§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress has been made in the development of a computerised animal identification system. [14]
§ Mr. RookerCattle born from 1 July 1996 are already registered on the Agriculture Departments' computer databases.
I am considering responses to proposals for a computerised database of cattle movements. I intend to take forward rapidly the creation of this database, so that it can be brought into effect in Great Britain well ahead of the Community's deadline.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the extent to which the current proposals for the identification of cattle meet European requirements for the lifting of the beef ban in the Florence agreement. [15]
§ Mr. RookerThe existing GB cattle passport system, implemented in July 1996, fulfils the Florence pre-condition for an affective animal identification movement recording system with official registration. A cattle database already existed in Northern Ireland.
In addition, there are proposals for the introduction of a fully computerised cattle traceability system in Great Britain to record details of cattle movements centrally. These were sent to interested parties in December 1996.
I am currently considering the responses to the proposals for a cattle traceability system which I hope to introduce at an early date.