§ 13. Mr. PopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many live sheep were exported from the UK in the last year for which figures are available before the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. [29549]
§ Mr. MorleyAccording to our computer system used to issue export health certificates, 2,282 breeding sheep, 627,566 fattening sheep and 2,590 slaughter sheep were certified for export from the UK during 2000. The computer system also shows that during the period 1 January to 20 February 2001, seven breeding sheep, 86,900 fattening sheep and 703 slaughter sheep were certified for export from the UK. The figures for sheep exported from Northern Ireland to Ireland are not available.
These figures may be subject to updating and amendment.
§ 33. Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the losses incurred by farmers through the OTMS due to restrictions on movements during the foot and mouth epidemic. [29570]
§ Mr. MorleyThe over-30-months scheme (OTMS) delivers some £240 million per annum in payments to beef and dairy farmers. Farmers will have incurred losses arising from additional costs of keeping cattle, delays in sales receipts and, any differences between prices actually received and those which would otherwise have been obtained. However, there are no statistics available to identify the number of cattle that entered the OTMS scheme as a result of movement restrictions and therefore it is not possible to quantify any losses.