HC Deb 20 December 1976 vol 923 cc75-7W
Mrs. Dunwoody

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the restriction on the import of chrysanthemums

attached table provides a breakdown of the financing of the PSBR in the first half of the current financial year. The proportion financed from abroad was some 39 per cent., represented by the sum of direct external finance of the public sector and borrowing from the banking system in foreign currencies; this latter element essentially represents overseas borrowing by the public sector channelled through the banking system. Figures for earlier periods are available in the Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Tables 6/3, 7 and 11/3.

on the basis of examination of plants to see if they are suffering from white rust is adequate, in view of the fact that diseased spores are not easily recognised by the naked eye and can take up to 20 weeks to develop.

Mr. Bishop

Yes. Our restrictions require not only examinations before shipment but also freedom of the exporting nursery from white rust during the three months prior to export. While exceptionally hot and dry conditions can prolong the time which symptoms take to develop, they generally appear within seven to 10 days in the cool damp conditions in which propagation of cuttings is carried out.

Mr. Banks

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish a list of holdings currently affected by white rust disease of chrysanthemums and areas of the heaviest outbreak.

Mr. Bishop

It has been a longstanding, and hitherto generally accepted, practice with diseases of both plants and animals not to publish lists of affected holdings. Because of the nature of the spread of white rust disease of chrysanthemums it would be wrong to imply that it was an infection of particular areas. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of my Department's "Current Topics" for 6th December which explains the situation in detail; copies are also available in the Library of the House.