House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 13 Jun 2002 (pt 5)

Biosecurity (South Korea)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the risks of foot and mouth disease being brought into the United Kingdom by (a) travellers and (b) goods from South Korea. [60275]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 June 2002]: South Korea is not a country that is authorised to export meat or animals to the European Union. We have received veterinary advice that there is no significant risk of football fans or other travellers bringing Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) back from South Korea. We understand that all South Korean World Cup stadia are a long distance from the affected areas and most games will be played in Japan, which does not have FMD.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she has taken to improve the biosecurity arrangements for the arrival at ports of (a) travellers and (b) goods from South Korea. [60274]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 10 June 2002]: Veterinary advice is that the risk of travellers bringing foot and mouth disease back from South Korea is not significant. We have, however, issued advice in recent weeks via the Football Association website and the British Consulate in Seoul to advise travellers not to visit farms, and to either keep to the current personal import allowance of 1kg of meat cooked in a hermetically sealed container or, preferably, to bring no meat at all. We have also advised our port and airport enforcement authorities of the outbreak of foot and mouth in South Korea. These measures are in addition to those

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announced in our Action Plan of 28 March which sets out measures to reduce the risk of animal and plant diseases entering the country.

Foot and Mouth

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food obtained in 2001 about sheep movements from Longtown market, Cumbria; whether any of that information was subsequently mislaid by the Department; and if she will make a statement. [61573]

Mr. Morley: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food obtained a great deal of information about sheep movements form Longtown Market, both by consulting the Market's paper records and by discussions with the staff involved. At no time was any of the information mislaid by the Department and all information obtained was followed up.

Abattoirs

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact on small abattoirs of the introduction under S.I., 2002, No. 843 of a requirement that the vertebral column from cattle over 30 months should be removed in licensed cutting plants. [61577]

Mr. Morley: A Regulatory Impact Assessment for the TSE (England) Regulation 2002 (S.I. 2002/843) is placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

Illegal Meat Imports

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much illegal imported meat was confiscated in the last financial year. [60334]

Mr. Morley: We are still receiving data from the enforcement agencies about animal products seized in the last financial year. As at 6 June 2002, we have been advised that the weight of produce seized since 1 April 2001 is about 60 tonnes. We are unable to provide a precise weight of the volume of meat seized because weight has not always been provided and some consignments contain more than one type of product. We estimate however, that about 43 tonnes of the produce seized contained meat.

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Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many arrests there were in respect of the illegal import of foodstuffs in each of the last 12 months; [54851]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 8 May 2002]: Last year, HM Customs and Excise arrested three people for offences under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) involving illegal meat imports. Of these, two were convicted of a CITES offence, both received prison sentences of four months. The third person was acquitted but convicted under a separate Animal Health charge resulting in a penalty of a conditional discharge for one year and costs of #100.

Nitrates

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she has taken to consult farmers and growers about the Government's proposed changes to the designation methodology for nitrate vulnerable zones. [61559]

Mr. Meacher: Details of the methodology used to identify potential new Nitrate Vulnerable Zones were set out in Annexe A of the recent consultation paper XHow should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?".

We are currently considering all the issues raised responses to the consultation, including comments on this methodology, and hope to make an announcement soon about how we will proceed.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will place in the Library a detailed statement in the changes in methodology that she is applying now to the designation of nitrate vulnerable zones compared with the methodology employed at the time of earlier designations; [61558]

Mr. Meacher: Below is a table that explains the scientific development of the methodology used to identify Nitrate Vulnerable Zones between the time that the first designations were made in 1996 and the publication of our consultation paper XHow should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?" in December 2001.

Developments in methodology for identifying nitrate vulnerable zones

1996 Methodology Proposals set out in XHow Should England Implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?", DEFRA December 2001

Surfacewater NVZs

More comprehensive monitoring network, covering all waters, not just drinking water abstraction points. 491 monitoring points established under Drinking Water Directive (1975). Environment Agency's (EA) General Quality Assessment (GQA) network. Over 7,000 monitoring points established for assessing river water quality.

More data for each monitoring point. One year's data. 5 year dataset (1996–2000) enables a more robust statistical approach to identifying pollution.

Trend analysis to identify waters which Xcould contain 50 mg/litre nitrate" if action not taken. — Robust statistical technique to identify any additional waters which would be expected to become polluted by 2004 (date of next monitoring review required by Directive), based on 10-year dataset (1990–2000).

Designation as NVZ of all land draining into polluted waters. Only land draining directly into the polluted water was identified as an NVZ. Land draining into the polluted water via a tributary was excluded. All land in catchment draining into polluted waters identified as an NVZ, as nitrate leaching from any of this land contributes to the pollution. Precise upstream catchment area identified using hydrologically accurate model and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).

Eutrophic NVZs

Designation of eutrophic area NVZs. Criteria for identifying eutrophic waters developed, but not applied in time for 1996 designations. Criteria applied to identify estuarine/coastal areas where agricultural nitrate contributes to eutrophication.

Groundwater NVZs

Extend coverage beyond just drinking water boreholes to all groundwaters. Monitoring data from Water Supply boreholes. All available public and private borehole monitoring data has been gathered and fed into the development of a GIS-based groundwater vulnerability model to identify land draining into all high nitrate, highly vulnerable groundwater areas. Scientifically robust, developed by EA's National Groundwater Centre and a consortium of consultants including University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences.

	1996 Methodology	Proposals set out in XHow Should England Implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?", DEFRA December 2001
Surfacewater NVZs
More comprehensive monitoring network, covering all waters, not just drinking water abstraction points.	491 monitoring points established under Drinking Water Directive (1975).	Environment Agency's (EA) General Quality Assessment (GQA) network. Over 7,000 monitoring points established for assessing river water quality.
More data for each monitoring point.	One year's data.	5 year dataset (1996–2000) enables a more robust statistical approach to identifying pollution.
Trend analysis to identify waters which Xcould contain 50 mg/litre nitrate" if action not taken.	—	Robust statistical technique to identify any additional waters which would be expected to become polluted by 2004 (date of next monitoring review required by Directive), based on 10-year dataset (1990–2000).
Designation as NVZ of all land draining into polluted waters.	Only land draining directly into the polluted water was identified as an NVZ. Land draining into the polluted water via a tributary was excluded.	All land in catchment draining into polluted waters identified as an NVZ, as nitrate leaching from any of this land contributes to the pollution. Precise upstream catchment area identified using hydrologically accurate model and Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Eutrophic NVZs
Designation of eutrophic area NVZs.	Criteria for identifying eutrophic waters developed, but not applied in time for 1996 designations.	Criteria applied to identify estuarine/coastal areas where agricultural nitrate contributes to eutrophication.
Groundwater NVZs
Extend coverage beyond just drinking water boreholes to all groundwaters.	Monitoring data from Water Supply boreholes.	All available public and private borehole monitoring data has been gathered and fed into the development of a GIS-based groundwater vulnerability model to identify land draining into all high nitrate, highly vulnerable groundwater areas. Scientifically robust, developed by EA's National Groundwater Centre and a consortium of consultants including University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences.

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Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she has (a) sought and (b) plans to seek advice from the European Commission on the legality of designating the whole of England as a nitrate vulnerable zone under Article 3(5) of the EC Nitrates Directive while different approaches are pursued in respect of Scotland and Wales. [61557]

Mr. Meacher: We have kept the European Commission informed of the options that we are considering for implementing the Nitrates Directive, which were set out in our consultation document XHow should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?". We are currently considering responses to the consultation and hope to make an announcement soon about how we will proceed, at which point we will inform the Commission further.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the proposals by the Scottish and Welsh executives for the implementation of the EC Nitrates Directive; and if she intends to apply the (a) Scottish and (b) Welsh approaches to the Directive in her policy for its implementation in England. [61556]

Mr. Meacher: The Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales both intend to implement the EC Nitrates Directive through applying Action Programme measures within discrete Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs). This is one of the options set out in our consultation document XHow should England implement the 1991 Nitrates Directive?". We are currently considering responses to the consultation and hope to make an announcement soon about how we will proceed.

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