Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Monday, 7 June 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 June 2004. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Monday, 14 June 2004 on behalf of the Treasury.

Treasury

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what quantity of illegal food imports were seized in each month of the last three years. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what quantity of illegal food imports were seized in each month of the last three years. [177960] John Healey: HM Customs and Excise reported in their spring departmental report 2004 (Cm 6224) that they seized 119,278 kg of illegal imports of products of animal origin for the period 1 April to 31 December 2003. The following table shows the monthly breakdown for these seizures: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Month Total weight of products of animal origin seized (kg) April 3,281 May 25,111 June 5,517 July 9,106 August 20,238 September 14,109 October 11,768 November 13,474 December 16,674 Total 119,278 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest kilogramme. Statistics relating to seizures of illegal imports for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 financial years were published in Defra's "Annual Review of Imports of Animal Product: April 2002--March 2003", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. A monthly breakdown of the statistics for those years, and for seizures made by other agencies between 1 April and 31 December 2003, would be available only at disproportionate cost; Exemption 9 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies.

Secondary information