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Hares

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who the appropriate enforcing authority for the Hares Preservation Act 1892 is. [77347]

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Mr. Morley: Under the Hares Preservation Act 1892 it is a summary offence to sell a hare or leveret between the months of March to July inclusive. The prohibition does not extend to foreign imported hares. The Act does not specify an enforcement authority. The usual procedure would be for an Information to be laid before Magistrates following which a summons would be served on the alleged offender. The police would normally lay an Information, following which the Crown Prosecution Service would take over the conduct of the prosecution from the police. Alternatively a case could be conducted by any other prosecutor such as, for instance, a local authority trading standards officer, or a private individual.

Hire Bulls

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hire bulls are licensed in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales; and how many hire bulls are in areas that are TB tested every (i) six months, (ii) 12 months, (ii) two years, (iv) three years and (v) four years. [76514]

Mr. Morley: There is no requirement for hire bulls to be licensed in Great Britain and no central records detailing their geographical distribution. Therefore the detailed data required to answer the question is not available.

Horticulture Research International

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the future of Horticulture Research International. [77849]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 29 October 2002]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by me on 15 October 2002, Official Report, column 584W.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her policy towards integrated EU coastal zone management, with particular reference to Treaty base; what measures are planned under this heading; and what checks for subsidiarity have been undertaken. [77254]

Mr. Morley: On 30 May 2002, the European Union adopted a Recommendation concerning the implementation of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in Europe under Article 175(1) of the Treaty. The Government are committed to implementing this non-binding instrument which asks member states to develop national strategies for delivering ICZM through coordinated action at local and regional levels. There is no suggestion of a legally-binding European framework for ICZM.

Live Animal Exports

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimates she has made of the number of live animals exported from the UK for slaughter which are then returned to the UK for sale. [75474]

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Mr. Morley: Statistics on exports of live animals for slaughter are available as are those on imports of various kinds of meat and meat products. Statistics linking imports of meat and meat products to animals which had been exported are not

available. We are not aware of any animals exported from the UK for slaughter which have been returned to the UK for sale.

CITES

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions her Department has had with other governments which are party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to ensure that the proposal to list mahogany on Appendix II of CITES received the two-thirds majority required for the listing. [77580]

Mr. Morley [holding answer 28 October 2002]: Officials from British Embassies and High Commissions have discussed the mahogany listing proposal with the relevant authorities in a total of 96 countries, including those in Central and South America. In addition, officials from my Department have discussed the proposal with officials of the United States of America and Brazilian governments to try to persuade them of the merits of an Appendix II listing. We shall continue lobbying in support of this proposal at the CITES Conference in Santiago next month.

Odour Nuisance

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to give powers to local authorities to deal with odour nuisance from sewers and sewage treatment works. [78602]

Alun Michael: I shall shortly issue a consultation document setting out the available options by which we can achieve practical ways to deal with the problems of odour nuisance from public sewers and sewage treatment works. The possibility of giving appropriate powers to local authorities will be considered as part of the consultation

Pigswill

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what procedures are in place to monitor imported pigmeat products to ensure (a) that they have not been fed on pigswill, and (b) in cases where they have, that swill is prepared up to acceptable standards of safety and hygiene. [76304]

Mr. Morley: Imports into the United Kingdom of pig meat and other products are governed by European Community rules. These do not include procedures to determine whether pigmeat products have been fed on swill.

As regards pigmeat and pigmeat products imported from other EU member states, most EU countries have already introduced domestic bans on the feeding of swill. With effect from 1 November 2002 new EU rules

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on animal by-products will impose an EU-wide ban on the feeding of swill. These provisions are designed to prevent the spread of disease in live animals.

Pigmeat and pigmeat products imported from third countries must come from approved establishments in approved countries and must be accompanied by agreed veterinary certification. The veterinary certification confirms that public and animal health requirements for import have been complied with and ensures that imported meat is derived from animals free from disease, whether or not they have been fed on swill. It must also confirm that the meat is derived from animals which have been subjected to a veterinary inspection during the 24 hours prior to slaughter and showed no signs of disease. The meat is also subjected to post mortem veterinary inspection. Community regulations require that meat and meat products imported from third countries must be produced to standards at least equivalent to those applied to Community production.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proposals she has to compensate pig farmers who have invested in pigswill processing plant, buildings and equipment. [76312]

Mr. Morley: The Government does not intend to compensate pig farmers for changes to the feed material available for their livestock following the introduction of the ban on swill feeding. However the Government is providing free business advice to those affected by the ban.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to pig farmers of the ban on pigswill. [76313]

Mr. Morley: A copy of the Regulatory Impact Assessment which accompanied the Animal By Products (Amendment) Order 2002 (S.I. 2001 No. 1704) is available in the library of the House.

Poland

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the transitional time to be granted to Poland following the country's forthcoming accession to the European Union in order to be integrated fully into the (a) Common Fisheries Policy and (b) Common Agricultural Policy; and the (i) fisheries and (ii) agricultural subject areas covered by that transitional period. [77645]

Mr. Morley: Negotiation of the Fisheries Chapter was provisionally closed with Poland in June 2002. A request from Poland to include sprat of the Baltic region in Annex IV of Regulation (EC) 140/2000 was agreed. Agreement on access to resources and catch quotas for all candidates is scheduled to take place shortly. Discussions on agriculture are still under way with all the acceding states, including Poland. No transitional arrangements have therefore been granted as yet. However, the offer agreed by the European Council at its meeting in Brussels on 24 and 25 October includes certain transitional measures comprising an enhanced

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rural development programme, and a gradual phase-in of direct payments. This offer is expressly stated to be without prejudice to future decisions on CAP reform.

Recycling Targets

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the local authorities she has contacted regarding underperformance on recycling targets, and indicate how these local authorities were identified. [77454]

Mr. Meacher: We set targets in a way which meant all authorities would have to improve their performance over their rate in 1998[en rule]99, no matter what their starting point. For that reason, when tracking local authorities' recycling performance, we consider how much the recycling rate has increased, rather than looking simply at the rate.

I have written to the leaders of the local authorities listed about recycling. In these authorities, preliminary (unaudited) performance data for 2001–02, taken from 2002–03 Best Value Performance Plans, shows that the authority's recycling performance has decreased, stayed the same or only increased by 1 per cent. between 1998–99 and 2001–02. I have invited the relevant leaders to identify work that is already in hand to meet their 2003–04 Statutory Performance Standard for recycling and composting of household waste and to consider the need for further action where this is relevant.

































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