§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cows, sheep and goats were slaughtered over the last three years; and how many of these were by ritual slaughter.
§ Mrs. FennerTotal commercial slaughterings of cattle and sheep in Great Britain in the past three years were as follows:
358Wrespectively, (d) the retail price index for mutton/lamb and all items excluding foodstuffs, and (e) consumption per head of mutton and lamb.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe following is the information requested.
Cattle (including calves) Sheep (including lambs) 1981 3,488,400 13,824,100 1982 3,200,000 13,684,900 1983 3,408,200 14,781,600 No statistics are available for slaughter of goats.
My Department does not maintain statistics relating to animals slaughtered by religious methods. However, according to the information available, annual slaughterings by the Jewish and Muslim methods are around 83,700 cattle, 745,000 sheep and 28,300 goats.