§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement about the proposals in his reply of 21 March,Official Report, column 515, to the hon. Member for Daventry to close in 1989–90 the experimental centres at Brogdale, Liscombe, Luddington and Rosewarne.
§ Mr. MacGregorThere have been full consultations about alternative funding of the experimental centres proposed for closure in my statement of 21 March 1989.
As regards Liscombe experimental husbandry farm, a local industry consortium called Liscombe Research has secured a significant level of commitments by industry to fund a programme of near-market research and development. In view of the progress that has been made, 1 have decided that Liscombe experimental husbandry farm will not close in 1989–90 as originally proposed, in order to give the consortium more time to collect the balance of funds needed to meet the costs of such a research and development programme in 1991–92. A decision on whether Liscombe experimental husbandry farm can be kept open will be taken later this year when we have reviewed with Liscombe Research the funding arrangements which it is able to agree to for the next few years.
No viable industry funding proposals have been received in relation to the experimental horticultural
Thousands Country January February March April 1May France 972 286 15 8,445 734 Belgium and Luxembourg 491 516 334 1,183 700 Netherlands 8,547 2,839 3,588 19,716 19,603 Federal Republic of Germany 2,692 2,698 2,199 7,522 5,064 Italy — — 388 280 — Irish Republic 21 524 485 743 1,133 Denmark 1,635 680 929 2,139 882 Sweden — — — — 54 USA 13 10 18 45 2 Total Imports 14,371 7,553 7,956 40,073 28,172 1 May figures are latest available, subject to alteration. Source: HM Customs and Excise
§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list those points of entry into the United Kingdom used for shell-egg importation and the percentage of imports at each location(a) inspected and (b) tested;
(2) what action his Department is taking to ensure the quality and wholesomeness of eggs imported into Britain;
(3) what are the arrangements under which his Department ensures the quality and wholesomeness of eggs imported into Britain.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonShell-eggs may be imported through all ports handling food. Arrangements have been made for the port health authorities and the public health laboratory service to monitor imported consignments for salmonella. This is done by taking a sample of 60 eggs from each lorryload tested.
Imported eggs are also checked for compliance with the EC quality requirements by the agricultural Departments. But this checking is carried out at wholesale distribution points.
354Wstations at Luddington and Rosewarne. These stations will accordingly be closed for research and development purposes by 30 November 1989 and arrangements put in hand for disposal of land and facilities surplus to requirements.
Nor has any viable industry funding proposal been received in relation to the Brogdale experimental horticultural station. A decision on the details relating to the closure of this station will be announced later in 1989 when the Government have completed their discussions on arrangements for preserving the national fruit collection and its associated records which are currently located at Brogdale.