---

Foot and Mouth Disease and Bluetongue

My Lords, I declare an interest as a farmer in West Sussex, which, as everybody knows, is the county next door to Surrey. Therefore, I am concerned about foot and mouth. I am not affected by it at the moment but my family firm had diversified. We no longer have any animals. We were encouraged by the Government to diversify and we are doing so. That means that a lot of people come on to our farm. Therefore, I am much concerned by the fact that the Minister said emphatically that there is no compensation except for culling. I cannot cull any people who come on to my farm. Therefore, I would look for other means of being compensated if the worst happened and I suffered severely, as I might. I shall write to the Minister for further details about the company that runs the Pirbright establishment and exactly what the relationship is between that establishment and the Government. The Minister referred to a report. It is not entirely clear to me whether that report is published and available to the public or whether it is an internal governmental report. If the report has not already established the liability of the company that runs the Pirbright establishment, will further studies be made?