Chamber and committees

The Executive will continue to frame its statutory public health controls on the basis of the precautionary principle, underpinned by the latest available medical and scientific advice which is reviewed regularly. It is not possible to anticipate when such advice might change.

The requirement for spinal cords to be removed from ewe carcasses is one of a range of precautionary public health measures introduced in the wake of the emergence of BSE in the UK cattle herd. The requirement will be relaxed only when expert scientific advice indicates that it would be safe to do so. The current advice is that this measure should remain in place for the time being. The Executive will continue to be guided by such advice.

The Scottish Executive fully supports the approach taken by the UK Government to resolve the continuing French ban on exports of British beef. Scottish Ministers and their officials are actively involved in determining the UK's response to the concerns of the French, which seeks to safeguard the long term interests of Scotland's beef industry.

Scottish Ministers and their officials have been, and continue to be, in regular contact with their opposite numbers in Whitehall on this issue and are actively involved in determining the UK response to the continuing French ban. The Scottish Executive fully supports the approach taken to resolve this matter in the best interests of Scotland's beef industry.

Meat products are defined in EC law and the labelling requirements are largely harmonised at EC level. These requirements are implemented in Scotland by the Food Labelling Regulations 1996. They require that the particulars of country of origin or provenance be provided on a label if failure to give such particulars might mislead the purchaser to a material degree as to the true origin or provenance of the food. There are currently no proposals to amend these Regulations.

The Scottish Executive intends to lift the controls on beef on the bone as soon as medical advice justifies such action.

At present there is a difference of professional view between the Chief Medical Officer for England and the CMOs for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the evidence available. All the CMOs agree that the ban should not be lifted on manufactured beef products. The Scottish CMO, in common with his professional colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland, however, remains concerned that there is insufficient evidence available to underpin a recommendation to lift the ban now on visible cuts of meat. The Scottish CMO does not consider that there is enough scientific certainty to depart from the current precautionary stance and recommends that the ban stays in place. The Scottish Executive has accepted his advice.We will, however, continue to keep the position under review and as indicated, the ban will be lifted as soon as the medical advice indicates that it is safe to do so.

The Chief Medical Officer keeps under review all relevant developments concerning BSE and vCJD epidemics and pays particular heed to information relating to the bone-in-beef ban. The production by the Oxford Group of their risk estimates concerning maternal transmission, due now in November, would prompt a review of all the factors relating to these Regulations, and consideration of the validity of interim advice which is updated on these occasions. If no change appears appropriate at that time, the CMO proposed that a further exercise would take place in January 2000 to examine all the information then available. The terms "review" and "reappraisal" are interchangeable and in this particular context the CMO referred to the exercise in January 2000 as a reappraisal.

Maritime safety and the responsibilities of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are matters reserved to the UK Government. Fishermen's interests are included in the Scottish Executive's continuing liaison with the UK Government on all relevant matters.

Information on farming incomes in Scotland is not collected on a monthly basis.

Information on Scottish farm incomes at the aggregate level for the latest five years and information at farm type level for the latest two years are available in the 1999 Edition of the Economic Report on Scottish Agriculture available from the Stationery Office and from the Scottish Executive website.The forecast figures for 1999 at both the aggregate and farm type level will be available by means of a press release on the pre-announced publication date of Monday 31 January 2000.

This information is not held by the Scottish Executive.