asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Answer by Lord Rooker to the Oral Question of Lord Livsey of Talgarth on 26 June that the United Kingdom has adopted a voluntary scheme of vaccination control for bluetongue, whether they expect to benefit from co-financing from the European Union for this programme. [HL4483]

Under European Union (EU) law, the European Commission has a limited role in approving the eligibility of national plans for EU co-funding. Eligibility depends on an extensive audit trail and a high level of veterinary supervision. Having fully considered those options for England and Wales, we concluded they would both hinder rapid rollout of vaccination and add unnecessarily to farmers' costs, thus reducing take-up.

The Commission has indicated that a compulsory scheme administered by official vets is likely to be the only type of scheme eligible for co-funding. This type of scheme would substantially slow down delivery, and would, based on certain assumptions, cost over twice as much overall as voluntary vaccination, thus significantly outweighing the potential financial benefit of any co-funding.

Although the plan for England and Wales will not receive EU co-funding, the European Commission has expressed confidence that it is capable of achieving its objectives of minimising the impact of bluetongue and reducing the risk of disease spread.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have submitted annexes to the UK plan to the European Commission to seek potential co-funding. The Scottish Executive expect to undertake a compulsory vaccination campaign during winter 2008.