Veterinary Services: Finance

Mr. Lidington
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much district veterinary managers have authorised each local authority to spend under the terms of the Animal Health and Welfare Framework Agreement in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement;

(2) how much his Department has contracted to pay to each local authority for animal health work under the terms of the Animal Health and Welfare Framework Agreement in 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Shaw
DEFRA provides additional funding to local authorities to supplement the resources available to them under the Revenue Support Grant for work on animal health and welfare.

Local authorities submit bids annually to their local Divisional Veterinary Managers (DVMs), who are asked to certify that the proposed expenditure is eligible for funding. The bids are sent forward to a central point in DEFRA for authorisation.

This year, the total bids received, some of which arrived well into the new financial year, amounted to a total of £9.77 million. The funding available was £8.5 million. DEFRA has therefore issued allocations which fall short of the full amount requested. Authorities claiming up to £11,000 have been paid in full, while the remainder have been informed that their bids will be reduced by up to 12 per cent.