§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the numbers and grades of civil servants, special advisers and other employees and advisors to his Department, who have been(a) dismissed and (b) reprimanded as a result of their advice or work on the BSE crisis within the Department since 1986. [20488]
Dr. John Cunningham[holding answer 12 December 1997]: No staff in the core department have been dismissed or reprimanded as a result of their advice or work on the BSE crisis.
Disciplinary matters in the Meat Hygiene Service are a matter for its Chief Executive and I have asked him to write direct.
Letter from Johnstone McNeill to Mr. Paul Keetch, dated 22 December 1997:
As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) your Parliamentary Question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food about the number and grades of employees who have been dismissed or reprimanded as a result of their advice or work on the BSE crisis since 1986 has been passed to me for reply with regard to this Executive Agency.The Meat Hygiene Service was established as an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) on 1 April 1995. It is responsible for enforcing meat hygiene, inspection and animal welfare at slaughter legislation in licensed fresh meat premises in Great Britain.The MHS is also responsible for enforcing specified bovine material (SBM) controls and other BSE related controls in licensed premises. It does this most rigorously. A comprehensive SBM controls training programme has been provided to all inspection staff. The Agency's staff are fully aware that they may face disciplinary action as a result of any failure to enforce these controls.485WTo date 48 MHS employees have been subject to disciplinary investigation. The employees are broken down by numbers, grade and disciplinary action as follows:
Disciplinary Action Number Grade Dismissed 4 (1 reinstated on appeal) Meat Hygiene Inspectors Formal disciplinary warnings 21 Official Veterinary Surgeons (2) Meat Hygiene Inspectors (19) Formal written cautions 23 Official Veterinary Surgeons (5) Meat Hygiene Inspectors (18) Staff who have faced disciplinary action undergo a retraining programme prior to resuming work at a plant. Such staff are required to repeat the intensive practical plant based SBM training under the supervision of a Principal Official Veterinary Surgeon. The importance of 100% compliance with SBM is reiterated to these staff and they continue to be closely monitored by the plant's OVS to ensure comprehensive and rigorous enforcement of SBM controls.
§ Mr. David HeathTo ask the Health of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on the basis of what current scientific advice he has distinguished between the infectivity with regard to BSE of bovine dorsal root ganglia and(a) peripheral nervous tissue in muscle adjacent to vertebrae and (b) other autonomic nervous system ganglia. [20113]
§ Mr. RookerThe advice which SEAC gave me was based on experimental findings of infectivity in the dorsal root ganglion, the spinal cord, the brain, the trigeminal ganglion, the distal ileum and the bone marrow of animals at various stages in the development of BSE after experimental infection. In these experiments infectivity has not so far been detected in a wide range of other tissues including the stellate ganglion, nodose ganglion, sciatic nerve, facial nerve and the phrenic nerve. Other nervous tissues have not been tested in this experiment. The experiment is, however, continuing and SEAC will review the evidence and its guidance in the light of any new results.