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Mr. Peter Atkinson: How many country landowners does the hon. Gentleman have in Tooting?
Mr. Cox: That intervention was typical of the Conservative Members' remarks to which my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle was subjected. When the House debates people's right to enjoy our countryside--which should be the only criterion for speaking in this debate, and which my hon. Friend seeks to guarantee in his Bill--surely it should not matter which part of the United Kingdom an hon. Member represents.
As I said, I have received 393 cards and letters supporting the Bill. One letter, dated 17 February, was from Mr. Ralph Stephenson, who said:
We are talking about 4 million acres of land.
It being Eleven o'clock, Mr. Deputy Speaker interrupted the proceedings pursuant to Standing Order No. 11 (Friday sittings).
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Nick Brown):
With permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I should like to make a statement on the pet movement scheme. When we came to office, we saw that the quarantine laws were in need of review. Since the quarantine system began nearly 100 years ago, veterinary science has advanced, and travel patterns have changed. To provide a modern response to those challenges, my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham), set up an expert group, chaired by Professor Ian Kennedy of University college London, to look at whether we should modernise the system.
Professor Kennedy's group reported in September 1998. It recommended radical changes. The Government said that they were sympathetic to change, and sought views from the public.
There has been a big response to the Government's consultation letter. The overwhelming majority of the more than 3,700 replies supported the Kennedy proposals. I am placing a list of the respondents, and a summary of responses, in the Library of the House.
The Government believe that, in the light of the Kennedy group's analysis, it is desirable to move as quickly as possible to a system under which dogs and cats coming from European Union, certain other European countries and rabies-free islands could enter the United Kingdom without quarantine. The system would also cover UK-resident dogs and cats which had been abroad temporarily in those countries. Pets from other countries would continue to be subject to quarantine, although we are looking again at the position for the United States of America and Canada, as recommended by Professor Kennedy. The responses to our consultation have shown that most people would support change on those lines.
Our objective is to bring new arrangements into operation throughout the United Kingdom by April 2001. That respects the Kennedy group recommendation that there should be a sufficient lead-in time to allow a smooth and orderly transition to new arrangements. We also plan to launch a pilot scheme--or schemes--within the next 12 months. I remain determined that the UK should be properly protected against rabies. The new arrangements are being designed with that in the forefront of our minds.
We are pushing ahead with the technical work necessary to put in place an alterative to quarantine. We have approached other countries about providing the necessary health certificates for dogs and cats, and about which islands outside Europe we could safely regard as rabies free. We are pressing for international standardisation of rabies blood tests and have invited laboratories in Europe to participate in a testing scheme.
Essentially, the plan is as recommended by Kennedy. Animals resident in a qualifying country and whose owners want them to travel, will need to have been microchipped with an electronic chip, vaccinated against rabies using an inactivated vaccine, blood-tested at an approved laboratory and issued with an official health certificate recording details of the animal, its chip, its vaccination and its blood test. Animals will also need to have been treated against exotic infections not present in the UK.
Transport operators are being asked to carry out pre-entry checks on pets to ensure that they meet those conditions. There will also be random spot checks on animals after they arrive in the UK.
We are looking at the practicalities of identifying pets by means of electronic microchipping. Department of Health experts are considering what measures need to be taken against certain dog and cat parasites exotic to the UK, which can infect humans or transmit infections to humans.
The new arrangements for checking dogs and cats whose owners wish to bring them into the UK from abroad will have a cost. The Government believe that, in principle, the cost should be met by pet owners, as the cost of quarantine is now.
We believe that the way forward is for ferry companies, train operators and airlines to carry out pre-entry checks on pets. The Government would approve companies transporting pets and would audit and inspect their operations to ensure that the pre-entry checks continued to be carried out properly and with 100 per cent. coverage. The arrangements could in principle be put into effect by means of a statutory instrument.
There will be no compulsion on transport operators to carry pets under the new arrangements. We believe that many will want to take up the opportunity to provide a new service to their customers. We have begun discussions with the companies and trade associations concerned. We shall, in addition, make a thorough assessment of the legal and practical aspects and the impact on business. The new schemes will be required to provide a level of protection against rabies that matches that of the current quarantine system.
There is still work to be done to make sure that the new system operates smoothly. We are now set on a course to implement Kennedy-style arrangements, and hope to have pilot schemes in place within 12 months. As soon as the specific arrangements for the schemes have been established, I will report again to the House, because I know there is a high level of interest in the subject.
Mr. James Paice (South-East Cambridgeshire):
I thank the Minister for his statement, for his courtesy of letting me have foresight of it and for the way in which he delivered it. May I also express the Opposition's concern, however, that time is being taken out of private Members' legislation for a Government statement? There was no need for the statement today; it could easily have been made on another day, especially as the leaks syndrome has now infected the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The article in The Times on Monday seems to have been entirely accurate and this morning on the "Today" programme we heard a clear explanation of what was to be announced. I hope that the Minister will explain why the Speaker's will has been thwarted yet again.
The Opposition support the thrust of the Kennedy report. As we said during the debate at the time of its publication, it is time to move forward. There appears to be evidence from elsewhere, including New Zealand, that vaccination can be as effective as quarantine. Any regular cross-channel traveller will be well aware of how easy it is to evade the current restrictions. We know that people have great emotional attachments to their pets which can lead them to overreact to constraints. A simpler, cheaper system, which would remove the problems of separation,
is more likely to be heeded. However, we have a number of questions for the Minister because not all our previous concerns have yet been addressed.
I welcome the idea of pilot schemes, and the fact that the Minister anticipates that the scheme could be up and running by 2001. Does he expect animal entry eventually to be allowed at every air, sea and rail port or only at selected ports? I accept that carriers will have to make decisions about that, but how widespread does he expect the facility will be? Will there be a national database at least of United Kingdom animals that have been through the required processes that he described?
Professor Kennedy said that animals should have been in a qualifying country for some six months. How will that be verified? How is it possible to ascertain how long an animal that has been out of this country has been in a qualifying country rather than somewhere else?
If the Minister is expecting pilot schemes to be established within 12 months, why do we not yet know which countries are on the list other than EU countries? Which are the rabies-free islands? What about EU enlargement--will the candidate countries, some of which we know have endemic rabies, be excluded for ever and a day until that changes, or will they have second-tier status in their relationship with the EU?
Will the present requirement for a veterinary certificate--which is currently required before moving a dog out of the United Kingdom--be abolished? If the Minister is happy about veterinary standards across the qualifying countries--not just within the EU--why was the Bendixon-Dexter report, on precisely that issue, never published?
The statement makes no reference to Northern Ireland, which is our only land boundary. What discussions has the Minister had with the Irish Government, or will Northern Ireland have to be excluded from the changes?
What does the Minister anticipate that the cost will be? We welcome the fact that it will be borne by the pet owner, not by other pet owners or even the taxpayer. Does he agree with the British Veterinary Association's estimate of £150?
"At 88 I keep active and well by regular country walking, belong to four clubs and consider that everybody should be allowed to enjoy . . . the countryside.
as my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle has said repeatedly--
I understand there is to be a private bill introduced by Mr. Gordon Prentice on the 26th March to promote the right to roam the . . . common land subject"--
"to sensible restrictions."
Whatever Conservative Members say, a sensible approach to providing that right is the Bill's keynote. Mr. Stephenson's letter sums up what the issue is all about. It was from someone who loves our countryside, makes use of it and respects it.
11 am
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