§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many visits were made in 1976 and to the nearest convenient date in 1977 by the Farm Animals Welfare Advisory 163W Committee, or members of the committee, to poultry battery units.
§ Mr. StrangAs members of the Committee are conversant with conditions in the poultry industry, it has not been necessary for them to visit poultry battery units in this period on Committee business.
I cannot say what visits they may have made in a private capacity.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated number of poultry battery units in England and Wales at the latest convenient date; how this compares with the position two and five years earlier; how many are intended for fewer than 120,000 birds; and how many are for more than 120,000 birds.
§ Mr. StrangWe estimate the numbers to be as follows:
June 1976 11,000–12,000 June 1974 13,000–14,000 June 1971 18,000–19,000 The great majority of battery units housed less than 120,000 birds. The number currently housing or intended for more than 120,000 birds is estimated to be about 60.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time professional veterinary staff whose duties include the inspection of poultry battery units; how many visits to poultry battery units have been made in each of the last five years; and what is the average period between inspection of poultry battery units.
§ Mr. StrangThere are currently 217 full-time veterinary staff of the Ministry whose duties include visits to poultry battery units. No part-time staff are involved.
The veterinary staff exercise general oversight of welfare in the course of their visits to livestock premises for various other purposes. Visits to laying units specifically for welfare purposes were as follows:
164W
1972 233 1973 79 1974 56 1975 71 1976 51 The information requested in the final part of the Question is not available.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many prosecutions there have been in each of the past five years of owners of poultry battery units for causing unnecessary pain or unnecessary distress to poultry and which have involved breaches of the voluntary codes of recommendation for the welfare of livestock.
§ Mr. StrangThere were no such prosecutions in the last five years. Failure to comply with a voluntary code recommendation is not, of itself, an offence. Official policy is to seek to achieve satisfactory welfare standards by advice and encouragement but to prosecute where there is blatant cruelty or deliberate refusal to comply with remedial advice.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report the criteria used to assess whether there has been unnecessary distress or unnecessary pain caused to poultry in breach of the voluntary codes of recommendation for the welfare of livestock.
§ Mr. StrangSuch assessments are subjective and for this reason are entrusted to veterinary surgeons of the Ministry, who are considered by virtue of their professional qualifications and experience to be best fitted to reach sound conclusions. Ultimately, it is for a court to decide, on the evidence before it, whether unnecessary pain or unnecessary distress has been caused to livestock, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what recommendations are made to the owners of poultry battery units about minimum cage size and stocking densities; and whether he will state the minimum cage size regarded as suitable for poultry battery units;
(2) what advice is offered to owners of poultry battery units regarding the use of sloping wire floors.
§ Mr. StrangIn view of the many strains of laying birds of varying weights, 165W the welfare code for domestic fowls does not specify a recommended minimum cage size, but it gives maximum guideline stocking densities for adult battery birds in terms of live weight per unit area. It is for producers to select the size of cage which will enable the appropriate number of birds to be housed without causing them unnecessary pain or unnecessary distress.
The code recommends that cages should be designed and maintained so as to avoid injury or distress to the birds, and that they should be of sufficient height to allow the birds to stand normally anywhere within them. These recommendations, along with the need to minimise the incidence of cracked eggs, influence design of cages as regards floor slope.
§ Mr. Corbettasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his latest estimate of the number of poultry battery units which have never been inspected by professional veterinary staff; what is the current inspection frequency of such visits; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StrangI regret that the available information does not enable reliable estimates to be made.