§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what changes she intends to make to the compensation arrangements for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
§ Mr. SoamesI am proposing to modity the BSE compensation arrangments from 1 April 1994. At present under the BSE Compensation Order 1990, the amount of compensation paid for an animal which is compulsorily slaughtered because it is suspected of having BSE is subject to a ceiling based on an average market price, calculated each month from actual market prices of commecial grade. Friesian cows and heifers in milk and in calf sold in specified markets. With an increasing proportion of older cattle being slaughtered as BSE suspects, we now need to reflect this in the calculation of the compensation price. I will, therefore, be consulting interested organisations on the proposed new arrangements whereby the price of older cattle being sold for slaughter rather than for breeding would be included in the calculation of the compensation ceiling.
We propose to continue the arrangement whereby in the case of a slaughtered animal not confirmed for BSE the compensation paid would be subject to an enhanced ceiling. The new method of calculation would still result in a compensation price higher than the price the farmer would get for a dairy cow sold for meat so that farmers would not be discouraged from reporting all suspect BSE cases.