§ Sir Hector MonroTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the outcome of public consultation on control of sheep scab. [10457]
§ Mrs. BrowningI am pleased to say there was a positive reaction to the Government's proposals for new legislation to help farmers control the spread of sheep scab, which were issued for consultation in December 1995.
Following comments, our original proposal making it a criminal offence to sell affected animals will be replaced with one to cover the movement of affected animals, except to slaughter. In addition, we propose to make the provisions to deal with sheep scab on commons more flexible. We will proceed with our plans to make failure to treat affected sheep a criminal offence.
We will now circulate our updated proposals, and invite further comments on the draft regulations which we are currently preparing. We expect the new legislation to come into effect in late spring or early summer 1997.