§ 24. Matthew GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reduce illegal imports of meat products and improve the Government's inspection activities. [20580]
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA officials are co-ordinating a number of initiatives, involving interested Government Departments and local authority enforcement bodies, aimed at ensuring that rules for importing animal products are enforced effectively and efficiently. We have already taken action to improve publicity to travellers about import rules, to improve the collection and analysis of information about illegal imports and to use that information better to target enforcement activity. We are keeping these measures under constant review and we are looking at a wide range of other options for improvements, including, for example, the use of sniffer dogs, X-ray machines, on-the-spot-fines and changes to administrative structures.