§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current capacity of the incinerators in use for the disposal of BSE carcases in the United Kingdom on a weekly basis; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. GummerIn England and Wales there is at present enough capacity to incinerate around 1,000 carcases each week. We expect that existing facilities should continue to prove sufficient to incinerate all such carcases.
In Northern Ireland and Scotland, where the incidence of BSE is less, incineration capacity is more than sufficient to handle expected cases.
§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money has been paid out in compensation for BSE for each year since the compensation scheme was introduced; how much he is estimating will be paid out for each of the next five years; what is his basis for these estimates; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerThe amount of BSE compensation paid each year since the scheme was introduced is:
million 1988–89 1 1989–90 4 1990–91 10 1991–92 118 1 provisional The nature of BSE, with its long incubation period, and the uncertainty of determining how many animals received sufficiently large infective doses before the ruminant feed ban to cause disease, makes the forecasting of expenditure very uncertain. Future trends will be reviewed in connection with the public expenditure survey discussions in the autumn.