§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the latest available figures for the number of sheep farmers authorised under the certification scheme to purchase organophosphorous dip products in Wales, Scotland and each of his Department's regions in England; and what, in each case, was the total estimated number of sheep farmers.
§ Mrs. BrowningThe certification scheme is run by the National Proficiency Tests Council. There are 90,000 registered sheep farmers in the United Kingdom. The number of farmers who have applied for certification in each NPTC region by 10 February 1995 is set out in the following table. The information is not available by MAFF regions.
By 10 February, 11,151 sheep farmers had enrolled for certification. A total of 4,746 certificates had also been issued by that date. None of this data are available on a corresponding regional basis.
The decision on whether or not to apply for certification is a matter for the individual sheep farmer, bearing in mind their judgment on the possible need to purchase OP sheep dips for the treatment of sheep in the coming year.
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Applications for sheep dipping certificates received by 10 February 1995 Counties Numbers registered Northumberland 1,448 Durham Tyne and Wear Cumbria Lancashire Cheshire Merseyside Great Manchester Yorkshire 596 Cleveland 596 Humberside 190 Lincolnshire 190 Derbyshire 407 Leicestershire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire 268 Staffordshire 268 Hereford and Worcester 434 Gloucester and North Avon Warwickshire West Midlands Cambridgeshire 122 Norfolk Suffolk Essex 62 Hertfordshire London (North of Thames) Bedfordshire 155 Berkshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Kent 218 Sussex—East London (South of Thames) Surrey 73 Sussex—West 73 Hampshire 100 Isle of Wight 100 Dorset 614 Somerset South Avon Devon Cornwall Wiltshire Clwyd 756 Gwynedd 756 Powys 551 Dyfed 602 Glamorgan 213 Gwent 213
Applications for sheep dipping certificates received by 10 February 1995 Counties Numbers registered Scotland 1,230 Northern Ireland 300 ATB Landbase 2,812 Total as known 11,151