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Live Animal Exports

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to replace the long-distance transport of live farm animals from Britain to southern Europe by a trade in meat and carcases; and if he will make a statement. [127300]

Mr. Morley: It is not legally open to the Government to end the trade in live farm animals to other member states if the arrangements for transporting them comply with the relevant EU animal welfare rules. We do devote considerable effort to ensuring these rules are met while the animals are on our territory, as well as to urging other member states, bilaterally and through discussions in Brussels, to follow our example. We shall also press strongly for improvements to the rules in the forthcoming review. Our preference is for a carcase trade.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to propose changes to EU law to the effect that live animals are not considered goods or products; and if he will make a statement. [127298]

Mr. Morley: The Government have already obtained, at the intergovernmental Conference in Amsterdam, a Protocol to the Treaty which characterises animals as sentient beings and requires the Community and the

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member states, in formulating and implementing the Community's agriculture, transport, internal market and research policies, to pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals.

Agriculture Council

Mr. Casale: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what the outcome was of the Agriculture Council held in Luxembourg on 19 and 20 June; and if he will make a statement. [127555]

Mr. Nick Brown: I represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture Council meeting in Luxembourg on 19 June 2000, accompanied by Brid Rodgers MLA, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The main topic for discussion was a proposal for EU-wide rules governing the use of Specified Risk Materials to prevent the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. There was no qualified majority for the proposal in the Council (Austria, Finland, Spain and Greece opposing, Germany abstaining) but the absence of a simple majority of member states opposing means the Commission are free to adopt it under the relevant procedures. I welcomed this important consumer safety measure which will apply appropriate controls on SRMs in all EU countries, and for which the UK has long been pressing.

The Council deferred a decision on the 2000-01 CAP price proposals until its July meeting. In order to avoid a legal vacuum when the sugar and pigmeat marketing years begin on 1 July however, the Council agreed to extend current price supports as from that date. I, Sweden and the Netherlands voted against the decision on sugar for which we consider a support price cut is required. The decision on pigmeat was agreed unanimously.

A first Council discussion of the Commission's proposal to establish income stabilisation funds in the pigmeat sector revealed a divergence of views. Many member states, including the UK, expressed fears that the proposal would exacerbate market price volatility and distort competition. Others felt provision of Community finance and greater compulsion on producers to participate in stabilisation funds was the key. The Council will return to this issue in due course.

Under Other Business I urged the Commission to review its approach to the allocation of export refunds for processed agricultural products in the context of budget and WTO constraints. I expressed particular concern at the Commission's decision to suspend the issue of refund certificates, which has caught out many companies through no fault of their own. I also requested Commissioner Fischler to ensure that cutbacks in refunds for future years avoid placing a disproportionate burden on particular sectors, notably cereals-based spirit drinks.

Also under Other Business I strongly supported the Swedish Minister's call for better enforcement by all member states of the EU rules on the welfare of animals in transit, as well as further, more rigorous legislation. I particularly welcomed the new Commission's Working Group, which Commissioner Byrne has established, at the United Kingdom's suggestion, to address these issues.

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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Charter of Fundamental Rights

32. Mr. Swayne: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions he has had with the Foreign Secretary regarding the status of the proposed EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. [127063]

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General and I regularly meet with the Foreign Secretary and other ministerial colleagues to discuss matters of mutual interest. However, by long standing convention, adhered to by successive Governments, neither the fact that the Law Officers have been consulted on an issue, nor the substance of the advice they have been given, is disclosed outside Government and other than in exceptional circumstances. I therefore am not prepared to say whether the Foreign Secretary has consulted the Law Officers about the proposed Charter.

Crown Prosecution Service

33. Mr. Paterson: To ask the Solicitor-General if he will make a statement on the measures he has taken to improve the efficiency of the Crown Prosecution Service. [127064]

The Solicitor-General: In my answer to the hon. Member's question on 25 May 2000, Official Report, column 1107, I outlined the initiatives in place to improve efficiency in the Crown Prosecution Service. These include a major programme of IT modernisation, the development of joint/police/CPS Criminal Justice Units and Trial Units and the implementation of the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988. Good progress continues to be made on all these initiatives.

I am pleased to say that the first Criminal Justice Unit and the first Trials Unit were opened in Bristol on Monday 26 June 2000. police administrators and CPS lawyers and caseworkers are working together in the Criminal Justice Unit at New Bridewell Police Station, serving all the magistrates courts in Avon. Similar joint working is proceeding in the CPS premises, Froomsgate House, which is preparing cases for hearing at Bristol Crown Court.

These joint working arrangements will reduce duplication and delay, release additional resources for the police and for the CPS to focus on serious casework in the Crown Court.

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Solicitor-General what the estimated legal costs are to the defence of the Employment Tribunal cases brought against the CPS by Mrs. Bamieh; and if he will make a statement [128119]

The Solicitor-General: The estimated legal costs incurred by the CPS are £155,630.91 The legal costs covered six separate cases brought against the CPS by Mrs. Bamieh which contained a large number of allegations. Two separate Tribunal Hearings were involved and a remedies hearing. All outstanding cases between the CPS and Mrs. Bamieh were resolved when a settlement, the terms of which are confidential to the parties, was reached on 8 February 2000. Mrs. Bamieh continues to work for the CPS.

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Espionage

34. Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions he has had on the handling of decisions on whether to prosecute in espionage cases following the Intelligence and Security Committee's report dealing with the case of Mrs. Melita Norwood. [127065]

The Solicitor-General: As the report of the Intelligence and Security Committee indicates, procedures for reviewing cases for possible prosecution have been strengthened. While criteria exist for prosecutions, the Security Service has agreed to send all material relevant to prosecutions to the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers on a trial basis for 12 months. This will allow the Law Officers to assess when a prosecution is possible for all cases and validate these criteria for future use.

Lenient Sentences

35. Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Solicitor-General what criteria the Law Officers apply when determining whether to refer an unduly lenient sentence to the Court of Appeal. [127066]

The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General and I have the power to refer sentences to the Court of Appeal if we consider them to be unduly lenient.

An unduly lenient sentence is not one which is merely lenient but one which falls outside the range of sentences that a judge, applying his or her mind to all the relevant circumstances of the case, could reasonably consider appropriate. The appropriate range must be determined by consideration of the principles of sentencing and other guidance laid down by the Court of Appeal.

Court Cases (Duration)

36. Dr. George Turner: To ask the Solicitor-General what progress is being made in speeding up the completion of court cases, with particular reference to cases involving persistent young offenders; and what role the Crown Prosecution Service is playing in this. [127067]

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service is fully committed to playing its part in delivering the Government's pledge to reduce delays in the youth justice system, particularly with regard to persistent young offenders.

The figures (announced today) for the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales in the first quarter of this year showed a fall from 108 days in 1999 to 96 in 2000. This compares with 125 days in 1998 and 141 days in 1997. This downward trend in the figures has been a continuing feature since the Government's Pledge.

At a national level, the Crown Prosecution Service has been, and continues to work closely with other Criminal Justice System partners; the Narey reforms and the new local good practice already introduced into the Youth Court will help to make further progress.

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