Written question asked by Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 6 March 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 March 2002. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Monday, 18 March 2002 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Answer of 5th March, Ref. 39508,on plant and meat imports, what proportion of checks between November 2000 and October 2001 were for (a) commercial and (b) personal purposes; and if she will break down the illegally imported products since April 2001 by category. - Includes figures. (Holding answer 11 March 2002).

Answer: Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 229W, on plant and meat imports, what proportion of checks between November 2000 and October 2001 were for (a) commercial and (b) personal purposes; and if she will break down the illegally imported products since April 2001 by category. [41972] Mr. Morley: [holding answer 11 March 2002]: Of the 19,140 checks referred to undertaken at Border Inspection Posts, the majority related to checks on commercial consignments of meat and meat products which have to be declared to the port health authorities for clearance. We are aware that included within this figure will be a few checks which were undertaken on personal imports, but the data is not held in a way that the information on the personal imports can be extracted. A breakdown of the 1,142 seizures taken from personal baggage could be provided only at disproportionate costs.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 41972; 382 c121-2W;382 c119-20W
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Business Inspections Import controls Imports Meat Plants Smuggling
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk