Mr. Anthony D. WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether departmental staff processing permits from hunts on Saturday 15 December usually work at weekends. [25484]
§ Alun MichaelMost of the sections processing hunt permit applications do not work at weekends.
909W
Mr. Anthony D. WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many(a) fox and (b) hare hunts have applied for a temporary permit for hunting with dogs; and how many of these have been (i) accepted and (ii) rejected; [25487]
(2) if she will list the Forestry Commission land holdings where hunting permits have been issued under the temporary permits scheme; [25485]
(3) how many applications for temporary permits to hold hare coursing events have been received; and how many have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected. [25488]
§ Alun MichaelThe current system is demand-led and temporary. DEFRA's animal health divisional offices will produce monthly statistics. A full copy of the statistics will be placed in the Library of the House when available.
§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what special conditions have been attached to licences giving permission to hunt to the(a) Worcestershire Hunt, (b) Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds and (c) North Cotswold Hunt; what the reason is for any such special conditions; and how long she expects such conditions will endure. [24454]
§ Alun MichaelHunting with hounds is not governed by a licensing system. At present a temporary system sets out the requirements against which hunting can be allowed to take place within the requirements of disease control measures. Hunting was one of the activities that was banned in order to stop the spread of foot and mouth disease and assist its eradication. The Government's priority has been to eradicate FMD and then to enable the countryside to return to normal as quickly as it is safe to do so. For each of the activities that were banned or limited the decision on resumption and on any residual limitations on the relevant activity has been based on a Veterinary Risk Assessment. For low risk activities like walking, implementation of such decisions have been relatively straightforward. The same was found to be the case in respect of grouse shooting and falconry. In the case of hunting with hounds, the Veterinary Risk Assessment reflected a much more complex set of circumstances in which different forms of hunting, different conditions in different parts of the country and concentrations of FMD susceptible species such as deer and the presence of Form A and Form D farms all posed different risks and are factors that have to be taken into account.
On 15 November 2001 I published proposals for the way in which hunting might be allowed to resume, along with the Veterinary Risk Assessment on which the proposals were based. Essentially it was proposed that any hunt which wished to resume activity would have to show how they would observe the limitations which would be necessary to minimise the risk of starting another outbreak of FMD. Decisions were delegated to Divisional Veterinary Managers who would be familiar with local circumstances and would need to be satisfied that the hunt could meet the requirements of animal health controls. Hunts which met these requirements can be permitted to hunt within the defined limits.
910WOn 13 December 2001 I published details of the permit arrangements which included practical amendments responding to representations by both hunting and non-hunting groups. Since then our Divisional Veterinary Managers have sought to apply local knowledge and common sense to approaches from hunts. They have been widely praised for the way they have undertaken this additional task and I would like to place on the record my thanks to the DEFRA staff involved.
It is against this background that the circumstances of the Worcestershire Hunt, the Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds and the North Cotswold Hunt have to be understood.
All these hunts have applied for and given a permit to hunt. Limitations on hunting will continue as long as care is needed to achieve the eradication of FMD and the general requirements—which require hunts not to meet or hunt within 8 km of a Form A or a Form D premise—will be reviewed as and when there is any change in the Veterinary Risk Assessment. As indicated earlier, the disease control requirements are being applied with common sense in the light of local circumstances. So in the case of the Worcestershire Hunt several exceptions have been granted to this criterion which is that it may hunt closer to a particular Form A premise as the M5 acts as a natural buffer between the Farm and five of the proposed meets. Two other proposed meets have also been permitted within an 8 km restriction due to the low risk of hunting near to the relevant Form A premise.
Special conditions have also been applied to the Croome and West Warwickshire Hunt forbidding it from hunting on the Ragley Hall Estate. This is in recognition of the estate having a large deer population.
These conditions will continue to apply as long as the threat of FMD remains. The permit section at Worcester Animal Health Office is constantly reviewing the restrictions on individual Form A and Form D premises and as soon as any are lifted, the relevant Hunts are being informed. The temporary permit system for hunting will continue as long as restrictions are necessary to achieve eradication of FMD and will be removed when FMD has been officially eradicated from the whole of Great Britain.