The Milk (Eradication of Brucellosis) Scheme 1970

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This scheme requires Milk Marketing Boards in Great Britain to pay 1¼d. per gallon (0.52p. per gallon from 15th February 1971) on milk from any accredited herd which is sold under the provisions of a Milk Marketing Scheme by a registered producer or is deemed for the purpose of any payment under such a scheme to have been produced from that herd, provided that the herd has been authorised for the purpose of this scheme by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State for Scotland as the case may require. The scheme also makes provision for payments by the Milk Marketing Board for Northern Ireland on milk from herds certified by the Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland.

The scheme provides for the period over which milk from authorised herds will qualify for payment to be determined by the appropriate Minister and for the date from which milk from certified herds will qualify to be determined by the Ministry of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. In both cases these determinations must be in accordance with provisions for particular circumstances laid down in the scheme. It further provides that no herd may be authorised for so long as the owner of that herd remains eligible for certain types of compensation for reactors slaughtered in connection with the eradication of brucellosis but where an accredited herd is infected by brucellosis before 1st September 1970 incentive may be paid for a limited period during which the owner of the herd was also eligible for those types of compensation.

In order to qualify as accredited or certified, a herd must have been found by the authorising Minister or the Ministry of Agriculture, Northern Ireland, respectively to be free from brucellosis by means of diagnostic tests or must have been built up by transfer of animals from brucellosis-free herds, and must also be the subject of adequate precautions against the re-introduction and consequent spreading of the disease.

Provision is made for the Board to keep appropriate records and make them available for inspection by any person duly authorised by the Minister, the Secretary of State or the Comptroller and Auditor General, and to render statements to the Minister or the Secretary of State of payments made and the cost of making them.