§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to compensate farmers who 573W incur extra transport costs as a result of the withdrawal of the contract with West Devon Meats to slaughter cattle under the over thirty months scheme. [101912]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 13 December 1999]: There are no plans to provide such compensation. Neither was such compensation paid at the time of the previous tender. It is the responsibility of the producers to transport their Over Thirty Months Scheme (OTMS) animals from the farm to the point of slaughter. The Government's responsibility is to ensure that there is a sufficient number of access points into the scheme, and that they are well distributed having regard to the main production areas. The outcome of the tender for OTMS slaughtering services, together with the unchanged network of 170 markets registered to collect OTMS cattle (10 of which are in Devon), fully meet these requirements.