Mr. Fred Evansasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) when he expects to establish the three-day crash course and the subsequent four-week course for persons whom he designates for licensing premises under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976;
(2) what date he has given for designating the persons who may carry out the
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§ Mr. BishopThe information is as follows:
licensing inspection of premises under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976;
(3) what explanation he has given to local authorities of how they can license premises under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976 when he has not designated a person to carry out the licensing inspection.
§ Mr. StrangInitially, applications for licences are being made only by the operators of plants who consider it necessary to maintain as export potential. Co-operative action between Council officials and designated officers of the Ministry has ensured that the licence applications so far received have been dealt with satisfactorily. In other cases an application for exemption is appropriate; such applications do not involve inspection by designated officers.
The main demand for designated officers will arise when the period of exemption from the licensing requirements expires in August 1977. My Department will shortly consult the local authority associations on detailed arrangements for the designation of local authority officers and for their prior training or briefing.
Mr. Evansasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many local authorities have made returns under the Poultry (Hygiene) Regulations 1976 for the number of premises licensed by 283W them; and what is the total number of licences and exemptions issued;
(2) how many local authorities have not made returns of the premises they wish to license under the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976; and what reasons they have given for not so doing.
§ Mr. StrangRegulation 21 of the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976 requires local authorities to furnish my right hon. Friend with copies of licences and details of exemptions issued. So far 93 have done so and the information they gave is as follows.
a.total number of copies of licences furnished 2 b. total number of exemptions of which details have been furnished 188 The remaining 309 local authorities have not yet provided information. A significant number of these have no premises subject to the regulations within their areas, and others are understood to be awaiting Council meetings at which formal decisions can be taken.