§ Mr. LevittTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the consequences for the British beef market if the ban on the export of British beef has not been lifted by the time the current calf slaughter programme ends in November. [44353]
§ Mr. RookerIn the 12 months ending 31 May, 608,666 calves were slaughtered under the Calf Processing Aid Scheme. It is by no means evident that, in the absence of a scheme, all these calves would have been reared for beef. If the Scheme were terminated, we would expect UK beef production to increase some 18 months to 2 years after termination and the absolute upper limit of that increase would be of the order of 200 thousand tonnes per annum. The Government are confident that the ban on the export of British beef will have been lifted for animals born after the end of the current slaughter programme, before they are ready for slaughter as finished animals. The ban on the export of live calves is however likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future because of concerns about maternal transmission.