HC Deb 09 May 1996 vol 277 cc353-4
4. Mr. David Marshall

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to assist hide and skin merchants and their employees who have been adversely affected by the bovine spongiform encephalopathy situation; and if he will make a statement. [27458]

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mrs. Angela Browning)

The Government have taken a wide range of measures to rebuild consumer confidence and to get the beef market moving again, which will assist all sectors associated with the beef industry. Supplies of hides from the 30-month slaughter scheme are now available to the hide and skin merchants. I hope that that will help the hon. Gentleman who is interested in this subject.

Mr. Marshall

I am grateful for that reply, but I do not think that it deals with the situation. Is the Minister aware of the serious plight that faces companies such as Wescot Hides in my constituency? A ban has been placed on the export of controlled hides arising from the slaughter of cows over 30 months old. What measures does the Minister propose to protect and underpin the value of those hides?

Mrs. Browning

I am aware that the hon. Gentleman is awaiting a reply, which I understand will soon be forthcoming from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland to whom the hon. Gentleman has written about Wescot Hides and the effect on its business. We do not think that hides should be included in the worldwide ban. My right hon. Friend will address that point when he replies to the hon. Gentleman.

Meetings have taken place between industry representatives and officials to arrange for hides to be taken at least to the wet, blue stage, which is the first stage in the tanning process, so that the industry does not lose out on the opportunity for more hides that will now become available in the domestic market.

I realise that the industry has had a difficult time until now because of the short-term shortage, but I hope that what I have outlined will assist the industry and the hon. Gentleman's constituents. The supply that I have mentioned will be available, and we shall do all we can to restore the export market as quickly as possible.

Mr. Viggers

My hon. Friend has been helpful in discussing the allied trade of beef head boning with me. She knows how highly specialised are firms in that trade. They tend to specialise only in that business and they have been wiped out. What plans has my hon. Friend to compensate such firms?

Mrs. Browning

Yesterday I wrote to the solicitors representing the head boning industry who had been to see us. My hon. Friend will be aware that the Government's policy of putting public money into the industry generally has been targeted at restoring the movement of the beef trade from the farm to the abattoirs and slaughterhouses and then to the renderers. It has not been Government policy directly to compensate people who have lost money over this matter, and I regret to tell my hon. Friend that there is no offer of compensation for the head boning industry.