§ Mr. John Carlisleasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will indicate the time taken to process the registration for pesticides under the Control of Pesticide regulations 1986; and what was the equivalent period before they were introduced.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonAn accurate comparison cannot be made because we are still dealing with applications received before the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986. However, during the five years before the entry into force of these regulations processing time varied from three weeks to 10 months depending on the574W type of application. The current estimates for the processing time of applications received since October 1986 is between three and 11 months.
§ Mr. John Carlisleasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will consider appointing additional staff at his Department's Harpenden station to cope with the implementation of the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonWe have already increased by 10 the complement of staff at Harpenden laboratory to deal both with the implementation of the new pesticides controls and with an increasing work load. Nine of these additional officers are now in post. Unfortunately, the effect of these increases has been modified by the departure of two experienced senior scientists to the agrochemical industry. The need for further increases is currently under review.