§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to(a) small and (b) large abattoirs of inspection charges; and if he will make a statement on the levying of charges on (i) a per head basis and (ii) a per hour basis. [153268]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 12 March 2001]: We have accepted the recommendation of the Meat Inspection Charges Task Force (the "Maclean Group") that the current method of charging for meat inspections on an hourly basis should be changed and that all abattoirs and cutting plants should instead be charged the standard (headage/throughput) fees laid down in the European Union Charges Directive or their actual inspection costs where these are lower.
The Statutory Instrument (SI) giving effect (in England) to this recommendation—The Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) (Charges) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2001—was laid before Parliament on 9 March 2001 and, subject to parliamentary approval, will come into force on 2 April 2001. (Similar legislation is being made in Wales and Scotland).
The Regulatory Impact Assessment accompanying the SI gives examples of the impact of these changes on the level of meat inspection charges incurred by certain abattoirs. For example, a small plant (100 livestock units
96Wafter the submission of the first draft of the FBC to the regional office. Details of the schemes concerned are shown in the table.
The regional offices of the NHS executive have a dual role. They are responsible for helping NHS trusts to develop their business cases for investment in computer systems. They are also responsible for approving the business case, working jointly with NHS executive headquarters as necessary. Where several months elapse between submission of the first draft of the FBC and approval of the final version, much of this time is likely to be taken up by the development of the FBC rather than the formal process of approval.
per annum) would see its annual inspection charges fall from £3,500 to £200. And a medium-sized plant (16,300 livestock units per annum) plant would see its annual charges fall from £ 107,200 to £49,200. A number of plants with very large annual throughputs will, however, continue to be charged their actual inspection costs (calculated on a per hour basis) since these will be lower than the charge calculated on a throughput basis.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abattoirs there were in(a) the UK and (b) the region in which the Lewes constituency is located in every year since 1979. [153266]
§ Ms StuartThe table gives the number of licensed red meat and licensed poultry meat abattoirs from 1979 to 2000, where available, in the United Kingdom and the county of East Sussex, which includes the Lewes constituency.
97W
United Kingdom East Sussex Red meat Poultry meat Red meat Poultry meat 1979 1,159 — — — 1980 1,123 — — — 1981 1,084 — — — 1982 1,005 — — — 1983 1,036 1115 — — 1984 1,024 1112 — — 1985 1,013 1112 — —
United Kingdom East Sussex Red meat Poultry meat Red meat Poultry meat 1986 973 1106 — — 1987 951 1108 — — 1988 929 1108 1989 825 2118 — — 1990 783 2110 — — 1991 726 119 — — 1992 671 117 — — 1993 542 120 2 0 1994 527 165 2 2 1995 500 180 2 3 1996 484 182 2 3 1997 472 171 1 3 1998 451 171 1 3 1999 432 157 1 2 2000 420 144 1 2 1England and Wales 2Great Britain