HL Deb 18 December 1996 vol 576 cc140-1WA
The Countess of Mar

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the public consultation on control of sheep scab.

Lord Lucas

We received a positive reaction to the 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 making it a criminal offence to move 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.