HC Deb 08 June 1992 vol 209 cc14-5W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 22 May,Official Report, columns 322-23, if he will list the locations of incinerators approved by his Ministry for the disposal of BSE cows; and what is the weekly capacity for each one.

Mr. Gummer

The Ministry uses eight incineration plants in England and Wales for the incineration of suspect BSE carcases. They are located in Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Avon, Cornwall, Dyfed and Clywd. One of these is at a Ministry veterinary investigation centre located in Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire and has the capacity to incinerate 22 carcases per week. The others are privately owned and operate on a commercial basis. The Ministry cannot therefore disclose details, such as individual capacity, for these plants.

Dr. David Clark

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will convene a working party of independent scientists to produce an updated report on bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gummer

I did so in 1990 and this committee, chaired by Dr. Tyrrell, has produced advice to Ministers on a number of occasions. In each case the recommendations have been made public and implemented in full.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will show the number of confirmed cases of BSE in each county of England and Wales from May.

Mr. Soames

The number of cases confirmed for England and Wales from I May 1992 to 29 May 1992 is as follows. These cases will have a date of clinical onset of disease, and indeed date of report, before 1 May.

County Confirmed cases
England
Avon 46
Bedfordshire 8
Berkshire 10
Buckinghamshire 23
Cambridgeshire 10
Cheshire 176
Cleveland 4
Cornwall 258
Cumbria 103
Derbyshire 109
Devon 343
Dorset 164
Durham 19
Essex 6
Gloucestershire 49
Hampshire 42
Hereford and Worcestershire 56
Hertfordshire 5
Humberside 15
Isle of Wight 11
Kent 38
Lancashire 103
Leicestershire 58
County Confirmed cases
Lincolnshire 11
London 3
Manchester 0
Merseyside 2
Norfolk 75
Northamptonshire 24
Northumberland 34
Nottinghamshire 24
Oxfordshire 42
Shropshire 81
Somerset 209
Staffordshire 95
Suffolk 27
Surrey 22
Susex, East 24
Sussex, West 52
Tyne and Wear 1
Warwickshire 30
West Midlands 3
Wiltshire 104
Yorks, North 152
Yorks, South 6
Yorks, West 24
Wales
Clwyd 52
Dyfed 199
Glamorgan, North 2
Glamorgan, South 11
Glamorgan, West 2
Gwent 21
Gwynedd 14
Powys 59