§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures he is taking to ensure that the reduction in abattoir contracts does not increase the backlog of cattle awaiting slaughter. [9544]
§ Mr. Rooker[holding answer 21 July 1997]: The indicative throughputs associated with the new abattoir contracts are based on regional forecasts of animals expected to enter the scheme with a sufficient margin to allow for seasonal fluctuations.
The current bottleneck at abattoirs has risen because producers are seeking to bring forward their culling plans before changes to the over-30-months scheme are introduced on 4 August. For the two weeks leading up to these changes, the indicative throughputs will be increased substantially to assist producers.
In addition, the Intervention Board has issued instructions to scheme abattoirs to ensure, as far as possible, that priority is given to those producers whose animals were already booked into the scheme, and that the available capacity is otherwise distributed as equitably as possible.