§ Mr. CollinsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to encourage the use of(a) information technology and (b) electronic ear tags for cattle in the Cattle Traceability Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [22078]
§ Mr. RookerThe British Cattle Movement Service, which is being set up to oversee the Cattle Tracing System (CTS), will operate a highly automated system. It will make use of barcode technology to process machine readable forms. Industry are also being encouraged to notify cattle movements to the BCMS by electronic mail.
92WIt will not be a requirement of the CTS for cattle to have electronic eartags. However, the CTS will take account of the fact that increasing numbers of cattle are likely to have them in the future, which the Government view as a welcome development.