§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of(a) the number of sheep and (b) the proportion of the national flock which were born before the imposition of the ban on feeding animal protein to ruminants and are still alive. [65467]
§ Margaret Beckett[holding answer 1 July 2002]: Pursuant to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 8 July 2002, Official Report, column 695W. My answer referred to an estimate that the number of sheep still alive
1150W
EC directives transposed in the whole of the UK and notified in 2002 for which DEFRA took the lead Directive number Directive name 2002/8/EC Minimum conditions for examining vegetables and agricultural varieties 2001/109/EC Statistical surveys to be carried out by member states to determine potential of certain species of fruit trees 2001/57/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2001/49/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2001/48/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2001/47/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2001/39/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2001/36/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2001/35/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2001/33/EC Organisms harmful to plants 2001/32/EC Recognising protected zones exposed to particular plant health risks 2001/28/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2001/21/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2000/82/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2000/81/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2000/80/EC Placing of plant protection products on the market 2000/58/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues 2000/57/EC Fixing of maximum levels of pesticide residues which were born before 1 August 1996 is less than 500, representing approximately three per cent. of the UK national flock. This is incorrect. The number of sheep still alive which were born before 1 August 1996 is 500,000, representing approximately three per cent. of the national flock of around 17 million breeding sheep. The rest of the answer remains correct.