvantaged in that way.
§ Mr. SoamesMy right hon. Friend has been extremely vigorous in representing the case to me. He will know that not all closures are due to the new regulations. Our slaughtering sector has been rationalising for many years in response to market forces and there is still some overcapacity in the industry. My right hon. Friend will understand that we simply are not prepared to allow poor plants to survive at the expense of those that have been prepared to invest in order to meet modern standards. We have made enormous efforts to ensure that those good businesses that have been prepared to invest and go along with modern practice can and will survive.
§ Mr. EnrightHave not some small and medium-sized abattoirs invested to bring themselves up to the standards that were locally recommended? It was only when the civil servants got hold of the directive and over-regulated that we started to have problems. Will the Minister rein in his civil servants and make them see sense?
§ Mr. SoamesOn this occasion, the hon. Gentleman is, unusually, being thoroughly unfair. I am not in the business, normally, of defending vets, but we have made the most vigorous representations to them and we will see that their charges are kept to a proper limit.
Throughout the exercise, officials have implemented the regulations in an extremely sensitive and pragmatic manner. I must tell my right hon. and hon. Friends that a great deal of work needs to be done in the sector. It is quite wrong that the British consumer should have to accept a dual standard of meat hygiene.
I know that the hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Enright) has the interests of the meat industry at heart and he will be aware of the great damage that bovine spongiform encephalopathy caused to domestic meat consumption. It is quite right that we should take every step to ensure that high standards in meat hygiene are available.