HL Deb 10 February 2003 vol 644 c62WA
Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to their response to the reports of the foot and mouth disease inquiries (CM5637,) what progress has been made on the consultation into rationalised compensation proposals. [HL1436]

Lord Whitty

The arrangements for compensation for different animal diseases have been brought into effect on a case-by-case basis. Inevitably the overall approach has become fragmented and inconsistent. The Government therefore plan to consult on a rationalisation of compensation arrangements for animal diseases in the early summer.

Officials are currently examining options for simplified legislation that sets out a single compensation mechanism that can be applied to all notifiable animal diseases. Consideration is being given to how livestock market prices can be used to calculate transparently a national average market price for different categories of livestock.