Milk (Hansard, 13 February 1989)

§ Mr. Maclennan
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to bring goat milk production under legislative control.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 8 February.

§ Mr. Cousins
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food(a) whether he has any proposals to extend regulations governing milk production to goats' milk and ewes' milk and (b) whether he proposes to support the goat producers association's clean milk production scheme.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
As regards goats' milk I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 8 February. This referred to the Ministry's code of practice which has objectives similar to the clean milk producton scheme. The legal position of ewes' milk is the same as that of goats' milk, and a code of practice is being prepared.
88W
Report giving details of (a) pre-tax net farm income and (b) gross output in current prices and in real terms for each year since 1979 (i) for each of the three counties of Yorkshire and (ii) nationally; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Ryder
Information on farm output and incomes is not available by county. However estimates of gross output, gross product and farming income by standard statistical region have been published for 1984 and 1985 in the annual reports on farm incomes in the United Kingdom. Corresponding figures for 1986 will be provided in the next report due to be published in the spring. These reports also include estimates of net farm income by farm type but by the (different) farm business survey regions.
The figures provided in these reports are however subject to revision and the best estimates which are currently available (consistent with the United Kingdom figures recently published in "Agriculture in the United Kingdom 1988") are as follows:

§ Mr. Allen
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will bring forward proposals to reduce the incidence of contamination of goat and cows' milk.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Windsor and Maidenhead (Dr. Glyn) on 10 February.

§ Mr. Key
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will seek to extend legislative control over production of cows' milk to cover goats and sheep.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
As regards goats' milk, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 8 February. The legal position of sheep's milk is the same as that of goats' milk, and a code of practice is being prepared.

§ Mrs. Rosie Barnes
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether there are any plans to bring all milk production under legislative control.

§ Mr. Donald Thompson
Cows' milk is already comprehensively regulated. The position on goats' milk was described in the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 8 February. The legal position of sheep milk is similar to that of goats' milk, and a code of practice is being prepared.