§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the registration fee levied on all poultry laying flock keepers who are required to register has not yet been determined.
§ Mr. MacleanThe Poultry Flocks, Hatcheries and Processed Animal Protein (Fees) Order 1990 was laid before the House on 9 March.
§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the registration fee levied on all poultry flock keepers who are required to register will accrue to his Ministry.
§ Mr. MacleanThe registration of poultry laying flocks is being carried out by Agriculture Departments and so they will recover the associated costs.
§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why only larger flocks of poultry laying hens have to be registered.
§ Mr. MacleanThe resources for enforcing the salmonella legislation need to be concentrated particularly on flocks of 100 birds or more, which together supply over 98 per cent. of the eggs produced in this country. Flocks under this size are not required to be registered but the owners are subject to checks to ensure that they are meeting the salmonella testing requirements, which apply to all flocks from which eggs are sold for human consumption.
§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the Government will allocate any additional resources to enable local authorities to enforce the Poultry Laying Flocks (Testing and Registration Etc.) Order 1989.
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§ Mr. MacleanThe resources needed for this work will be taken into account in future decisions on local authority funding.
§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how successful the Poultry Laying Flocks (Testing and Registration Etc.) Order 1989 has been in providing a system of maintaining hens producing eggs for human consumption and in setting hygienic standards for handling and storage of eggs on farms.
§ Mr. MacleanIt is too early to judge the success of these new controls some of which came into effect last October, while the remainder become effective from 2 April 1990.