HL Deb 25 February 1998 vol 586 cc102-3WA
Lord Bassam of Brighton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they have taken to implement the recommendations in the SEAC (Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee) Review. [HL750]

Lord Donoughue

The review recommended a number of additional appointments to the Committee, including an expert from the Institute for Animal Health and a representative of the public interest. My right honourable friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Secretaries of State for Health, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have made the following appointments to the Committee:

  • Professor Adriano Aguzzi;
  • Professor Roy Anderson FRS;
  • Professor Anne Ferguson;
  • Dr. Peter Goodfellow FRS;
  • Mrs. Harriet Kimbell, Representative of the public interest;
  • Dr. Christopher Bostock, Representative of the Institute for Animal Health.

The review recommended that members not on fixed term appointments who had served less than three or six years should be formally appointed up to the end of the third and sixth year respectively; and that those who had served more than six years should be put on a fixed appointment for one year, all with the possibility of extension in individual cases. The following additional terms on the Committee commencing on 1 January 1998 have been offered to, and accepted by, members:

  • Professor Sir John Pattison (Chairman) and Dr. Robert Will, Director of the CJD Surveillance Unit, (Deputy Chairman), a further three years;
  • Professor Fred Brown FRS, Dr. Richard Kimberlin, Mr. David Pepper and Dr. William Watson, who have served on SEAC for more than six years, a further one year;
  • Professor William Hueston, who has served on SEAC for more than four years, a further two years.

The review also recommended that SEAC meetings should be attended by:

  • a technical adviser from the Central Veterinary Laboratory of MAFF's Veterinary Laboratory Agency;
  • an observer from the Health and Safety Executive; and
  • an observer from the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) Research and Development Funders' Co-ordination Group, which represents the major funders of TSE research.

All other recommendations of the review have been implemented. An annual report will be published later this year and we will announce proposals for the participation of the Food Standards Agency in the secretariat in due course.