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The Earl of Caithness asked Her Majesty's Government:
- With regard to the foot and mouth outbreak, how they reconcile the phrase used by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on 26 April "as the disease is brought under control" with his remark on 13 March on BBC Radio 4, "I am certain that we have it under control".[HL1944]
Baroness Hayman: From the outset we have had a range of control measures in place. That these have been effective in controlling the disease is shown by the rapid decline in the number of confirmed cases.
The Earl of Caithness asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman on 2 May (WA 270), when the policy of disinfecting stock before burning was announced; how it was disseminated to farmers; and what checks have been made to ensure that all stock were sprayed before being burned; and[HL2090]
Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman on 2 May (WA 270), whether there is an increased risk of disease or pollutants being spread by the burning of sprayed as opposed to unsprayed stock.[HL2091]
Baroness Hayman: Carcasses are sprayed with an approved disinfectant before burning, which destroys any virus on the outside of the animal and so reduces the risk of any infection spreading at this stage. This is an established policy, contained in the standing instructions to the field State Veterinary Service. The procedure of spraying carcasses has not been specifically publicised to farmers. Disinfection of carcasses is the responsibility of my department. The procedure is supervised at all times by an appropriate person.
Expert advice from the Environment Agency is that there is no difference in air pollution between burning sprayed and unsprayed carcasses.
The Earl of Caithness asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman on 2 May (WA 270), when the research into the effects of quicklime on carcasses was done; and by whom.[HL2093]
Baroness Hayman: The addition of quicklime to carcasses is an historical practice and was done for the purpose of killing organisms such as anthrax spores. It is not necessary in this situation, as the foot and mouth virus is killed by the natural decomposition process. No recent research into the effects of lime on carcasses has been undertaken.
Veterinary Laboratories Agency
Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What targets have they set the Veterinary Laboratories Agency for 2001-02[HL2151]
Baroness Hayman: The Veterinary Laboratories Agency has been set the following performance targets for 2001-02. >Efficiency
- To achieve procurement savings of £400k.
- Set a baseline (first six months) and improve (second six months) the proportion of overheads against turnover.
Service Delivery
- To achieve 85 per cent of ROAME R&D milestones.
- To deliver 92 per cent of export tests to published turnaround times.
- Draw up a numerical transparent customer satisfaction system in agreement with customers.
Service Quality
- To achieve a satisfactory outcome of VLA's independent scientific audit.
- Achieve ISO9000 certification for biotechnology.
- Achieve UKAS accreditation for laboratory testing at Lasswade.
- To achieve UKAS accreditation for mycoplasma serology, culture and identification.
Financial Control
- To recover the full economic cost (before exceptional items and calculated in accordance with resource accounting principles) of its services.
- To achieve an overall income of at least £56.3 million from MAFF, including the work won in open competition.
Pesticides Safety Directorate
Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What targets they have set the Pesticides Safety Directorate for 2001-02.[HL2152]
Baroness Hayman: The Pesticides Safety Directorate has been set the following performance targets for 2001-02. Service Quality
- To deliver the throughput of applications and processing times set out in the plan.
- To deliver high quality policy advice to Ministers and positively respond to their policy objectives.
- To deliver high quality scientific work.
- To implement a quality scheme: the objective will be to provide a framework that enables an improvement in quality, efficiency and consistency (verified by customer satisfaction results).
Efficiency
- To achieve efficiency savings of 2 per cent in administration costs.
Financial Control
- To recover from industry and Government the full economic cost (calculated according to resource principles) of its services.
| Application type | Planned receipts | Planned completions | Processing time (weeks) |
| New Active Substances | |||
| Sift | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| Evaluation--full | 8 | 7 | 48 |
| --resubmission | 4 | 4 | 48 |
| Post Annex 1 Approvals | 30 | 30 | -- |
| Reviews--UK | |||
| UK anticholinesterase review programme | -- | 15 | -- |
| --full reviews | |||
| Other UK review activity | 3 | 9 | -- |
| UK review regulatory notices | -- | 26 | -- |
| Reviews--EC | |||
| EU rapporteur reviews | -- | -- | -- |
| Total | 53 | 99 | (1)90% |
(1)The figures for new substances and reviews are based on work in hand and forecasts from industry and the Commission.
(1) Overall targets--90 per cent of applications with a stated processing time must be completed within that time.
Application type Planned
receipts Planned
completions Processing
time
(weeks)
Normal 165 180 35
Associated Fast-Normals 55 60 35
Departmental Normal 5 5 45
Departmental Experimental Approval 2 2 45
Departmental Off Label 1 1 45
Assessed Experimental Approval 2 2 20
Extrapolated Experimental Approval 2 2 10
Emergency Off Label 25 25 10
Non-emergency Off Label 40 40 30
Fast 220 220 10
Parallel imports 50 50 10
Administrative Fast 650 650 4
Administrative Experimental 100 100 1
Simplified own-use parallel 10 10 2
Mutual recognition 3 3 20
Total 1,330 1,350 --
Total (Tables 1 & 2) 1,383 1,449 (1)90%
Veterinary Medicines Directorate
Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What targets they have set the Veterinary Medicines Directorate for 2001-02.[HL2153]
Baroness Hayman: The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has been set the following performance targets for 2001-02. Safety and Quality:
- To provide high quality scientific assessment work.
- To provide high quality policy advice to Ministers.
- To comply with the timetables for entering suspected adverse reactions (SAR) reports set out in the plan and to report to the Veterinary Products Committee each quarter reviewing trends in SAR reports and identifying areas requiring evaluation.
- Enter human reports onto the database within two working days.
- Enter serious animal reports onto the database within two working days.
- Enter non-serious animal reports onto the database within 10 working days.
- To meet, in full, the requirements of the National Residues Surveillance Plans.
- Standards of Service.
- To comply with the timetables for handling applications under the centralised, decentralised and UK procedures set out in the plan.
-
Centralised Procedures:
- All assessments (including maximum residues limits) to be submitted within timetables agreed with the European Medicines Evaluation Agency.
Decentralised Procedures:
- All authorisations to be determined within the regulatory timetables.
-
UK Procedures:
- 93 per cent of new marketing authorisations to be determined or referred to the Veterinary Products Committee within 120 clock days; all to be determined within 210 clock days.
- Type 1 variations
- Average time to complete first assessment to be 25 clock days.
- Average time to sign off assessment to be 50 clock days.
- 99 per cent of applications to be signed off by 60 clock days.
- Type 2 variations
- Average time to complete first assessment to be 55 clock days.
- Average time to sign of assessment to be 110 clock days.
- 99 per cent of applications to be signed off by 120 clock days.
- Old variations.
- Average time to complete first assessment to be 70 clock days.
- Average time to sign off assessment to be 140 clock days.
- 99 per cent of applications to be signed off by 150 clock days.
- Renewals
- Average time to complete first assessment to be 80 clock days.
- Average time to sign off assessment to be 165 clock days.
- 99 per cent of applications to be signed off by 180 clock days.
Efficiency:
- To continue to collect data for 2001-02 with a view to establishing a three year rolling efficiency index. To establish a numerical baseline for timeliness of delivery from the results of the customer satisfaction surveys.
Financial Control:
- To recover from industry and government the full economic cost taken as a whole of its main business activities of licensing and surveillance, policy work and residue monitoring without any cross subsidy between businesses.
Central Science Laboratory
Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What targets they have set the Central Science Laboratory for 2001-02.[HL2154]
Baroness Hayman: The Central Science Laboratory has been set the following performance targets for 2001-02. Financial Control:
- To recover the full economic costs of operation on a resource accounting basis, recognising the normal costs of operation.
Efficiency:
- To deliver the efficiency targets set out in the Business Plan.
- Achieve a ratio of 79:21 or better of direct fee-earning staff in relation to total overhead staff.
- Achieve a minimum of £73k income per fee earner.
- Achieve a minimum of £21k non-MAFF income per fee earner.
Quality and Service Delivery:
- To achieve a minimum of 85 per cent of project milestones in MAFF commissioned projects.
- To achieve a mean score of 3.7 on a scale of 0 to 5 for the assessment of customer satisfaction using the revised methodology.
- To implement a new financial system by March 2002.
- To manage the agency in an effective manner.
Millennium Dome: Sale
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 26 April (WA 232), how many of the informal expressions of interest for the Dome include the retention of the Dome structure.[HL2123]
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): The vast majority.
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