§ Mr. Bestasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will set out in detail the different categories of costs which he has included in his assessment when fixing the charge for dairy inspection;
(2) what is the number of visits to each dairy farm in a year by inspectors he has assumed for the purposes of fixing the charge per visit.
§ Mr. GummerAs my right hon. Friend explained in the debate which took place on 2 March, we have assessed the cost of the whole system. This includes the 45.7 man years which dairy husbandry advisory officers in the regions and in Wales spend on statutory work (including the management of statutory work), their travel and subsistence costs, the 1.5 man years which senior ADAS staff devote to this work, and the 28.4 man years which the Ministry's administrative staff in the regions and at headquarters devote to it. In addition, local and central overheads (accommodation costs and so on) have been calculated. The total (£1.8 million) was divided by the expected number of routine visits (approximately 20,000) resulting in a figure of £90. The figure of 20,000 includes routine visits to wholesale producers, on average once every two years, and visits to untreated licence holders which take place twice every 18 months.