Cattle Compensation (England) Order 2006

My Lords, quite a lot of farmers still make profits and I should be very surprised if many farmers did not have to pay some sort of income tax. You cannot separate farmers from income tax payers; farmers are members of the public and they also pay income tax. I was asked a number of questions and I shall do my best to answer them. The one I feel most unsure about answering was that put by the noble Viscount. That is because his letter did arrive at the end of January—I apologise to him if I queried that—but it seems not to have been linked with this debate, as I believe it should have been. If my reply to the noble Viscount is unsatisfactory, which it may well be, I shall certainly write to him with a full answer. I was asked whether cattle owners should be compensated for their consequential loss—in other words, milk income. Under Section 32 of the Animal Health Act 1981 and Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the legal obligation is to pay compensation only for the loss of property of which the owner is deprived. The noble Baroness asked whether the system is to be introduced throughout Great Britain. The answer is no—animal health controls are devolved. The Welsh Assembly Government have decided to introduce a system identical to the one that will be introduced in England, although at a slightly later date. The Scottish Executive has taken the decision not to change its existing compensation procedures. I described how the system will be reviewed. I turn to Articles 6(1) and 6(2), which the noble Viscount asked me about. If an animal is identified as a reactor before 1 February but compensation has not already been calculated, the animal will fall under the old system by virtue of Article 6(2). Articles 6(1) covers animals slaughtered for brucellosis or EBL where compensation has been calculated before 1 February. Article 6(2) concerns transition arrangements for TB slaughtered animals. Will owners of dairy animals be under-compensated? Compensation is based on actual and contemporaneous sale prices achieved for same-category but healthy animals. Data will be collected from a variety of sources, including disbursal sales and breed sales. Data will therefore be captured for animals not normally sold at the regular markets. On the question why there is no category for pedigree beef under six months, that principle was developed with the aid of industry advisers. The usual practice is that they will not be registered before six months, but the Compensation Advisory Committee will look at those categories in due course. I am conscious that I have not responded adequately to the noble Viscount, but I shall write a full and proper response as quickly as possible.