Chamber and committees

Reported breaches of maximumresidue levels (MRLs) in the Pesticides Residues Committee’s UK pesticideresidues monitoring programme were as follows:

2001	29	(0.7%)
2002	40	(1%)
2003	27	(0.7%)
2004	42	(1.1%)
2005	65	(1.7%)

 

The UK has one of the lowestincidences of breaches of trading levels in Europe. Accordingly, prosecutions arenot routinely taken for minor infringements but are reserved for food safety issuesand the use of non-approved pesticides. There have been no prosecutions taken inthe last five years.

The Scottish Executiveparticipates in a UK pesticides residues monitoring programme which isoverseen by the independent Pesticides Residues Committee and costs around £2million annually. The results indicate a high level of compliance withstatutory maximum residue limits and continue to demonstrate that food availableto UK consumers does not contain unsafe levels of pesticides. Full results ofthis programme are available on the PRC website www.prc-uk.org.

Nationally, a £2 millionprogramme of pesticide residue testing in food and drink is undertaken everyyear in the UK. This work is administered by the Pesticides SafetyDirectorate and overseen by the independent Pesticides Residues Committee whosemembers are appointed jointly by Scottish ministers and ministers from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of Health and the other devolvedadministrations. No additional work on exposure has been commissioned.

The Pesticides SafetyDirectorate is responsible for the regulation of pesticides and monitoring ofpesticides residues in the UK and has considered the report by the PesticidesAction Network. The issues raised are not new and many are specificallyaddressed in the results and risk assessments that government already publishin full.

The Pesticides SafetyDirectorate is responsible for the regulation of pesticides and monitoring ofpesticides residues in the UK and has considered the report by Pesticides ActionNetwork (PAN). The Pesticides Safety Directorate has access to the most up todate safety data for pesticides and is well placed to make judgments on therisk to consumers. It does not share PAN’s assessment of the data or theirclaim that UK food contains unsafe levels of pesticides.

The results of the UK pesticidesmonitoring programme overseen by the independent Pesticides Residues Committeehave shown over the last five years that around 70% of food tested contained nodetectable residues among those sought, around 29% contained residues withinstatutory maximum residue levels (MRLs) and around 1% exceeded MRLs. Theprogramme covers 3,700 to 4,000 samples each year for around 40 commodities. Fulldetails are publicly available on the Committee’s website at www.prc-uk.org.

The decision on the amount offunding given to each Business Improvement District (BID) pilot project was madeon the basis of recommendations from a Steering Group comprising representativesfrom across the private and public sectors. The funding provided is to help thepilots meet the sort of start-up costs that all projects face, such as salary costsfor local project managers, as they prepare for ballots. The Steering Group will be asked to make recommendationsshortly on the allocation of uncommitted funds for 2006-07.

Applications for additionalfunding received from individual Business Improvement District (BID) pilotprojects will be considered by the BIDs Steering Group. The Steering Group willthen make recommendations to ministers.

The Business ImprovementDistricts (BIDs) Steering Group, comprising representatives from across theprivate and public sectors, will make recommendations to ministers on theallocation of uncommitted funds for 2006-07.

In addition to the initial£50,000 provided for each pilot project, expenditure has also been committed whichwill be of benefit to all BID projects, including the employment of a projectdirector, a study tour to existing BIDs in England, and a new Scottish BIDswebsite which will promulgate best practice.

The information requested isnot held centrally.