HC Deb 09 February 2000 vol 344 cc201-2W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which local authorities in England are serving British beef on their school menus. [106038]

Ms Quin

This information is not available centrally. However, the Minister wrote to all local authorities on 27 October 1999 encouraging them to serve British beef.

Mr. Breed

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many local authorities(a) have and (b) have not lifted the ban on beef in school meals. [106864]

Ms Quin

This information is not available centrally. However, the Minister wrote to all local authorities on 27 October 1999 encouraging them to serve British beef. According to Meat and Livestock Commission figures(a) 108 out of 150 local authorities in England do not have a ban on beef;

Table 2: Subsidy paymets to UK Farmers 1992–1997
£ million
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Arable Area Payments Scheme 0 653 816 1,087 1,116 1,114
Other crop subsidies (incl. set aside) 184 423 240 224 182 109
Beef Special Premium 45 159 193 232 295 271
Suckler Cow Premium 99 144 178 228 286 374
Sheep Annual Premium 437 433 391 481 329 300
Other Livestock subsidies 6 11 7 7 626 432
Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances 154 130 111 108 166 109
Environmentally Sensitive Areas 13 21 22 33 38 46
Other agri-environmental schemes 10 16 34 46 49 59
Other subsidies1 10 8 8 8 9 9
Total2 957 1,998 2,002 2,456 3,095 2,820
1 Includes CAP, non-CAP and national payments.
2 Excludes levies.

Notes:

1. Numbers may not add up due to rounding.

2. Agriculture in the United Kingdom. (b) 42 out of 150 local authorities in England are continuing with some form of beef ban on school meals. Of these 22 have a total ban and 20 have primary school bans only.

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