To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Water will include a requirement not to spread waste from rendering plants on agricultural land. [19930]

The spreading of waste on land for the benefit of agriculture is subject to the requirements of the waste management licensing system under Part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Environment Agency is responsible for enforcement of the system.The text of the revised version of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Water has not yet been finalised. However, it is likely to state that any processed animal waste, in solid form, from rendering plants must not be spread on agricultural land and that the Environment Agency should first be consulted before the spreading liquid waste.The aim is to publish the revised Code in 1998.