HC Deb 14 June 2004 vol 422 cc632-3W
Mr. Drew

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what quantity of illegal food imports were seized in each month of the last three years. [177960]

John Healey

HM Customs and Excise reported in their spring departmental report 2004 (Cm 6224) that they seized 119,278 kg of illegal imports of products of animal origin for the period 1 April to 31 December 2003.

The following table shows the monthly breakdown for these seizures:

Month Total weight of products of

animal origin seized (kg)
April 3,281
May 25,111
June 5,517
July 9,106
August 20,238
September 14,109
October 11,768
November 13,474
December 16,674
Total 119,278
Note:
All figures are rounded to the nearest kilogramme.

Statistics relating to seizures of illegal imports for the 2001–02 and 2002–03 financial years were published in Defra's "Annual Review of Imports of Animal Product: April 2002—March 2003", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

A monthly breakdown of the statistics for those years, and for seizures made by other agencies between 1 April and 31 December 2003, would be available only at disproportionate cost; Exemption 9 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies.