§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the British Cattle Movement Service database. [80453]
§ Margaret BeckettThe accuracy of the Cattle Tracing Scheme database, which is kept by the British Cattle Movement Service, depends on the accuracy of the data supplied to it by cattle keepers. Currently, around one in five birth registrations and more than one in five movement notifications have some sort of error or anomaly within them.
§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many representations have been received regarding the loss of cattle passport tear-off slips by the Cattle Movement Service; and if she will make a statement. [80884]
§ Alun MichaelSome 22,000 representations have been made to the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) since May this year about notifications which were alleged to have been sent to the BCMS but have not been received there and entered on the cattle tracing system (CTS) database.
In addition the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has received an estimated 45,000 representations (telephone calls, e-mails and letters) about bovine scheme and CTS database issues.
Regulations governing the payment of bovine subsidies require that payments should be withheld and penalties applied where the claimants have not fulfilled their legal obligations to make appropriate notifications to the BCMS.