Abattoirs (Hansard, 25 May 1994)

§ Mr. Harvey
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make it her policy, after the formation of the meat hygiene service, to make representations for British meat inspectors to have equivalent status to French and Dutch veterinary technicians for the purposes of relevant European legislation on abattoirs.

§ Mr. Soames
The meat hygiene service is committed to delivering a cost-effective and consistent meat inspection service and, to do so, will seek to maximise the role of qualified meat inspectors in slaughterhouses within the requirements of the legislation.
The EC has harmonised rules on the training of veterinarians and mutual recognition of veterinary qualifications, but has never harmonised the training and qualifications of technicians—termed "auxiliaries" in the directives. If the chief executive of the meat hygiene service, in the light of operating experience, considers such EC harmonisation would facilitate the achievement of the MHS objectives we will explore the possibilities with the Commission and other member states.

§ Mr. Harvey
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps she is taking to encourage and promote the establishment of more small abattoirs.

§ Mr. Soames
The Government have always recognised the importance of small abattoirs and have taken a number of steps to ensure that the single market rules are applied sensibly and flexibly. We negotiated in the EC fresh meat directive less onerous structural requirements for low-throughput abattoirs and were instrumental in increasing the original throughput limit of 12 livestock units per week to 20 until 31 December 1994. We will press for this limit to be made permanent in the Commission's review of the impact of the Directive on small businesses. In mid–1993, we introduced an upper limit on local authority charges for meat inspection, which provides assurances to small abattoirs about the maximum level of charges they may face. Together, these measures will create a stable situation within which new small abattoirs can be established if there is a market opportunity for them.

§ Mr. Harvey
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment she has made of the difference in average attendance fees being paid by small abattoirs to(a) veterinary surgeons and (b) environmental health officers.

§ Mr. Soames
Official veterinary surgeons and meat inspectors or environmental health officers are employed for meat inspection duties by local authorities which recover the costs from abattoirs, subject to a maximum of £40 for the first four livestock units and £6.30 for each additional livestock unit. The maximum charge of £40 was based on £28 for veterinary attendance, being the average turnout fee paid to local veterinary inspectors in 1991, and £12 for the meat inspector's duties.