§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when she intends to bring forward legislation to place the national scrapie plan on a statutory basis; [61536]
(2) by what date she intends to make compliance with the national scrapie plan compulsory. [61537]
§ Mr. MorleyIn addition to provisions relating to foot and mouth disease, the Animal Health Bill provides for enabling powers to make for the genotyping of sheep compulsory. This would accelerate the development of a national flock which is resistant to TSEs. These powers would provide a legal-enabling basis for making it compulsory to comply with, and participate in, the national scrapie plan. As part of the original consultation it was made clear that these measures would be compulsory at some stage. We will continue to discuss timescales with the sheep industry and we are progressing with the scheme on a voluntary basis.
A motion was passed in another place on 26 March 2002 that postpones further consideration on the Animal Health Bill in its entirety until the Government have published their response to the consultation on implementation of powers in the Bill, and published the findings of the Royal Society inquiry into foot and mouth disease and the National Audit Office value for money evaluation. These two studies are due to report this summer.