§ Andrew George:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to (a) review compensation arrangements for all notifiable diseases in farm animals and (b) review the information systems used to administer and record compensation payments for each notifiable disease. [131872]
§ Mr. Bradshaw:(a) We intend to consult on proposals to rationalise existing compensation arrangements for all notifiable animal diseases later this year. The main aim of the exercise will be to increase transparency and operational simplicity by creating a single approach for all notifiable diseases.
(b) Work is in hand to improve business processes for bovine tuberculosis (TB) in Animal Health Offices and this includes the systems used to administer and record TB compensation payments.
§ Andrew George:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the levels of compensation available for bovine TB reactors in the context of known market values over each of the last five years for which records are available. [131873]
§ Mr. Bradshaw:An internal audit review of compensation paid for animals slaughtered as part of the TB control strategy has found a steady increase in valuations in England since the compensation rate was changed to 100 per cent. of average market price in 1998. However, the auditors concluded that finding data against which TB valuations can be compared in a meaningful way is not a straightforward process.
The total amount of compensation paid in GB from 1998–99 to 2002–03 is given in the table. 134W
Expenditure on TB compensation payments in Great Britain 1998–99 and 2002–03
£000 Financial year GB expenditure on TB compensation
1998–99 3,491 1999–2000 5,303 2000–01 6,632 2001–02 9,243 2002–03 31,146