§ Mr. HurstTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures his Department is taking to help small and medium-sized abattoirs. [159371]
§ Ms QuinThe Government have agreed to transfer £8.7 million per year for the next three years to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to enable them to implement the principal recommendations of the Maclean Task Force Report on charging for Meat Hygiene Service inspections in abattoirs and cutting plants. The Taskforce considered that in view of what it saw as a serious threat to small and medium-sized abattoirs and cutting plants, the Government should contribute to the costs of meat inspection in Great Britain. The Taskforce recommended that the Government should therefore change their policy of requiring the Meat Hygiene Service to recover as much as possible of its hygiene inspection costs from the meat industry (since this is not required by EU rules on charging). It recommends that the current method of charging for meat inspections on an hourly basis should be changed and that, instead, all abattoirs and cutting plants should be charged the standard (headage) fees laid down in the EU Charges Directive or their actual inspection costs where these are lower.
Implementation of the Maclean recommendations will significantly reduce inspection charges levied on many small and medium-sized meat plants and will be of considerable benefit to rural communities. We will be monitoring developments and giving further consideration as to how to maintain a sufficient number of small and medium-sized abattoirs.
§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of slaughterhouses in the UK; and what assessment he has made of(a) the additional costs to farmers, (b) the animal welfare implications and (c) the impact on the environment from extra transport movements resulting from the contraction in the number of slaughterhouses since 1979. [159593]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 30 April 2001]: Abattoir numbers have been declining year on year for more than 20 years, in response to commercial pressures and demand in particular areas. There is intense competition between slaughterhouses, both for throughput and for customers, and profit margins are low.
606WDespite the reduction in abattoir numbers over recent years there remains a spread of abattoirs across the country. However, where animals do have to travel, such journeys must comply with the Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997 which sets out in some detail a variety of measures designed to protect animals, including maximum journey times, vehicle standards, transporter competence, etc. These rules are, of course, rigorously enforced.