Foot and Mouth (Hansard, 27 February 2002)

§ Mr. Peter Duncan
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much is owed by her Department to auctioneers and valuers in Scotland in respect of work undertaken in controlling and compensating FMD losses; and if she will make a statement. [36745]

§ Mr. Morley
[holding answer 25 February 2002]: There have been no further developments since the reply I gave the hon. Member on 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 146W.

§ Paddy Tipping
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list those landfill sites used for(a) carcase disposal and (b) ash disposal following the foot and mouth outbreak; if she will list those sites where carcases and ash are to be removed and to where; and what the costs are of this removal and redisposal. [37621]

§ Mr. Morley
From our records 16 landfill sites were used during the 2001 FMD outbreak to dispose of FMD carcases. These are as follows.

1. Cwmni Gwastraf Mon Afon, Wales

2. Poplars Landfill, Staffordshire

3. Distington, Cumbria

4. Hespin Wood, Cumbria

5. Flusco, Cumbria

6. Deep Moor, Devon

7. Chapmans Well, Durham

8. Port Clarence, Middlesbrough

9. Warnham Brickworks, West Sussex

10. Shakespeare Landfill Site, Isle of Grain, Kent

11. Withnell, Lancashire

12. Biffa Waste Disposal, West Midlands

13. Viridor Waste Management, Wiltshire

14. Cory Environmental (Glos.) Ltd., Gloucestershire
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15. Grundon Waste Ltd., Gloucestershire

16. Mercia Waste Management Ltd., Worcestershire

Our records indicate that seven landfill sites have been used to dispose of the ash created from the burning of carcases. These are as follows:

1. Calvert, Buckinghamshire

2. Bishops Cleeve, Gloucestershire

3. Hespin Wood, Cumbria

4. Lillyhall, Cumbria

5. Wilnecote Landfill Site, Staffordshire

6. County Environmental Services Ltd., Cornwall

7. Roseland "Group" Lean Quarry, Cornwall.

The Environment Agency has at the vast majority of burn sites given permission for the ash from pyres to be buried on site after an assessment of the risks to controlled waters. Where it is not possible to dispose of it in this way (eg because groundwater conditions are unsuitable and there is a risk of potassium or other leached salts entering surface or groundwater) the ash is being removed. DEFRA has to date removed ash from 160 sites with a further 10-12 sites programmed for removal, at a budgeted cost of £29.5 million.
According to our records, carcases have been exhumed at two sites in Wales (including the mass burial site at Eppynt). Exhumed carcases were either burnt or rendered. There are no current plans to exhume carcases at other sites.

§ Mr. Luff
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason hon. Members have not received a communication from the Lessons Learned foot and mouth inquiry; and if she will make a statement. [36998]

§ Mr. Morley
I understand that the Lessons Learned inquiry has already begun writing to hon. Members whose constituencies form part of its programme of visits to areas of England, Scotland and Wales most affected by the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The inquiry Chairman is also extending an invitation to meet these hon. Members after his programme of visits has been completed in April. In addition, I understand the inquiry has offered to meet the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

§ Mrs. Ann Winterton
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance is issued by her Department to dairy farmers re-stocking livestock post-foot and mouth disease about the risks of spreading bovine tuberculosis. [37919]

§ Mr. Morley
The Chief Veterinary Officer wrote to all cattle keepers in England in October last year enclosing an advisory leaflet on how to minimise disease risk when restocking and replenishing cattle herds in the aftermath of foot and mouth disease. The leaflet "Golden Rules for a Healthy Herd" (www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/farmers/recovery/cattle—restock.asp) set out advice for purchasers and vendors. Among other matters the letter from the Chief Veterinary Officer drew particular attention to tuberculosis in cattle and a specific leaflet "TB in Cattle: Reducing the Risk" (www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb) was also enclosed.
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A further leaflet on keeping disease out of farms, "Farm Biosecurity Protecting Herd Health", is also available on the internet (www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb).