- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 6 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Veterinary Laboratory Agency is expected to report on its detailed risk assessment as referred to in the debate on its response to the foot-and-mouth disease inquiries on 21 November 2002 (Official Report, c 15674).
Answer
It is hoped that this report will be available before Christmas.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional staff have been recruited to police controls as referred to in the debate on its response to the foot-and-mouth disease inquiries on 21 November 2002 (Official Report, c 15674) of the meeting of the Parliament.
Answer
An additional £1.5 million has been made available this financial year for additional checks on imports with an additional 18 staff to be recruited for enforcement purposes.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for the Environment and Rural Development has had any role or input, in relation to the Executive's responsibilities, into proposals contained in the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Seventh Report of Session 2001-02, Illegal Meat Imports, that relate to matters reserved to Her Majesty's Government.
Answer
No Scottish Executive minister had any role or input into the proposals by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report into Illegal Meat Imports.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether x-ray equipment has been introduced to scan containers and personal luggage to detect the presence of illegal food imports; if so, where the equipment is located and how many items of equipment there are.
Answer
Customs and Excise, in conjunction with the Ports Health Authority at Southampton, ran some containers through their commercial size x-ray equipment. Unfortunately the initial reaction from the port health officers was that this is not a promising route to identify smuggled meat.More trials are needed and both Felixstowe and Southampton will be engaged in further work.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether amnesty bins to encourage the surrender of unintended illegal personal imports of meat have been introduced; if so, where they are located and how many there are.
Answer
There have been discussions with HM Customs and Excise on the use of amnesty bins but they have not been introduced. Where passengers wish to surrender unintended illegal personal imports of meat and other animal products, they can present them to customs officials in the "Red Channel".
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the debate on its response to the foot-and-mouth disease inquiries (Official Report, c 15673), how many sniffer dogs are now actively engaged in the detection of illegal meat imports.
Answer
There are two dogs actively involved in the current trial at Heathrow Airport.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what research is being carried out, or has been instructed, into technologies to assist in the detection of illegal meat imports.
Answer
Research has been conducted into the use of x-ray machines for both passengers and freight. A trial was carried out at Southampton and further trials are planned at Southampton and Felixstowe.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions on any measures towards establishing a single agency approach to deal with any future animal disease epidemic, as referred to in the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Seventh Report of Session 2001-02, Illegal Meat Imports, and whether such an approach would establish such an agency in Scotland separate from any other such agency in the United Kingdom.
Answer
The Scottish Executive was fully involved in the study undertaken by the Machinery of Government Secretariat of the Cabinet Office which examined the existing arrangement, administering the importation of legal and smuggled meat. Its report concluded that the responsibility for detecting and seizing illegal meat imports should be transferred to HM Customs and Excise and that, in the longer term, consideration should be given to establishing a single agency to deal with legal meat imports.Discussions on the best way to implement this recommendation are on-going and no decision has been taken on the form and size of any new organisation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on when the Machinery of Government Secretariat is expected to report on the review of the system of import controls and the role of the responsible agencies.
Answer
The Machinery of Government Secretariat reported on 6 November 2002. The main recommendation is to transfer the responsibility for detecting smuggled meat from local authorities to HM Customs and Excise.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many tenders for quality contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 were above the utilities sector threshold and needed to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31807 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
