§ Mr. Alan ReidTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many detector dogs are engaged in detecting illegal imports of(a) meat and (b) other animal products. [161407]
§ John HealeyI refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on 3 December 2003,Official Report, column 60W. The six dogs trained to detect meat and other products of animal origin are now deployed in operational use.
§ Mr. WhittingdaleTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs and Excise staff are employed to tackle illegal imports of meat; and if he will make a statement. [160631]
§ John HealeyCustoms has over 3,000 front-line detection staff, all of whom have responsibility for detecting illegal imports, including meat and other products of animal origin, as part of their normal duties. In addition, the £4 million funding for 2003–04 provides for four new specialist detection teams and allows the detector dog complement to be increased from two to six.
These staff are also supported by others who work on intelligence, analysis, publicity and overall policy development.
§ Mr. WhittingdaleTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions for illegal import of meat have taken place in each of the last 10 years. [160632]
§ John HealeyI refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for East orthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on 3 December 2003,Official Report, columns 58–61W. Customs brought no prosecutions between 1994 and 2000.
102W
§ Dr. CableTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what national standards apply to time limits for the handling by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise of recoverable debt cases; and what the performance of debt management units in meeting these standards was in(a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; [160863]
(2) how many staff were employed in Her Majesty's Customs and Excise debt management units in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and how many new staff were recruited to the units in each of those financial years; [160864]
(3) what the cost was of the specialist asset recovery teams set up to pursue the recovery of assets from directors involved in fraudulent companies in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; how many staff were deployed in these teams in each of those financial years; and what assets were realised by these teams in each case; [160865]
(4) how much missing trader fraud debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise was outstanding at the end of 2002–03; [160867]
(5) what the value of new debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise notified to the debt management units in 2002–03 was; and how much of that new debt was represented by VAT missing trader fraud; [160868]
(6) how much debt was owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise on 31 March 2003 (a) in total and (b) broken down by type of debt; what percentage that total formed of the total amount of taxes and duties collected by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in 2002–03; and what the change in the number of unresolved debts since 31 March 2002 was.[160869]
§ John HealeyI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 20 November 2003,Official Report, columns 1328–29W.