§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he announced the site for the headquarters of the British Cattle Movement Service. [35000]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 17 March 1998]: My hon. Friend the Minister of State announced this on 30 July 1997, Official Report, column 310.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what were his Ministry's projected start-up costs for the British Cattle Movement Service at Workington, Guildford and Manchester. [35002]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 1 April 1998]: At the time the decision on the site was taken, the specific accommodation costs for setting up the British Cattle Movement Service were estimated as follows:
- Workington £1.3 million
- Guildford £0.6 million
- Manchester £0.8 million.
These estimates covered accommodation costs only, and not the whole costs of setting up the new service.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what were the estimated start up and running costs for the first year in(a) August 1997 and (b) March 1998 for the British Cattle Movement Service; and if he will publish a detailed breakdown of the component costs of each figure, indicating the factors underlying each cost variant; [35003]
(2) if he will publish a detailed breakdown of the start up and first full year running costs of the British Cattle Movement Service. [34999]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 17 March 1998]: The British Cattle Movement Service will operate the computerised Cattle Tracing System (CTS) in Great Britain. The following estimates are for the CTS as a whole. In September 1997, the decision was taken to move the issue of cattle passports from Agriculture Department regional offices to the British Cattle Movement Service. This significantly increased the scope and set up costs of the CTS project, and means that the estimates are not strictly comparable.
579WIn August 1997, the estimated costs of the Cattle Tracing System were as follows:
Set up costs £ million Database development 3.4 Project Management 1.7 British Cattle Movement Service (accommodation) 1.3 BCMS/Agriculture Department regional offices (equipment, services and publicity) 4.1 Total 10.5 Running costs
Detailed estimates were not available in August 1997, but following a feasibility study in 1996, running costs were expected to be of the order of £20 million to £25 million a year.
In March 1998, the estimated costs of the Cattle Tracing System, including additional costs associated with the decision in September 1997 that the system should also be responsible for the issuing of cattle passports, are as follows:
Set-up costs £ million Database development 16.5 Project Management 3.7 British Cattle Movement Service (accommodation) 3.5 British Cattle Movement Service (equipment, services and publicity) 3.7 Total 17.3 First year running costs Staff costs 3.2 Accommodation, administration and consumables 2.9 Common services and depreciation 3.4 Office supplies (including cost of 'freepost' system for reporting cattle movements and local call rate telephone system) 5.9 Inspection services 3.6 Total 19.1 1 Further enhancements costing up to £3 million may also take place.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the cost benefit study to determine the site for the British Cattle Movement Service was completed. [35001]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 17 March 1998]: An investment appraisal was carried out in August 1997 and updated in November 1997. Both the original and updated investment appraisal suggested that, over a fifteen-year period, Workington would be the cheapest option.
§ Mr. JackTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the West Cumbria Development Agency was asked to draw up cost estimates for the Workington site of the British Cattle Movement Service. [35023]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 17 March 1998]: The West Cumbria Development Agency provided information which assisted my Department to draw up estimates of the cost of using the Workington site of the British Cattle Movement Service in late July 1997.
580W