---

3 Mar 2004 : Column 947W—continued

Livestock Movements

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will lift the six-day rule which applies to auction marts and slaughterhouses. [156883]

Mr. Bradshaw: Livestock moving to auction markets and slaughterhouses do not trigger a six-day standstill on arrival.

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many calves have been refused passports because they have not been registered within 27 days in each of the last three years. [156043]

Alun Michael: The number of passports refused over the last three years because of late registration has been:

	Total passport applications received	Passports initially refused as late	Passports issued after appeal	Net passports refused
2001	2,998,238	2,035	775	1,260
2002	2,885,188	1,011	646	365
2003	2,952,404	3,982	570	3,412

Cetaceans

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what projections she has made of the future population of (a) dolphins and (b) porpoises within (i) British waters and (ii) European Union waters; and if she will make a statement. [156213]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Secretary of State has made no projections to date on the future populations of dolphins and porpoises in British and European Union waters.

However, the Government is supporting new survey work to be undertaken in 2004–05 by a consortium of international researchers, co-ordinated by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, on the distribution and abundance of small cetaceans—particularly harbour

3 Mar 2004 : Column 948W

porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis)—in the shelf waters of the Atlantic margin, the North Sea and adjacent waters. This work will include the development of methods of monitoring abundance and identifying population trends between major decadal surveys, and recommendations for monitoring protocols by individual species and areas.

International funding is being sought in support of this work and the UK has pledged £275,000 towards it.

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the (a) dolphin and (b) porpoise populations within (i) British waters and (ii) European Union waters; what the estimate was for these species 20 years ago; and if she will make a statement. [156214]

Mr. Bradshaw: Obtaining population estimates for cetaceans is difficult. There is a wide margin of error around most abundance estimates and the geographical limits of most biological populations of dolphin species are not known.

To date, major surveys of cetacean distribution or abundance have not been carried out at regular intervals. The following table gives figures from the 2002 report of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) illustrating the latest information on the populations and abundance of small cetaceans occurring in UK waters. The populations are given in terms of ICES areas or geographical locality. A map showing the ICES areas has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

A consortium of international researchers, co-ordinated by the Sea Mammal Research Unit, is planning to carry out a survey of the distribution and abundance of small cetaceans—particularly harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis)—in 2004–05. The survey area is intended to cover the shelf waters of the Atlantic margin, the North Sea and adjacent waters. International funding is being sought in support of this work and the UK has already pledged £275,000 towards it.

Reliable estimates for dolphin abundance in British and European Union waters in 1984 are not available.

2002 Report of the Advisory Committee on Ecosystems of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)

Species Year	ICES Area or geographical locality	Abundance estimate	95 per cent. Confidence limits	Method	Reference
Harbour porpoise
1994	IVa	98,564	66,679–145,697	Ship-based line transect	Hammond et al., 2002
	IVb+c	169,888	124,121–232,530
	Vllf+g+h+j	36,280	12,828–102,604
Bottlenose dolphin
1992	Moray Firth (southwestern lVa)	129	110–174	Photographic mark-recap Photographic identification or direct observation.	Wilson et al, 1999
2001	French coasts Vile Villa	250–300	n/a		ICES, 2002
1991–1993	Cornwall	15	n/a		ICES, 1996
1994–1995	Dorset	5	n/a
2001	Cardigan Bay, Wales	135	85–214		White and Webb, 1995 Baines et al.,2002
		213	183–279	Ship-based line transect
	White-beaked and Atlantic white-sided dolphins
1994	IVa	1,685	690–4,113	Ship-based line transect	Hammond et al., 2002
	IVb	9,242	5,344–15,981
	VIIf+g+h+j	833	159–4,360
	Atlantic white-sided dolphin
1998	Faroes-Shetland channel	21,371	10,000–45,000	Ship-based line transect	Macleod, 2001
1998	V1a (N)	74,626	35,000–160,000
2000	Parts of V1 a&b V11 b/c, V11j&k	5,490	1,134–10,015		O'Cadhla et al., 2001
Common dolphin
1994	Vllf+g+h+j parts of VI a&b	75,449	22,900–284,900	Ship-based line transect	Hammond et al., 2002
2000	VII b/c, Vllj&k	4,496	2,414–9,320		O'Cadhla et al., 2001
1993	Bay of Biscay	61,888	35,461–108,010		Goujon et al, 1993
Striped dolphin
1993	Bay of Biscay	73,843	36,113–150,990	Ship-based line transect	Goujon et al., 1993

3 Mar 2004 : Column 949W

Country Code

Mr. Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department is making on its revision of the Country Code; and whether the revised code will require dogs to be kept on a short fixed lead (a) near livestock and (b) during the bird breeding season on land to which the statutory rights of access to open country under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 applies. [156767]

Alun Michael: The duty to issue a code of conduct for the guidance of persons visiting the countryside lies statutorily with the Countryside Agency. The agency has been consulting widely on proposals for updating the code, which was last revised in 1981. The agency aims to publish a new code in the summer, which will include general guidance on legal responsibilities regarding dogs. The code will not introduce any new responsibilities.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 itself requires people exercising the new right of access to keep dogs on short leads when in the vicinity of livestock, and on all access land between 1 March and 31 July. The Act also provides for local restrictions on dogs, including bans, where necessary, and allows landowners to exclude dogs for up to six weeks in any one year from fields or enclosures where lambing is taking place and for up to five years from land managed for the breeding and shooting of grouse.

The Countryside Agency has been seeking views on meeting its obligations under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to provide guidance for people using the new right of access and for people with an interest in land to which the new right applies. Information about the statutory requirements relating to dogs will be included in communications with the public when the new right of access is introduced.

Horses and Ponies

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many equines were slaughtered for human consumption in England in each year since 2000, broken down by type; [156566]

(2) how many tonnes of horsemeat were (a) produced in England and (b) exported from England in each year since 2000; [156567]

3 Mar 2004 : Column 950W

(3) how many tonnes of horsemeat were imported into the UK in each year since 2000; [156568]

(4) how many horses were exported from the UK to the EU in each year since 2000; [156569]

(5) how many horses, intended for slaughter, were exported from the UK to the EU in each year since 2000; and how many horses were exported to countries outside the EU; [156659]

(6) how many horses that were not intended for human consumption were slaughtered in the UK in each year since 2000. [156660]

Alun Michael: The information requested is given in the following table:

UK production and trade in horses and horsemeat 2000–03

	2000	2001	2002	2003
Equines slaughtered (units—England)	9,112	10,479	8,284	6,727
for human consumption	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
not for human consumption	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Horsemeat production (tonnes)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Horsemeat (tonnes)
Imports
From:
the EU	0	6	0	0
the rest of the world	0	0	0	0
Exports
To:
the EU	2,857	2,417	2,022	1,566
the rest of the world	0	0	0	0
Horses (units)
Imports
Of which:
Pure-bred breeding horses
the EU	4,163	1,733	1,902	2,234
the rest of the world	1,104	835	715	728
Horses for slaughter
the EU	—	—	—	—
the rest of the world	—	—	—	—
Horses other than for slaughter
the EU	503	1,986	383	286
the rest of the world	147	48	183	190
Exports
Of which:
Pure-bred breeding horses
the EU	1,641	1,714	1,392	2,041
the rest of the world	934	842	1,088	2,223
Horses for slaughter
the EU	—	—	—	—
the rest of the world	—	—	—	—
Horses other than for slaughter
the EU	1,572	1,292	662	1,555
the rest of the world	695	375	364	338

Source:

H M Customs and Excise

Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities & Food) Consultancy Trade and IT, ESD, DEFRA

2003 EU data is provisional and subject to amendment

3 Mar 2004 : Column 951W

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) which EU Directive or Regulation requires horse traceability for disease surveillance purposes; [156655]

(2) what recent discussions she has had with the EU about disease surveillance in horses. [156656]

Alun Michael: There is currently no requirement in European legislation for a horse traceability system for disease surveillance purposes, but both the Government and the horse industry consider that there is a need for a national equine database. Defra is therefore working with the industry to set up such a database that will help to implement the horse passports requirements, and underpin economic and animal health and welfare strategies for the horse and its role within the rural economy.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to the Department of implementing the minimum values legislation was in each of the last three years. [156663]

Alun Michael: The cost to the Department of horse and pony export licensing (commonly referred to as the minimum values legislation) in England during the last three financial years was:

£

	Amount
2000–01	41,643
2001–02	39,705
2002–03	43,374

---