§ Lord Rotherwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
When Customs and Excise will be taking over a range of responsibilities for control of illegal imports of meat; and [HL161]
Whether Customs and Excise will receive extra funding in order to cover its running of a range of responsibilities for control of illegal imports of meat. [HL162]
§ Lord WhittyHM Customs and Excise will take over the anti-smuggling activity for control of illegal imports of animals, plants, fish and their products and foodstuffs (including meat) as soon as practicably possible. Defra and HM Customs and Excise are in discussion on the issues in taking this forward.
Funding was earmarked in the spending review to reduce the risk of plant and animal disease entering the country. Decisions on how this funding will be allocated will take account of the additional responsibilities placed upon the individual departments and agencies involved.
§ Lord Rotherwickasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they anticipate that Metropolitan Police dogs will be used at ports of entry to detect illegal imports of meat; and [HL 163]
Whether the dogs belonging to the Metropolitan Police which are being trained to detect illegal imports of meat will eventually come under the control of the Metropolitan Police or Customs and Excise. [HL 164]
§ Lord WhittyThe detector dogs participating in the pilot scheme were trained by the Metorpolitan Police but currently belong to Defra. The pilot study into the use of detector dogs for uncovering illegal imports of meat, plants and their products which began on 16 September 2002 has been fully supported by HM Customs and Excise.
In the light of the announcement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State on 6 November, operational matters on anti-smuggling detection methods will become the responsibility of Customs, linked to delivery of the overall enforcement strategy. Customs will therefore take over responsibility for the dogs that are currently in the pilot scheme and the evaluation of the pilot as soon as practicable. Defra and HM Customs and Excise are in discussion on how to take this forward.