§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the estimated amount of vaccines required annually to implement a policy of vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease; and what is the estimated current United Kingdom output of such vaccines.
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§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesThe amount and type of vaccine which would be needed depends entirely on the sort of vaccination scheme adopted. It might be as much as 20 million cattle doses of trivalent vaccine a year if a national mass vaccination programme were adopted in Great Britain. But it would be considerably less for other sorts of schemes.
United Kingdom production is related entirely to the fluctuations of overseas' demand. Existing facilities are capable of producing 28 million cattle doses of monovalent or nearly 10 million of trivalent vaccine a year.
§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he expects to publish the findings of the Northumberland Commission on the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
§ Sir Clive Bossomasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give a progress report on the work of the Northumberland Committee; and when he now expects the Committee to make its report.
§ Mr. Cledwyn HughesThe Northumberland Committee will report in two stages, giving priority to the policy questions which it has been asked to consider. The Committee, which has made good progress, has visited a number of European countries and is now in South America. It is my hope that the first part of the report will be available to me in three or four months time.