Foot and Mouth

HC Deb 10 July 2001 vol 371 cc488-94W

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations have been made by the farming community as to the use of foreign vets in efforts to eradicate the foot and mouth crisis. [2178]

Mr. Morley

No representations have been made by the farming community as to the use of foreign vets in efforts to eradicate the foot and mouth crisis.

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government have made of the possibility of foot and mouth disease being spread as a result of burning as a disposal method. [2194]

Mr. Morley

Veterinary advice is that once rigor mortis set in (approximately 24 hours after slaughter) the consequent fall in PH rapidly destroys foot and mouth virus present in muscle tissue. Carcases are soaked in approved disinfectant to destroy any virus on external surfaces and the conditions of cremation are such that any virus surviving in other internal organs (such as lymph nodes or bone marrow) is likely to be destroyed before it could be dispersed from the pyre. Any risk of spread of the virus from a pyre is therefore considered to be minimal.

A collaborative study was carried out with input from the Institute for Animal Health (World Reference Laboratory for foot and mouth disease), the Met Office and DEFRA. The report was published in The Veterinary Record, 12 May 2001, pages 585–86 and concluded that disease outbreaks due to virus dispersion from pyres is unlikely to occur in general and that the data analysed showed no evidence that infection due to this cause has occurred.

Contributors to the publication "Spread of foot-and-mouth disease from the burning of animal carcases on open pyres" were John Gloster, Helen Hewson, David Mackay, Tony Garland, Alex Donaldson, Ian Mason, Richard Brown.

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action will be taken against the officer in Monmouthshire who attempted to shoot sheep in a field at long range. [786]

Mr. Morley

The marksman concerned was contracted to Monmouthshire county council, who have sent a report to the National Assembly of Wales. The Assembly is considering whether further action may be required.

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment the Government have made of the need to protect hill flocks; and what plans there are to do so. [2558]

Mr. Morley

A number of measures have been taken to protect hill flocks while not jeopardising the primary objective of eradicating foot and mouth disease. Following consultation in April, the Government introduced a scheme on 3 May, providing for owners of rare breeds of sheep and goats and hefted sheep to apply for exemptions from the contiguous and 3 km culls. On 11 May exceptional arrangements were introduced for the movement of sheep, cattle and goats to common grazings in order to meet the problems affecting hill flocks. On 5 July special arrangements for sheep movement from common land to deal with shearing and other husbandry practices necessary for the welfare of sheep were also announced. We have also contributed to the establishment of the Heritage gene bank to ensure the retention of genes of sheep breeds indigenous to the UK.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many strains of the foot and mouth virus exist; whether vaccines offer protection against each; and if she will make a statement. [1982]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 4 July 2001]: There are seven serotypes of foot and mouth disease, namely: types O, A, C, South Africa type 1, South Africa type 2, South Africa type 3, and type Asia 1. Vaccination against one of the seven serotypes protects against that serotype but not necessarily against the other six serotypes.

Within the seven serotypes there are strains, some of which are sufficiently different from each other to provide little or no cross-protection. New strains of virus can and do arise in the field.

Vaccines can be manufactured to contain several serotypes and strains of virus appropriate to a given epidemiological situation.

Mr. Drew

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to remove all farms from D notice status within Gloucestershire. [1670]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 3 July 2001]: A substantial amount of surveillance work has already been done in Gloucestershire, but more remains to be carried out. We hope to be able to lift the remaining Protection Zones in Gloucestershire in the next two to three weeks, provided that there are no further outbreaks.

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals have been slaughtered as a result of foot and mouth disease. [2184]

Mr. Morley

As at 2 July, 3,458,000 animals had been compulsorily slaughtered as a result of foot and mouth disease in Great Britain.

This information can be found on the DEFRA foot and mouth disease website (www.defr.gov.uk/footandmouth/) and is updated daily.

Source: DEFRA Disease Control System database—figures subject to revision as more data become available.

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals have been(a) slaughtered and (b) disposed of in each day during the foot and mouth crisis. [2189]

Mr. Morley

The table shows details of the number of animals compulsorily slaughtered and disposed of on each day of the foot and mouth crisis in Great Britain. As at 2 July the cumulative total number of animals slaughtered and disposed of were 3,458,000 and 3,441,000 respectively.

Thousand
Day	Slaughterings	Disposals
23 February 2001	1	0
24 February 2001	0	0
25 February 2001	1	1
26 February 2001	0	1
27 February 2001	2	1
28 February 2001	5	0
1 March 2001	6	0
2 March 2001	7	2
3 March 2001	6	4
4 March 2001	12	3
5 March 2001	4	3
6 March 2001	17	8
7 March 2001	12	8
8 March 2001	4	17
9 March 2001	14	9
10 March 2001	14	9
11 March 2001	13	11

Thousand
Day	Slaughterings	Disposals
12 March 2001	9	5
13 March 2001	14	13
14 March 2001	27	22
15 March 2001	19	15
16 March 2001	29	26
17 March 2001	11	15
18 March 2001	40	23
19 March 2001	21	24
20 March 2001	26	27
21 March 2001	38	27
22 March 2001	53	30
23 March 2001	40	31
24 March 2001	52	51
25 March 2001	42	33
26 March 2001	47	37
27 March 2001	47	29
28 March 2001	56	46
29 March 2001	55	55
30 March 2001	102	75
31 March 2001	86	70
1 April 2001	78	57
2 April 2001	77	83
3 April 2001	90	75
4 April 2001	86	88
5 April 2001	84	110
6 April 2001	98	79
7 April 2001	90	85
8 April 2001	72	84
9 April 2001	81	82
10 April 2001	88	86
11 April 2001	85	76
12 April 2001	74	74
13 April 2001	81	70
14 April 2001	101	76
15 April 2001	78	109
16 April 2001	66	71
17 April 2001	50	63
19 April 2001	71	70
20 April 2001	60	103
21 April 2001	78	67
22 April 2001	47	87
23 April 2001	41	43
24 April 2001	46	67
25 April 2001	23	34
26 April 2001	39	41
27 April 2001	36	56
28 April 2001	27	36
29 April 2001	19	25
30 April 2001	14	41
1 May 2001	17	28
2 May 2001	10	17
3 May 2001	21	15
4 May 2001	8	22
5 May 2001	24	11
6 May 2001	15	16
7 May 2001	11	17
8 May 2001	7	10
9 May 2001	10	12
10 May 2001	12	13
11 May 2001	7	6
12 May 2001	10	8
13 May 2001	4	6
14 May 2001	12	9
15 May 2001	11	10
16 May 2001	7	13
17 May 2001	6	2
18 May 2001	6	5
19 May 2001	14	9
20 May 2001	8	15
21 May 2001	10	12
22 May 2001	11	10
23 May 2001	10	12

Thousand
Day	Slaughterings	Disposals
24 May 2001	23	15
25 May 2001	16	19
26 May 2001	12	11
27 May 2001	14	15
28 May 2001	11	8
29 May 2001	9	14
30 May 2001	10	12
31 May 2001	5	6
1 June 2001	12	11
2 June 2001	5	9
3 June 2001	12	5
4 June 2001	18	15
5 June 2001	11	19
6 June 2001	5	7
7 June 2001	8	7
8 June 2001	6	4
9 June 2001	7	7
10 June 2001	5	6
11 June 2001	16	7
12 June 2001	6	15
13 June 2001	13	13
14 June 2001	7	6
15 June 2001	4	1
16 June 2001	18	11
17 June 2001	9	11
18 June 2001	7	12
19 June 2001	8	6
20 June 2001	12	9
21 June 2001	4	7
22 June 2001	3	2
23 June 2001	6	7
24 June 2001	9	3
25 June 2001	7	15
26 June 2001	2	2
27 June 2001	4	2
28 June 2001	2	2
29 June 2001	4	3
30 June 2001	4	3
1 July 2001	5	3
2 July 2001	1	2

Source:

DEFRA Disease Control System database—figures subject to revision as more data become available

David Maclean

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the duration of the current foot and mouth disease outbreak. [2181]

Mr. Morley

Because of its nature, the Chief Veterinary Officer has always said that the outbreak would have a long tail. Stock owners can assist by carrying out biosecurity measures as recommended.

Mr. Laurence Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements are being made to compensate farmers whose livestock passed the 30-month deadline but could not be sent to abattoirs because of foot and mouth; and if she will make a statement. [2943]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 9 July 2001]: I appreciate that producers of clean cattle which cannot be marketed at under 30 months of age by virtue of foot and mouth disease movement restrictions will suffer a significant loss of return when such cattle are eventually sold into the over-30-month scheme (OTMS). We are alive to this problem and are considering what action might be appropriate in the context of further measures.

Our first priority must, however, be to isolate and eradicate the disease, so that normal patterns of marketing can be restored. Once this has been done, we will be in a better position to determine the extent to which producers have been obliged to retain cattle which would have been sold at under 30 months of age but which had subsequently to go into the OTMS, and the extent of resultant losses.

Mr. Soames

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will order a public inquiry into the current outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. [2094]

Mr. Morley

There will be an inquiry, when the disease is finally over. We have always said we are keen to learn the lessons from this outbreak. The precise nature and scope of the inquiry will as such be a matter for the Prime Minister.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many sheep in upland areas her Department has tested for foot and mouth; how many and what percentage carried the foot and mouth antibody; and if she will make a statement; [1489]

(2) which flocks of upland sheep and at what locations in the UK have been tested for foot and mouth disease; and how many and what percentage were found to be positive. [1981]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 2 and 4 July 2001]: The Department does not categorise sheep flocks sampled for serological testing as "upland" or "lowland". There has, however, been specific testing of hefted sheep which are all found in upland areas. To date, 1,727 adult sheep in 29 hefted flocks have been sampled.

The distribution of these flocks by regional office is as follows:

• Carlisle: 14
• Exeter: 2
• Ayr: 11
• Leeds: 1
• Cardiff: 1.

Regulation	Section	Consultation commended	Date regulations in force
Regulations regarding mapping of access land and consultation on draft maps	Section 11	March 2001	October 2001
Regulations regarding the establishment of LAFs and the appointment of members	Section 94 (Part V)	July 2001	December 2001
Regulations regarding issue of provisional maps, appeals, and issue of conclusive maps	Section 11	October 2001	April 2002
Regulations regarding dedication of land for access	Section 16	October 2001	March 2002
Regulations relating to exclusion or restriction of access under Chapter II, including appeals	Section 32	November 2001	May 2002
Regulations on removal or relaxation of restrictions on access land and to exclude access in emergencies	Paragraph 7, Schedule 2; Section 31	November 2002	May 2003
Regulations on appeals relating to notices	Section 38	February 2003	August 2003
Regulations regarding review of conclusive maps	Section 11	February 2004	August 2004
References to public places in existing enactments	Section 42	To review before general implementation of right of access

No animal was found to have antibodies.

Throughout England and Wales, 492,553 sheep and goats have been blood tested (as at 28 June). We have results from 471,746 animals (at 3 July) which indicate that 0.28 per cent. were antibody-positive.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many documented cases have been brought to her attention involving the slaughter of animals, as part of the programme of control of foot and mouth, which were carried out in inappropriate ways. [1491]

Mr. Morley

[holding answer 2 July 2001]: No such cases have been brought to my attention since my right hon. Friend became Secretary of State in this Department. However, since the start of the foot and mouth outbreak six cases have been brought to the attention of Ministers, where it was alleged that animals had not been dealt with humanely. These incidents have been investigated and appropriate action taken.