§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list the numbers of veterinarians that have been lost from each location where they are employed since 1979; and if he will make a statement;
(2) further to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields of 12 March, Official Report, column 442, if he will 12W list the veterinary investigation centres; and how many (a) veterinarian, (b) scientific, (c) administrative and (d) laboratory posts will be lost as a result of his decision to close these centres.
§ Mr. GummerIt is not possible or meaningful to list the number of veterinary posts that have been lost from each individual location where they are employed since 1979 because where individual locations have been closed, amalgamated or relocated, additional veterinary posts have been allocated to other locations to cope with the additional work load.
The number of veterinary posts located at veterinary investigation centres was 87 in 1979, is 84 in 1991 and it is expected that there will be 72 such veterinary posts in 1995. The numbers of veterinary posts in those central laboratories which comprise the central veterinary laboratories was 97 in 1979, is 73 in 1991 and it is expected that there will be 73 veterinary posts in 1995.
For the same reasons it is not possible or meaningful to list the (a) veterinarian, (b) scientific, (c) administrative and (d) laboratory posts that will be lost in relation to specific individual veterinary investigation centres. I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 12 March, Official Report, column 442, which gives this information in relation to these posts when the reorganisation of the VI service is completed in three or four years' time. One of the 13 veterinary post losses referred to in that reply is accounted for by a post in the national management team located at the state veterinary service headquarters at Tolworth.
As I indicated in my reply to the hon. Member of 14 March 1991, at column 680, the changes in the structure of the veterinary investigation service are designed to produce significant improvements in the quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the service and I consider it important that we have an efficient VI service which is well equipped to meet our national needs over the years ahead.