§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide a schedule of all government levies, charges and other financial impositions upon the agriculture industry and agricultural products together with their estimated cost in the most recent year for which figures are available. [23701]
§ Mr. RookerThe details of levies, charges and financial impositions for which my Department or its agencies are responsible are shown in the tables. The figures provided in the tables show the most recent 12 month accounting period for which information is available but the dates of the accounting periods used vary according to the scheme. An estimated annual cost is shown where a charge has been imposed for less than 12 months.
Table A: Charges imposed by MAFF and its agencies Description of charge Total annual cost (£ million) Export Certification of Plant Exports 0.323 Plant Health Propagation Scheme 0.049 Seed Potato Classification Scheme 0.204 Plant Passporting 0.097 Brown Rot Testing Imported Potatoes 0.032 Testing and Inspections of seeds under Seed Certification Scheme 1.918 Intellectual Property Register of plant breeders' rights 0.818 National listing of approved seed varieties 1.304 Dairy Products Hygiene Charges 11.410 Monitoring of Veterinary Medicines Residues 2.261 Meat Hygiene Service charges 26.000 Official supervision of salmonella testing under Poultry Breeding and Hatcheries Order 1993 0.013 Licences and approvals for artificial breeding of livestock 0.186 Cattle Health Scheme 0.470 Deer Health Scheme 0.001 Poultry Health Scheme 0.047 Swill Feeder Licensing 0.059 1 Estimate. Statutory levies, authorised by legislation for which MAFF is responsible, are charged on certain products. The income from these levies is used primarily for marketing and research to benefit the sector concerned. The rate of levy is proposed by the relevant sector. The cost of these levies is shown in the table:
Table B: Producer levies Description of charge Total annual cost (£ million) Milk Development Council levy on milk producers 4.858 Apple and Pear Research Council levy 0.300 Horticultural Development Council levy 3.362 British Potato Council levy on potato producers 16.500 Home Grown Cereals Authority levy 10.777 Meat and Livestock Commission levy 37.001 Levy under The Sugar Beet (Research and Education) Order 2.293 1 Estimate. MAFF is also responsible for the legislation which leads to drainage charges paid by farmers to the 101W Environment Agency and the Drainage rates paid by farmers to Internal Drainage Boards. Together these lead to charges of some £13.7 million per annum.
The Meat Hygiene Service is also responsible for enforcing Specified Risk Material controls in licensed premises. These enforcement costs are currently met by the Government. However it is proposed that these costs should be charged to the industry from 1 April 1998. The estimated maximum cost to the industry of this proposal would be £48 million per annum.
Finally, the costs of the Cattle Tracing System will be recovered through a charge on cattle passports. The estimated running costs of the system for each of the first three years of operation are likely to be around £15 million per annum.