§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the countries(a) from which greyhounds were imported to and (b) to which greyhounds were exported from the United Kingdom in each of the last five years and the number of greyhounds imported and exported in each case from each of those countries in each of those years. [120584]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 3 May 2000]: Figures on the import of dogs into Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not held by my Department.
Imports
Details of the breed of commercially traded dogs imported into the UK from other member states in accordance with Article 4A of the Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974 (as amended) are not held centrally.
272W
Capital modernisation fund Application (a) Purpose (b) Intended recipients (c) Financial value (£000) (d) Outcome Round 1 National Flood Warning Project To deliver improvements in quality and effectiveness to the flood warning service in England and Wales through public and private sector partnerships MAFF and Environment Agency 5,000 Unsuccessful Pilot Public Private Partnership Project for coast protection work at Scarborough Setting-up costs of a pilot project to encourage local authorities with responsibility for coast protection to utilise long-term strategic plans in considering alternative methods of procurement Scarborough borough council and MAFF 2,000 Unsuccessful Electronic Data Interchange for Seed Certification To enable efficiency and cost savings by minimising manual data entry from statutory seed certification forms, provide a speedier service to industry and gain experience in EDI application for similar services MAFF 50 Unsuccessful Establish managed telephone services to support delivery of schemes under Common Agricultural Policy Seedcorn funding for installation of computerised call-handling system at MAFF Regional Service Centres on a pilot basis to improve level of customer service MAFF 50 Unsuccessful Fishing Capacity Rationalisation To achieve a better balance between fishing capacity and available fishing opportunities by encouraging fishing industry to develop its own plans for restructuring MAFF 5,000 Unsuccessful However, the number of greyhounds imported into England and entering quarantine from outside the British Isles during 1997, 1998 and 1999 and details of the countries they were imported from are as follows:
Country 1997 1998 1999 Australia 2 2 1 Cyprus 0 0 2 Germany 1 0 0 Israel 0 1 0 Italy 0 0 1 Spain 0 0 54 USA 6 3 1 Information on the number of greyhounds imported into England during the preceding two years could be provided only at disproportionate cost, as it is not computerised.
Exports Annual figures for dog exports prior to 1997 are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, as they are not computerised.
Figures held on the export of dogs from the United Kingdom since 1997 are not sub-categorised by breed and it is therefore not possible to state how many were greyhounds.