§ Mr. Hardyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he in taking to control the spread of both swine vesicular and Aujeszky's diseases; and how many pigs have been lost from both diseases so far this year.
§ Mr. WigginUnder well-established arrangements herds found to be infected with swine vesicular disease are slaughtered and their carcases destroyed.
602Wof advanced further education in England and Wales for the academic year 1980–81; how many were enrolled on the first year of such courses; and what were the corresponding figures for 1979–80, distinguishing between students from the United Kingdom and from overseas and between full-time and sandwich courses and part-time courses.
§ Dr. BoysonProvisional figures of enrolments on advanced courses in maintained, assisted and grant-aided establishments of further education in England and Wales for 1980–81, which have just become available, together with figures for 1979–80 are shown below. The estimates for overseas students are based on sample data.
Detailed controls are applied to prevent infection, for example in premises where pigs are fed with swill. In addition, extensive testing and tracing work on farms, at markets and slaughterhouses is undertaken to detect infection at the earliest possible stage. About 50,000 pigs were slaughtered as a result of swine vesicular disease in 1980.
In his statement of 24 June 1980 on Aujeszky's disease, my right hon. Friend made it clear that the Government did not consider that a compulsory slaughter policy with compensation at public expense would be justified. The industry is now considering what steps they might wish to take. In the meantime, owners of herds at risk from the disease are encouraged to undertake measures of prevention and control. It is not possible to provide an accurate assessment of the number of pigs lost as a result of Aujeszky's disease, but the total is considered to be insignificant. The number of outbreaks confirmed in 1980 was 22.