§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to ensure that there is an adequate number of official veterinary surgeons for slaughterhouse inspection; how many additional veterinary surgeons have been recruited by his Department; at what cost; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Soames[holding answer 26 November 1992]: Until the proposed national meat hygiene service is established, local authorities are responsible for employing official veterinary surgeons for the purposes specified in the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992 and the Poultry Meat (Hygiene) Regulations 1976. My Department runs courses for veterinary surgeons seeking designation as official veterinary surgeons. Some 300 veterinary surgeons have completed the red meat course in the last four years, and over 80 more are booked to attend the course in the new year.
The Department is discussing with the local authority associations ways in which MAFF might assist local authorities wishing to explore the possibility of recruiting veterinary surgeons from other member states where there is a surplus.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the additional costs to the meat industry of implementing the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Soames[holding answer 26 November 1992]: Work carried out by independent consultants on behalf of the Agriculture Departments in March and April 1992 estimated the cost of implementing the supervision requirements in the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992 as £33 million per annum, compared with £25 million previously—both figures based on 1991 costs and slaughterhouse numbers. The additional cost of veterinary supervision in medium-sized slaughterhouses was estimated to represent £5.4 million of this increase. However, we estimate that the guidance on veterinary supervision levels issued by the Department on 30 November would reduce this to £3.4 million. A copy of this guidance has been placed in the Library of the House.
The total costs to the industry of complying with the structural requirements of the new legislation, many of 228W which were already contained in or implied by previous Great Britain legislation, will depend on the commercial decisions taken by individual slaughterhouse operators.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to suspend implementation of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992 until he has received satisfactory assurances from each other EC country that they have implemented similar regulations.
§ Mr. Soames[holding answers 26 November 1992]: No. The Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1992 are an important part of the Department's programme of improving the safety and hygiene of British meat and enhancing the protection offered to the consumer.
My right hon. Friend the Minister is, however, arranging for the December Council of Agriculture Ministers to discuss progress with implementation of the fresh meat directive 91/497, in particular as it relates to small slaughterhouses.