§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many cattle passports have been issued each year since the start of the scheme. [HL343]
§ Lord WhittyIn the period 1 July 1996 to 28 September 1998 6,388,549 cattle births were registered and passports issued by UK authorities.
Since the opening of the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) the annual GB birth registration and first issue of passport figures have been:
1998 614,147 (28 September-31 December) 1999 2,946,717 2000 3,025,859 2001 2,680,928 2002 2,869,511 2003 2,841,378 (to 3 December 2003)
§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the total cost of the cattle passport scheme in each year since its inception; and what is the breakdown for each year of (a) staff costs; (b) developing and maintaining the necessary software; (c) the associated hardware; and (d) any other costs. [HL344]
158WA
§ Lord WhittyThe British Cattle Movement Service was set up in 1998 to administer the cattle passport scheme. The staff costs for the service since that time are as follows:
£ million 1998–99 2.66 1999–2000 6.56 2000–01 6.67 2001–02 7.75 2002–03 8.85 The cattle passport scheme is administered using the cattle tracing system which cost £14.3 million to develop. In the past two years, maintenance of the Cattle Tracing System has cost £1.1 million and £1 million respectively and software to support the scheme cost £2.88 million and £5.5 million respectively. Non-pay costs in the years 2002–03 were:
£ million 1998–99 2.76 1999–2000 5.49 2000–01 6.58 2001–02 6.49 2002–03 6.94 Prior to 1998, the cattle passport scheme was administered by regional offices of the then MAFF. Figures for this period are not available as they are incorporated into the running costs of other schemes. Development costs before 2002 were administered from budgets outside of the service.