§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the latest available figures for the number of sheep farmers authorised under the certification scheme to purchase organophosphorous dip products in Wales, Scotland and each of his Department's regions in England; and what, in each case, was the total estimated number of sheep farmers.
§ Mrs. BrowningThe certification scheme is run by the National Proficiency Tests Council. There are 90,000 registered sheep farmers in the United Kingdom. The number of farmers who have applied for certification in each NPTC region by 27 October 1994 is set out in the following table. The information is not available by MAFF regions.
By 11 November, a further 647 sheep farmers had applied for certification. A total of 1,761 certificates had also been issued by that date. None of this data is available on a corresponding regional basis.
The decision on whether or not to apply for certification is a matter for the individual sheep farmer, bearing in mind their judgment on the possible need to purchase OP sheep dips for the treatment of sheep in the coming year.
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Applications for Sheep Dipping Certificates received by 27 October 1994 Counties Numbers registered Northumberland 1,036 Durham Tyne & Wear 616W
Applications for Sheep Dipping Certificates received by 27 October 1994 Counties Numbers registered Cumbria Lancashire Cheshire Merseyside Greater Manchester Yorkshire 493 Cleveland Humberside 170 Lincolnshire Derbyshire 339 Leicestershire Northamptonshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire 253 Staffordshire Hereford and Worcestershire 357 Gloucester and North Avon Warwickshire West Midlands Cambridgeshire 110 Norfolk Suffolk Essex 50 Hertforshire London (North of Thames) Bedfordshire 139 Berkshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Kent 186 Sussex East London (South of Thames) Surrey 61 Sussex West Hampshire 89 Isle of Wight
Applications for Sheep Dipping Certificates received by 27 October 1994 Counties Numbers registered Dorset 489 Somerset South Avon Devon Cornwall Wiltshire Clwyd 522 Gwynedd Powys 327 Dyfed 520 Glamorgan 166 Gwent Scotland 1,062 Northern Ireland 235 ATB Landbase 2,277