§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to the Government of the GM trials taking place in England and Wales is. [113353]
§ Mr. MeacherFour companies and two research institutes currently have consent to undertake GM trials in England. The costs of these trials are borne by the organisations involved. The costs to Government of consideration of the applications, granting and enforcing the consents are recovered through statutory fees and charges. GM trials in Wales and Scotland are the responsibilities of their devolved administrations.
Over the course of the farm scale evaluations of GM herbicide tolerant crops the Government has funded the ecological studies themselves, with all other costs borne by the companies involved. The cost to Government this year, for the last stage of the studies on winter oilseed rape is 258,896, out of a total cost to Government of £5.9 million over four years for all the four crops evaluated.