§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what additional data is being collected by her Department and its agencies to inform the risk assessment of meat imports being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency. [61546]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 13 June 20021: The progress report on the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde describes the data being collected to support the risk assessment.
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§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will place in the Library a report on the results so far of the risk assessment of meat imports being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency; [61548]
if she will publish a list of the external stakeholder groups which she has established or plans to establish to help inform and guide the risk assessment of meat imports; and if she will state in the case of each group, the names and qualifications of its members and its terms of reference; [61545]
when the risk assessment of meat imports being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, will be completed; and if she will publish the Agency's report. [61547]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 13 June 2002]: The risk assessment currently being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) is due to be completed in autumn 2002. A progress report was placed on the illegal imports page of the DEFRA website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde on 23 May. It is intended to post further progress reports on this site when appropriate and publish the final report.
A Steering Group has been established to guide the work of the risk assessment which includes representatives of external stakeholder groups. The terms of reference of the Risk Assessment Steering Group and its full membership is published on the risk assessment link on the Illegal Imports page of the DEFRA website—address as above. The VLA team is also consulting a wide range of stakeholders as the work progresses.