Cattle Traceability (Hansard, 31 July 1997)

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Mr. Marsden) of 19 June,Official Report, column 286, on cattle traceability, when he expects to implement a system which meets the Florence precondition on cattle traceability. [11637]

§ Mr. Rooker
We believe that the cattle passport system, introduced on 1 July 1996, fulfils the Florence precondition on cattle traceability in Great Britain. However, a computerised system will improve cattle traceability still further, and is required under recent EU legislation which applies to all member states.

§ Mr. Swinney
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what actions his Department is taking to proceed with(a) the export certified herds scheme and (b) the date-based scheme. [12199]

§ Mr. Rooker
On 24 July, my officials discussed both schemes with the EU Commission. As a result, further clarification is to be provided on the date-based scheme. In line with the Florence agreement, the Commission will be putting both schemes to its scientific advisory committees.