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Agricultural Policy

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman, who is right to highlight the excellent pioneering work undertaken at the university and IBERS. There is an opportunity to build Aberystwyth as a critical hub in these matters. I welcome what the Minister said about the review by the advisory board looking into surveillance issues. However, I remain convinced that we must retain a laboratory presence in south-west and west Wales, given the scale of the livestock population, the distances involved, and the transport of carcases and samples not be dealt with by post. Concerns were raised in both Select Committees about the potential for decay in samples in transit. What are the contingency plans of AHVLA? Work was undertaken in Carmarthen at the time of foot and mouth disease, and there was expertise and scope for work on the previous Assembly Government’s TB-eradication programme. I am clear where we stand on that now, but there was scope and potential to develop further that Carmarthen site. Should such sites not be developed as centres to gather information about diseases, in other words surveillance centres? The Minister said that the advisory board is looking into surveillance issues. I question the timing of that. We are facing closures post-2013 in Aberystwyth and Carmarthen. How do those closures fit in with the opportunities hopefully afforded by the advisory group on surveillance? These are genuine concerns. I appreciate that we are talking about comparatively small numbers of people. I think the figure of 10 in Carmarthen has been mentioned, and maybe one or two jobs in Aberystwyth. However, they are key skilled jobs. There may be some redeployment opportunities elsewhere, or there may not. I am concerned that Wales will lose its last laboratories and their associated expertise.