§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement about hauliers picking up animals in multi pick-up and drop-off sites; [178448]
(2) how many multiple (a) pick-up and (b) drop-off licences have been issued in each of the last three years; what period they cover; how many have been renewed in each year; and if she will review the need to continue issuing these licences;. [178451]
945W(3) if she will make a statement as to how hauliers can find out whether the farmers for whom they pick up and drop off animals hold the required licence; and what provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 apply in these circumstances. [178452]
§ Mr. Bradshaw[holding answers 14 June 2004]: Any livestock vehicle taking livestock on to a farm and then off again as part of a multiple pick-up or drop-off movement risks spreading disease, either to the animals if disease is present on the farm, or to animals on the farm if disease is present in the animals on the vehicle.
Each farm wishing to bring stock on as part of a multiple drop-off or to move stock off as part of a multiple pick-up is required to do so only from an approved point on the farm premises. The approved point has to meet standards designed to minimise the spread of disease.
Approvals are not time limited; they remain in force until such time as the approved point ceases to meet the standards set. All approved points are approved both for multiple pick-ups and multiple drop-offs. As at 9 June 2004, there were 14,313 approved multiple pick-up and drop-off points in England and Wales.
Given the need for continued biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of disease there are no proposals to amend the requirement that multiple pick-ups and drop-offs take place only from approved points.
There are two approved methods for loading or unloading stock, one of which involves the use of trailers. These are set out in detail in each of the General Licences for the movement of livestock, and are available on the Department's website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/movements/sheep/sheepannexesa-c.pdf
It is for each haulier to satisfy himself that the points to which livestock is being delivered in a multiple drop-off, or from which they are collected in a multiple pick-up, are approved for the purpose. This might be done by checking with the keeper of the livestock at the time of agreeing the haulage contract. For these reasons, there are no data protection issues for this Department. My officials would be pleased to consider with the haulage industry how this information might be made more widely available.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many hauliers have been prosecuted for picking up animals from farms in a multi pick-up vehicle without a licence approved by her Department; and if she will make a statement; [178449]
(2) how many drivers employed by hauling companies have been prosecuted in each of the last three years for failing to adhere to the requirements relating to multiple pick-up licences. [178450]
§ Mr. Bradshaw[holding answers 14 June 2004]: Vehicles do not require a licence from this Department before being used in multiple pick-ups of livestock. Any prosecution relating to failure to comply with the provisions relating to multiple pick-ups or drop-offs is a matter for the local authority.
946WInformation on the number of prosecutions of hauliers for failing to observe the livestock movement provisions relating to multiple pick-ups and multiple drop-offs has been field centrally only since February 2004, since when five prosecutions have been brought. However, this Department has been made aware of five prosecutions of hauliers for offences involving multiple pick-ups or multiple drop-offs in the period between October 2003 and February 2004.
This Department does not hold information as to whether the person prosecuted was the driver of the vehicle concerned.