§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the volume of food imports into the United Kingdom from member states of the European Union. [113356]
§ Mr. MorleyThe following table shows the volume of food from member states of the European Union, imports into the United Kingdom 2000–02.
Thousand tonnes Description 2000 2001 2002 Vegetables and fruit 4,438 5,533 5,749 Cereals and cereal preparations 2,503 2,973 3,151 Beverages 1,874 2,047 2,293 Feeding stuff for animals (excl. unmilled cereals) 1,398 1,499 1,299 Meat and meat preparations 1,150 1,176 1,270 Dairy products and birds' eggs 762 791 779 Sugars, sugar preparations and honey 612 806 664 Fixed vegetable fats and oils 678 622 556 Miscellaneous edible products 619 552 611 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits 328 541 337 Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices etc. 275 283 309 Fish and fish preparations 134 148 154 Animal and vegetable fats and oils 125 132 122 Animal oils and fats 102 102 103 EU total 14,999 17,207 17,398 Note:
2002 data are provisional and subject to amendment
Source:
HM Customs & Excise
Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities and Food) Accounts and Trade, ESD, DEFRA
§ Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department has allocated to tackling illegal food imports in(a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02, (c) 2002–03, (d) 2003–04, (e) 2004–05 and (f) 2005–06, broken down by category of activity. [112560]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 13 May 2003]: In 2000–01 and 2001–02, illegal imports work was dealt with within the resources allocated to import controls on products of animal origin generally. Approximately 697W £3 million was spent in 2002–03. A total programme budget of £25 million has been set aside for the years 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06. £6 million of this will be spent this financial year, of which £4 million has been allocated to HM Customs to fund enforcement activity and publicity at the borders, and £1.5 million has been allocated to the Food Standards Agency to lead work on a step change to improve co-ordination and cooperation across legal import routes. The remainder has been allocated to Defra to implement other aspects of the action plan, including further publicity. No decisions have yet been made on allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06.