Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total cost to date of the compensation paid to farmers and associated costs for the disposal of animal carcases from the outbreak of BSE in 1986.
§ Mr. SoamesExpenditure recorded from August 1988, when the slaughter with compensation policy was introduced, until the end of October 1992 is £74.4 million.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of diary fars have experienced at least one case of BSE in(a) Dyfed, (b) Wales and (c) Great Britain.
§ Mr. SoamesThe information requested is as follows:
Dyfed Per cent. Wales Per cent. Great Britain Per cent. 30.89 28.48 39.40
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the number of confirmed cases of BSE to date during 1992, and the total number of cattle diagnosed that were(a) under two years of age, (b) aged two to three years, (c) aged three to four years, (d) aged five to six years and (e) aged seven or more years.
§ Mr. SoamesThe information requested for cases notified in Great Britain in 1992 by age at onset of clinical symptoms is as follows:
829W
Number notified Number confirmed Outstanding results Less than 2 years 39 0 3 2 and less than 3 years 247 19 29 3 and less than 4 years 1,782 1,058 197 4 and less than 5 years 13,339 11,586 369 5 and less than 6 years 9,232 7,570 403 6 and less than 7 years 3,719 2,779 164 7 years and over 2,383 1,309 87 Unknown 6,199 1,995 3,252 36,940 26,316
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle born after the ban on ruminant protein in cattle feed was introduced in July 1988 have since died of BSE; and if he will provide these figures for every month during 1991 and 1992.
§ Mr. SoamesTo 19 November 1992, BSE has been confirmed in 599 cattle born after 18 July 1988. Because of the delay caused by the necessary confirmation procedures, these cases are listed by month of birth rather than month of confirmation. Some of these cases are still under investigation for details of their history.
Number 1988 July 36 August 204 September 184 October 95 November 39 December 20 578 1989 January 7 February 2 March 1 April 2 June 4 July 1 August 1 September 3 21 At its meeting in October, the Tyrrell committee considered the appearance of cases in animals born since the ban and concluded that all the evidence pointed towards feed being the origin of such cases, and that there was no evidence of any other source.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of confirmed cases of BSE in Britain for each year up to 1991 and for each month during 1992.
§ Mr. SoamesThe number of confirmed cases of BSE in Great Britain since the disease was made notifiable on 21 June 1988, by date of report is as follows:
Number 1988 2,185 1989 7,136 1990 14,180 1991 25,025 830W
Number January 1992 3,511 February 1992 2,971 March 1992 3,277 April 1992 3,040 May 1992 2,264 June 1992 2,495 July 1992 2,555 August 1992 2,676 September 1992 2,366 October 1992 1,161 1992 figures are incomplete due to the time between cases being reported and confirmation by histopathology.