Beef Export Ban (Hansard, 29 July 1998)

§ Mr. Nick Brown

In June the EU Commission made a proposal for a Decision that would allow the restarting of beef exports on a UK basis from animals born after 1 August 1996. Some progress has been made in discussions of the proposal, but agreement will not now be possible before the summer break.

One element of the Commission's proposal is that before beef exports resume a cull of offspring of BSE cases should have been completed. I am anxious that this should not delay the renewal of exports. To this end I am today announcing that from early August the culling of all offspring born on or after 1 August 1996 to BSE cases will begin on a voluntary basis. Details of how the voluntary cull will operate are today being placed in the library of the House.

Farmers will receive the market value for their animals, in some cases taken from a scale rather than individual valuations. These offspring will be slaughtered at the Government's expense. I believe that, with the active support of the NFU and other farming bodies, rapid progress can be made in tackling the cull.

Payments for offspring surrendered on a voluntary basis will rest on the sole authority of the Estimates and the confirming Appropriation Act. The voluntary cull will be superseded by a compulsory offspring cull as soon as agreement is reached in Brussels on the Date Based Export Scheme (DBES) and powers exist to make UK regulations. Farmers will be compensated for the market value of their animals under the compulsory cull on the same basis as the voluntary cull, ensuring equal treatment for owners of BSE cases' offspring whether slaughtered under the voluntary or compulsory phases of the cull.

SEAC's advice is that the UK's existing controls to protect the consumer are sufficient. None the less, I believe that the prompt start of the offspring cull will minimise the time between agreement being reached on the DBES and exports resuming.