§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's responsibility for BSE compensation. [57341]
§ Ms JowellThe responsibility for compensation in relating to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy rests with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
On the question of the payment of compensation for people who die from new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease the policy of successive Governments has been that questions of negligence are best decided by the Courts and that, other than in cases where negligence is proven, a compensation scheme would not be appropriate.