HC Deb 18 September 2003 vol 410 cc921-2W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her Department's progress in preventing illegal meat from entering the United Kingdom. [129494]

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
UK imports1
Unprocessed liquid milk2 186 114
Processed liquid milk3 37 67 54 68 89 65
Butter 103 129 110 121 114 114
Cheese 192 232 189 212 210 239
Cream 3 3 2 3 4 6
Condensed milk 10 13 10 13 12 10
Milk powder (full cream) 3 5 6 7 8 10
Skimmed milk powder 8 26 13 12 14 13

Mr. Bradshaw

Progress against the Government's Action Plan on illegal imports in the financial year 2002–03 is reported in the Annual Review of Controls on Imports of Animal Products. Copies have been placed in the House Libraries.

The 2003–04 Action Plan is appended to the Review, and we are working with HM Customs and other responsible parties to implement it. Progress will be reported in the next Annual Review to be published after the end of this financial year.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many spot checks have been carried out on illegal meat imports at each designated port of entry into the UK since December 2002. [129498]

John Healey

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) on 8 September 2003,Official Report, column 99W. Customs carry out their anti-smuggling controls on the basis of risk assessment and intelligence.

Forward to