§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the collection of fallen livestock for disposal and its relationship with existing livestock movement regulations; and if she will make a statement. [81160]
(2) what assessment she has made of the relationship between fallen livestock and hunts; and if she will make a statement. [81158]
(3) what assessment she has made of the impact of the use of incinerators for dealing with fallen livestock; and if she will make a statement [81162]
(4) how many fallen livestock there have been in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region [81161]
(5)what plans she has to provide financial support for the disposal of fallen livestock from 2003; and if she will make a statement [81159]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answers 20 November 2002]Since April 2002, the Government has been holding discussions with livestock and disposal industry stakeholders with the aim of developing a national fallen stock disposal scheme. At a stakeholder meeting on the 18 September the collection and disposal industries submitted a joint proposal for a National Fallen Stock collection and disposal scheme. I intend to meet the 291W industries to discuss their proposal. However, it is for the livestock industry, like other industries, to pay for the disposal of its waste
No specific assessment has been made of the collection of fallen stock and its relationship with existing livestock movement regulations. However, there was agreement at the stakeholder meeting that additional guidance on detailed bio- security would need to be produced if plans for the scheme were to be taken forward.
Information regarding the number of fallen stock for each of the last 10 years is not available. However, it is estimated that something in the order of, at least, 200,000 tonnes of fallen stock will need to be collected annually. In arriving at this figure, assumptions have been made about mortality rates for adult and immature animals and their average weight.
Hunts and incinerators are permitted disposal routes for fallen stock, and are used by many farmers. We estimate there to be around 2500 on-farm incinerators, mostly on pig and poultry farms.