To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were employed to conduct farm inspections by each inspection body for which his Department is responsible in each of the last five years. (240666)

The Veterinary Medicine Directorate employs five inspectors. This has been the case for the last five years.

The Plant Health Seed Inspectorate year-end figures for the last five years are:

Over the past five years, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has employed between 265 and 278 (full-time equivalent) (FTE) inspectors to conduct a range of farm and trader inspections under Common Agricultural Policy and United Kingdom schemes. Most of these inspectors are multi-skilled, trained to conduct single payment scheme and cross-compliance inspections, including livestock identification inspections, as well as rural development scheme inspections on behalf of Natural England. The number of farm inspectors, on an FTE basis, employed by RPA at the end of each of the last five financial years is as follows:

Central Science Laboratory's GM Inspectorate undertakes field inspection where consents for release of genetically modified organisms for research purposes have been granted by the Secretary of State under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the

Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002. Research

trials may be carried out on premises such as private farms and research institutes.

Details of full-time equivalent staff employed in the GM Inspectorate in each of the last five years are given in the table.

The number of staff employed by Animal Health who are available to carry-out inspections/visits are as follows:

Please note these are a snap-shot at a given point in the year, figures are not available for 2004 (State Veterinary Service—Animal Health's predecessor—was part of DEFRA) and 2005.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people were employed to conduct farm inspections by each inspection body which is the responsibility of his Department in each of the last five years. (241024)

The Veterinary Medicine Directorate employs five inspectors. This has been the case for the last five years.

The Plant Health Seed Inspectorate year-end figures for the last five years are:

Over the past five years, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has employed between 265 and 278 (full-time equivalent) (FTE) inspectors to conduct a range of farm and trader inspections under common agricultural policy and United Kingdom schemes. Most of these inspectors are multi-skilled, trained to conduct Single Payment Scheme and cross-compliance inspections, including livestock identification inspections, as well as rural development scheme inspections on behalf of Natural England. The number of farm inspectors, on an FTE basis, employed by RPA at the end of each of the last five financial years is as follows:

Central Science Laboratory’s GM Inspectorate undertakes field inspection where consents for release of genetically modified organisms for research purposes have been granted by the Secretary of State under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) Regulations 2002. Research trials may be carried out on premises such as private farms and research institutes.

Details of full-time equivalent staff employed in the GM Inspectorate in each of the last five years are given as follows.

The number of staff employed by Animal Health who are available to carry-out inspections/visits are as follows: