Risk Material Controls

HC Deb 10 February 1999 vol 325 cc284-5W

Mr. Drew

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to pass on the costs of specified risk material controls to producers. [68737]

Mr. Rooker

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Mr. Blizzard) on 14 January 1999,Official Report, column 291. The charges would be levied at slaughterhouses and cutting plants. The extent to which these costs are passed on to primary producers is a commercial matter for the industry. The industry already bears the cost of removal and disposal of Specified Risk Material. We see no reason why the tax payer should bear the cost of enforcing these activities.