HC Deb 20 February 1996 vol 272 cc119-20W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food what estimates he has made of the number of eartags on sheep which are likely to(a) become illegible and (b) be lost in the space of a 12 month period. [15579]

Mrs. Browning

None. There was no need for such an estimate given our intention only to require sheep that are consigned for transport outside Great Britain to be either eartagged or tattooed.

Mr. Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the number and percentage of sheep in the United Kingdom that are tattooed. [15577]

Mrs. Browning

None.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimates he has made of the number of people who keep(a) sheep and (b) goats. [15622]

Mrs. Browning

We estimated that there are 92,398 sheep holdings and 7,730 goat holdings in England and Wales. This information is contained in the compliance cost assessment and is based on information contained in "The Digest of Agricultural Census Statistics" in 1992.

Mr. Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultation he had with local authorities concerning the staffing and other resources that will have to be committed by them to enforce the Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1996. [15582]

Mrs. Browning

A representative from the national animal health and welfare panel of the local authorities sits on the specially formed industry/Government working group which considered the proposals for the Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1996.

Mr. Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what consultations have taken place with organisations representing sheep and goat farmers about the assumptions his Department made in respect of the likely costs of complying with the Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1996. [15757]

Mrs. Browning

We consulted the industry regularly on our proposals for the implementation of EC directive 92/102, including for sheep and goats. Views were specifically sought in June 1994 on a draft of the compliance cost assessment.

Mr. Prentice

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what reasons the statistical information used in the compliance costs assessment for the Sheep and Goats (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1996 was drawn from 1992 publications. [15756]

Mrs. Browning

A draft compliance cost assessment was issued for comment in 1994 based on the latest complete statistical information available. It was not felt that circumstances had changed to such an extent that a revised CCA based on later figures would be justified.