§ Mr. Alasdair MorganTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire on 11 December 1997,Official Report, columns 680–81, (a) what surplus there was after all payments were made from the rendering industry support scheme 1996 and (b) what surplus he expects there to be after all payments are made from the 1997 rendering industry support scheme. [24382]
§ Mr. RookerOf the £118 million originally made available under the Rendering Industry Support Scheme 1996, around £97 million of support has been paid.
The purpose of the scheme was broadly to replace loss of income for the rendering industry in 1996–97 compared with 1995–96 and thereby to ensure that the animal waste chain continued to operate following the loss of the markets for the rendering industry's products in March 1996. This was achieved.
Support under the Rendering Industry Support Scheme 1997 is based on output of mammalian meat and bone meal and tallow. Of the £59 million made available for this scheme, it is not expected that there will be a significant underspend.