Animal Health Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:45 pm on 22 October 2002.

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Photo of Earl Peel Earl Peel Conservative 6:45, 22 October 2002

My Lords, it may be helpful if I speak to Amendment No. 15. It is grouped with Amendment No. 11.

Disregarding any changes that the Minister wishes to implement in the future—we have seen further evidence of that in the press today; some noble Lords may find it somewhat disquieting—at present the Government compensate owners at the full market value. However, with vaccination likely to play a much greater role in any subsequent outbreak, the compensation issue becomes less generous. Farmers may find themselves worse off if their animals are vaccinated but not slaughtered. Amendment No. 10 deals with slaughtered animals which have been vaccinated. Amendment No. 15 deals with those animals which have been vaccinated but are not slaughtered because they did not contract the disease.

As many noble Lords will be aware, there was some debate during the foot and mouth crisis as to whether vaccination was a viable or desirable option. It has always been alleged that the Prime Minister met with Ben Gill, the President of the National Farmers Union, to discuss the issue. Ben Gill said that he would be happy for vaccination to take place provided that those animals were accepted into the food chain. I understand that that idea was dropped for the simple reason that retailers, in particular the supermarkets, said that they were reluctant to accept such animals.

I am sure the Minister will tell us if that is a gross simplification of events. However, if there is any truth in the matter, it highlights the difficulty for farmers with vaccinated animals. There appears to be a stigma against vaccinated animals. Farmers are likely to be worse off and they will receive no compensation unless the animals are slaughtered.

Another possible situation is that a two-tier market may develop by which farmers are paid a lesser rate for vaccinated stock. New subsection (4C) of Amendment No. 10 states:

"In arriving at a value under subsection (4A) above no account is to be taken of the fact that the animal had been treated with vaccine".

One can deduce from that that the Government are aware that discounted values for vaccinated animals exist, and are likely to exist, thus creating a two-tier market. Should such cases occur, surely the whole vaccination policy will become discredited and farmers will be encouraged to pursue the old slaughter policies—the one thing that we are attempting to get away from.

I fully acknowledge that this a difficult issue for the Government. I also believe that on medical grounds there is no reason why vaccinated animals or their produce should not enter the food chain. But this reluctance to accept vaccinated animals appears to exist. That conflicts with the point which the Minister explained in his letter to me which states:

"The acceptance of products from vaccinated animals entering the food chain is critical to the viability of a vaccinate-to-live policy".

I am sure we all subscribe to that.

It is a probing amendment. I acknowledge that for the Government to embark on a full compensatory scheme for vaccinated animals would be totally inappropriate. However, we have a real problem which needs to be addressed. How do the Government propose to overcome the problem and give those farmers with vaccinated animals the confidence that those animals and their produce will be received into the food chain without discounted values? Presumably discussions are taking place with the Food Standard Agency, the Consumer Council and in particular the retailers. We deserve an explanation as to how the problem can be resolved if the Government will not step in to offer compensation, thus discriminating against those vaccinated animals when there is compensation for slaughtered animals.

We deserve an explanation from the Minister as to how he and his department will ensure that vaccinated animals are not discriminated against in the market place; otherwise I fear that the vaccination scheme will be discredited. Farmers will lose confidence in it. That is the one message we do not want to give out.