To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will publish his Government's policy for rural areas. [36029]

The Government have made very clear their commitment to opportunity, fairness and prosperity for all, whether they live in country or city. Our policies

Member state	Date	Effect of legislation
Austria	December 1990	Feeding to ruminants of MBM, meat, bone, blood, liver and similar meals banned
Denmark	1990	Ban on ruminant derived feed being fed to ruminants
Finland	1990	Feeding of imported animal protein banned
France	1990	MBM banned from bovine feed
Italy	November 1989	Ban on import of ruminant MBM from UK and Republic of Ireland
Netherlands	August 1989	Ban on feeding ruminant MBM, meat meal, bonemeal and blood to ruminants
	1994	Ban extended to cover mammalian MBM fed to ruminants
Republic of Ireland	August 1990	Ban on feeding ruminants with protein derived from ruminants
Sweden	December 1990	Meat and bone products from ruminants banned from ruminant feed
	December 1993	Ban extended to all products from ruminants except fats, milk and milk products

We believe that Belgium, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain had no national measures in places prior to the introduction of EU-wide measures.We are not aware of any rules prohibiting the feeding of mammalian protein to non-ruminant livestock except for those in place in the UK.

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what tonnage of meat and bone meal was used in animal rations in each of the five years preceding its prohibition. [36691]

The tonnages of meat and bone meal used by the Great Britain animal feed compound industry in the years preceding its prohibition were:

Year	Thousand tonnes
1991	Not readily available
1992	212
1993	211
1994	212
1995	209