§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had with the north Yorkshire trading standards department concerning bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
125W
§ Mr. MacleanNone, but my officials met the county trading standards officer for north Yorkshire in his capacity as secretary of the local authorities national animal health panel on 27 October 1989 to discuss various issues concerning BSE and will be meeting him again shortly.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy that have been identified(a) on farms, (b) in slaughterhouses, (c) in auction markets and (d) in other places, by county.
§ Mr. Maclean[holding answer 11 January 1990]The information is not available in the form requested. It should be noted that as a result of the measures which my right hon. Friend announced on 8 November, those bovine tissues most susceptible to harbouring the BSE agent must be removed from human consumption for all animals more than six months old. So even if infected animals, or those suffering from pre-clinical infection, find their way to the slaughterhouse, these vulnerable tissues will be removed from them. The total number of cases of BSE in cattle confirmed in each county/region of Great Britain up to 5 January 1990 is set out in the following table (as these figures relateto confirmed cases, they differ from those for reported cases):
126W
County/Region Cases Cleveland 8 Cumbria 140 Durham 26 Humberside 25 Northumberland 40 Tyne and Wear 1 Yorkshire North 272 Yorkshire South 13 Yorkshire West 24 Cheshire 149 Derbyshire 102 Hereford and Worcestershire 173 Lancashire 142 Leicestershire 193 Manchester 4 Merseyside 5 Nottinghamshire 47 Salop 223 Staffordshire 139 West Midlands 8 Warwickshire 83 Bedfordshire 26 Cambridgeshire 29 Essex 34 Hertfordshire 40 Lincolnshire 83 Norfolk 111 Northamptonshire 76 Suffolk 102 Berkshire 81 Buckinghamshire 60 Hampshire 403 Isle of Wight 57 Kent 232 London 2 Oxfordshire 147 Surrey 100 Sussex East 119 Sussex West 240 Avon 145 Cornwall 790 Devon 1,139
County/Region Cases Dorset 779 Gloucestershire 336 Somerset 674 Wiltshire 563 Clwyd 75 Dyfed 290 Glamorgan Mid 18 Glamorgan South 39 Glamorgan West 4 Gwent 80 Gwynedd 33 Powys 78 Borders 10 Central 11 Dumfries 42 Fife 10 Grampian 52 Highland 18 Lothian 9 Orkney 3 Shetland 2 Strathclyde 67 Tayside 22 Total 9,048 In the period 21 June 1988 (when BSE became notifiable) to 30 September 1989 (the most recent date for which information is available), 79 confirmed cases occurred at slaughterhouses and 56 at markets. This information is not available on a county basis.
Two confirmed cases have occurred at an import lairage in Dorset and five at artificial insemination centres in Devon, Dyfed, East Sussex, North Yorkshire and Somerset.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how many cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been notified in each county for each year up to the end of 1989;
(2) how many cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy have been notified each year in each county of the United Kingdom up to the end of 1989;
(3) if he will list the number of bovine spongiform encephalopathy cases notified for each year up to the end of 1989.
§ Mr. Maclean[holding answer 11 January 1990]BSE became a notifiable disease in Great Britain on 21 June 1988. The details of suspect cases of BSE notified since then are as follows:
127W
21 June 1988–31 December 1988 1 January 1989–31 December 1989 Cleveland 2 11 Cumbria 49 131 Durham 4 26 Humberside 10 32 Northumberland 21 30 Tyne and Wear 0 1 Yorkshire North 77 280 Yorkshire South 6 14 Yorkshire West 11 24 Cheshire 38 152 Derbyshire 28 97 Hereford and Worcester 54 163 Lancashire 59 132 Leicestershire 55 181 Manchester 2 8 Merseyside 2 5 Nottinghamshire 8 51 Salop 53 217 Staffordshire 43 126 West Midlands 2 7 Warwickshire 17 89 Bedfordshire 2 25
21 June 1988–31 December 1988 1 January 1989–31 December 1989 Cambridge 7 28 Essex 2 43 Hertfordshire 11 36 Lincolnshire 34 71 Norfolk 27 101 Northamptonshire 12 80 Suffolk 31 86 Berks 27 62 Bucks 10 71 Hants 116 379 Isle of Wight 13 51 Kent 55 205 London 0 5 Oxon 53 139 Surrey 39 81 Sussex East 26 122 Sussex West 85 213 Avon 21 161 Cornwall 256 642 Devon 292 941 Dorset 184 747 Gloucestershire 113 286 Somerset 171 605 Wiltshire 158 561 England 2,286 7,518 Clwyd 13 90 Dyfed 67 273 Glamorgan Mid 7 12 Glamorgan South 8 40 Glamorgan West 2 7 Gwent 23 69 Gwynedd 10 32 Powys 24 94 Wales 154 617 Borders 1 11 Central 4 13 Dumfries 17 53 Fife 0 14 Grampian 18 59 Highland 3 20 Lothian 6 9 Orkney 2 7 Shetland 0 1 Strathclyde 16 87 Tayside 10 31 Scotland 77 305 Northern Ireland 4 54 Totals 2,521 8,494 1 Became notifiable 29 November 1988.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last discussed with the National Farmers Union compensation payments on cattle suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and if he will increase compensation payments to 75 per cent.
§ Mr. MacleanI meet representatives of the National Farmers Union frequently to discuss agricultural matters. As regards compensation, we believe that 50 per cent. is fair, given that the animals are terminally ill and worthless for all practical purposes, but are valued as though unaffected by BSE. This means that in many cases owners receive more in compensation than they would get if they were able to sell the animals. One hundred per cent. is paid for animals which are not confirmed as having BSE.