HC Deb 19 November 2003 vol 413 cc903-4W
Gregory Barker

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made with measures to support British pig farmers; and if she will make a statement. [137249]

Mr. Bradshaw

This Government has done and will continue to do what it can to help the pig sector. Since December 2000 over £63 million of taxpayers money, comprising £21.8 million for ongoers and £15.6 million for outgoers under the Pig Industry Restructuring Scheme and some £26 million in relation to Classical Swine Fever, has gone or will go direct to pig farmers as well as £200 million of indirect support in areas such as private storage aid schemes, export refunds, development grants and market promotion.

We meet frequently with representatives of the pig industry to discuss the challenges they face and have pledged to continue to encourage all parts of the pigmeat supply chain to work together, with ourselves and with Sir Don Curry's Implementation Group, in order to build a sustainable future for all sections of the industry. The Department helped to sponsor the first World Pork Congress in June and assisted industry in getting the approval of the Pigmeat Management Committee to use a new method of carcase grading—Autofom—in Great Britain.

In addition the Red Meat Industry Forum has made a successful start in providing information designed to help improve competitiveness for all the players in the red meat supply chain. In particular, this includes benchmarking for pig producers.

We will also be publishing a 10 year Animal Health and Welfare Strategy next spring, after a comprehensive consultation process. The aim of the Strategy is to improve the health and welfare of animals kept by man, and protect public health from animal disease. One major initiative of the Strategy, will be the publication of dedicated sector based sub-strategies, based on a partnership approach between Government and industry. We have been working closely with the pig sector over the past 12 months to help develop such a sub-strategy, which I believe will be launched later this year.

On illegal imports, we have made much progress in implementing our Action Plan in the past two years. Successes include the transfer of anti-smuggling responsibilities to HM Customs, new risk assessments are being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, looking at the risk of illegally imported meat. These assessments will be published next year. We are also raising awareness of the import rules among travellers, using a wide variety of methods to get our messages across.

The Department has been active in persuading overseas authorities to accept UK exports again. Last year an Export Certification Users Group was set up for live pigs, their genetic material, meat and products. The Group meets regularly to identify priority export markets which remain closed and it also enables us to consider export certification for potential markets abroad.

Furthermore we recently launched the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative to procure food in a manner that promotes sustainable development. Its aim is to encourage public bodies to procure food in a manner that promotes sustainable development and to provide greater opportunities for small and local suppliers to compete for public sector business.

The Government is also making rapid progress on setting up a National Fallen Stock Scheme to help reduce costs to farmers, including pig farmers, for disposing of their fallen stock. We are aware of the pig industry's concerns about biosecurity and will consult the industry on the scheme's biosecurity conditions before issuing. The Directors who will sit on the Board of the Company that will run the scheme have now been selected by industry interests and formally appointed and we hope that the scheme will be up and running early in the new year.

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