§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 5 December 2001,Official Report, column 395W, on the Advisory Group on Veterinary Medicines, what plans she has to make available the AGVR minutes before the Food Standards Agency `Feed Additives in Poultry' stakeholders meeting on 16 January 2002. [23645]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 18 December 2001]It is very unlikely that these minutes will be available before 16 January 2002. As indicated in an earlier answer, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate will have to seek the agreement of all former members of the Advisory Group on Veterinary Residues to their release. This is in accordance with Part II, Paragraph 14 a) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, Second Edition (1997). This is a time-consuming exercise but officials will complete the exercise as quickly as practicable.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the total amount of poultry(a) produced and (b) sampled for (i) nicarbazin, (ii) lasaloci, (iii) dimetridazole and (iv) other residues in the last month of (A) 1998, (B) 1999, (C) 2000 and (D) 2001. [23594]
§ Mr. Morley:[holding answer 18 December 2001]The total amounts of poultry produced in the last month of 1998, 1999 and 2000 are set out in table 1. The figures for 2001 are not yet known. The numbers of samples taken from poultry throughout the United Kingdom for testing for the substances listed for the same months are set out in table 2. The figures for the last month of 2001 are the numbers of samples requested by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Table 1: UK poultry slaughterings Million December 1998 December 1999 December 2000 Broiler birds 50.63 50.21 51.99 Boiling fowls 2.90 2.89 2.76 Ducks1 1.42 1.50 1.50 Geese1 0.083 0.083 0.083 1Figures only available for annual production. Figures shown are based on one twelfth of annual production. Source:
UK livestock surveys
Table 2: Number of UK poultry samples taken for analysis for veterinary residues in December 1998 1999 2000 20011 Nicarbazin n/a 26 14 26 Lasalocid n/a 30 23 26 Dimetridazole n/a 164 18 177 Other n/a 533 291 709 1 Figures for December 2001 relate to the number of samples requested.