§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of who will take over the role of disposing of fallen stock if the number of hunts are reduced as a consequence of the bill. [89011]
§ Alun MichaelThe European Union's Animal Byproducts Regulation will ban routine on-farm burial and burning of animal carcases from 30 April 2003. This will mean that the existing fallen stock service provided by a number of hunts could only continue with considerable investment in new equipment. So the future of the hunts' service is in doubt irrespective of the236WS Hunting Bill. The Government has been holding discussions with the livestock and disposal industry with the aim of developing a national fallen stock scheme.