HC Deb 30 July 1998 vol 317 cc519-21
6. Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith (Wealden)

If he will make a statement on the future of BSE compensation payments. [51691]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Jeff Rooker)

We have no plans to change the formula for calculation of the compensation payments to owners of BSE suspect animals. But as the number of animals with BSE continues to fall, and fall dramatically, the total amount of compensation paid to farmers will decline accordingly.

Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith

Yesterday the Government announced that the calf processing aid scheme would end on 30 November. What grounds does the Minister have for assuming that hard-pressed dairy and beef farmers will be able to cope with the sudden termination of this benefit?

Mr. Rooker

I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman accepts that the scheme is of benefit. The end date has been known since the scheme started and was agreed in 1996. There is nothing new about the end date of 30 November this year; it was agreed in the European Union and by the previous Government. There has never been any doubt about the change. We cannot enter into a voluntary arrangement. We shall monitor carefully the consequences of finishing the scheme, not least for possible difficulties regarding animal welfare.

Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge)

What steps is my hon. Friend taking to ensure that British beef is seen to be safe? Is it not true that the return of beefburger companies to British beef is proof that the Government's policies are working, and that more progress has been made in the past 15 months than was made in 18 years of Tory government?

Mr. Rooker

At the risk of being partisan about this, I remind my hon. Friend that during a short discussion of the beef industry in the recent debate on the estimates I set out 23 positive steps that the Government had taken to assist the beef industry. On safety, I repeat that two thirds of cattle farms have never had a case of BSE and 80 per cent. of beef farmers have never had a case of BSE, which is why they are so angry about the overall restrictions on the industry imposed by the European Union ban.

We have made food safety our top priority. We have not knowingly allowed any BSE infectivity into the food chain—hence the beef on the bone ban. As I said a few weeks ago, in the first four months of the year beef imports decreased by 22 per cent. and consumption of beef increased. That means that British consumers are consuming more British beef because they know that this Government are not playing fast and loose with the safety of British beef.

Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde)

I welcome the right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East and Wallsend (Mr. Brown) to his post. It resumes a former acquaintanceship that we had in our business careers. At one time he was one of the fairies, but he has moved on since then. Although beef is the only item mentioned in the Government's annual report, can the Minister of State explain why, given that every single sector of British agriculture is in a state of crisis, there is only one paragraph on agriculture in the report, and beef is the only issue discussed?

Mr. Rooker

We are grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his welcome to my right hon. Friend. I understand that at one point one of them dealt with Daz and the other with Ariel. We shall be judged by our actions, and by our actions we know that at the end of the day we shall deliver a much better programme for British agriculture than the previous Government ever began to think about.

Mr. Jack

In the light of the Minister's answer, if he will be judged by his actions, why did his right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food confirm yesterday—in his written answer on the response to the comprehensive spending review—that farm support will fall in real terms during the three years covered by that review? Why did he confirm nothing more than the target of resolving the BSE crisis, giving no firm commitment to campaign to end it, and ending the early retirement scheme, which had never begun, as well as the calf processing aid scheme? Why was there no commitment to negotiate on hill livestock compensatory allowances? Is that really the priority that the Minister gives to agriculture?

Mr. Rooker

I invite the right hon. Gentleman to re-read that five-column answer in Hansard. He has picked out certain passages for his convenience and ignored all the positive points in the report and the answer concerning what we will do for agriculture. Several other answers given yesterday added to the arrangements. We have had to make some hard decisions in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and no one denies that. From the figures in the answer yesterday it can be seen that the legacy of BSE is so great that this year the BSE programme is £4 million greater than the running costs of the Department.