HC Deb 23 May 1991 vol 191 cc558-60W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many calves born since July 1988 have been found to have BSE.

Mr. Gummer

BSE has been confirmed in one calf born since July 1988. Inquiries as to the source of the disease are still continuing.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for South Shields of 20 May,Official Report, column 398, why he is unable to give the number of confirmed cases of BSE in the United Kingdom for each month from January to April.

Mr. Gummer

The scientific calculation of the number of cases of BSE is based on the date of onset of clinical disease and there is a prolonged period of time between this and eventual confirmation of disease by post-mortem examination. This means that recent figures are necessarily incomplete and would therefore be misleading.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of cases of BSE in 1991 have been found in farms for the first time.

Mr. Gummer

Twenty-seven per cent. of the cases of BSE confirmed in Great Britain between January and April 1991 were on farms on which no previous case had been confirmed.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the total number of confirmed cases for BSE by county at the latest available date in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Gummer

The information up to 17 May 1991 is as follows:

County Cases
ENGLAND
North
Cleveland 33
Cumbria 511
Durham 101
Humberside 116
Northumberland 114
Tyne and Wear 4
Yorkshire, North 1,075
Yorkshire, South 91
Yorkshire, West 127
Total 2,172
Midlands and West
Cheshire 742
Derbyshire 417
Hereford and Worcester 521
Lancashire 605
Leicestershire 634
Manchester 28
Merseyside 14
Nottinghamshire 169
Shropshire 657
Staffordshire 510
West Midlands 17
Warwickshire 277
Total 4,591
East
Bedfordshire 76
Cambridgeshire 100
Essex 115
Hertfordshire 126
Lincolnshire 228
Norfolk 419
Northamptonshire 225
Suffolk 338
Total 1,627

County Cases
South-East
Berkshire 175
Buckinghamshire 246
Hampshire 1,023
Isle of Wight 207
Kent 580
London 15
Oxfordshire 416
Surrey 268
Sussex East 372
Sussex West 714
Total 4,016
South-West
Avon 537
Cornwall 2,063
Devon 2,994
Dorset 2,354
Gloucestershire 844
Somerset 2,477
Wiltshire 1,712
Total 12,981
WALES
Clwyd 311
Dyfed 1,136
Glamorgan Mid 69
Glamorgan South 68
Glamorgan West 14
Gwent 200
Gwynedd 76
Powys 252
Total 2,126
SCOTLAND
South
Borders 49
Central 29
Dumfries 190
Lothian 21
Strathclyde 256
Total 545
North
Fife 55
Grampian 190
Highland 53
Orkney 9
Shetland 3
Tayside 76
Western Isles 1
Total 932
NORTHERN IRELAND
Antrim 58
Armagh 16
Down 43
Fermanagh 19
Londonderry 19
Tyrone 38
Total 193