§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when he expects the European Commission's country by country assessments of the geographical 571W bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk of small ruminants (a) to be sent to this Department and (b) to be published; [64110]
(2) what representations he has made to the European Commission about the time scale for the completion and publication of the country by country assessment of the geographical bovine spongiform encephalopathy risk of small ruminants; [64111]
§ Ms BlearsI am advised by the Food Standards Agency, that the agency's board endorsed a report on BSE and sheep from a core group of stakeholders at its meeting in Armagh on June 13. The report contained a recommendation that the agency should request that European Commission accelerate the provision of country by country BSE risk categorisation for small ruminants. The agency has formally registered the report with the Commission, but does not yet have information on the time scale for the completion of the risk categorisation.