Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons Northern Irish beekeepers are prevented from registering on BeeBase.
Answered by George Eustice
Bee Health is a devolved matter. The decision to join BeeBase is a matter for each devolved government to make in conjunction with Defra.
Beekeepers in Northern Ireland can benefit from the wealth of information on the public pages of BeeBase which provide advice and guidance on identification of bee pests and diseases and good beekeeping practices to keep their hives healthy.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on the increase in the rate of incidence of American foulbrood in bee hives.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra maintains regular contact with all UK devolved governments on incidence of bee pests and diseases. Coordinating our efforts across the UK ensures outbreaks are managed and appropriate controls are put in place, benefiting all UK bee populations.
In January Defra agreed to use molecular sequencing to identify the strain of American Foulbrood within colonies from Northern Ireland. The results offered an additional inspection tool for Northern Ireland’s Bee Inspectors in their efforts to understand and control the disease.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were imported into Northern Ireland for (a) non-commercial reasons under the PETS scheme and (b) commercial reasons in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the countries of origin of those dogs were in each category.
Answered by George Eustice
The movement of dogs into the United Kingdom, whether through the Pet Travel Scheme or for commercial reasons is a devolved matter.
The Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland has suggested that the Honourable Member write to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs brought into the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme were found to be non-compliant with that scheme's requirements in each year since 2012.
Answered by George Eustice
The requirement to ensure that pet dogs travel to Great Britain on approved routes is the responsibility of the relevant transport companies. It is a condition of their approval that the transport companies check 100% of pets declared by their owners for compliance with the EU Pet Travel Scheme.
The table below lists the number of audits completed by APHA staff on pet checkers and the number of fails identified during the audits.
Year | No of Pets travelling to GB under PETS | No. of QA checks on Pet animals | No. of non-compliances |
2012 | 184,338 | 6070 | 74 |
2013 | 167,507 | 4894 | 58 |
2014 | 170,659 | 5978 | 54 |
2015 | 267,613 | 4863 | 69 |
The data on the number of pets travelling from 2012/2014 was taken from the PETS database. We rely upon Pet checkers who operate upon behalf of APHA to complete the database and so cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data. A different system of recording the number of pets entering Great Britain in 2015 was implemented in Jan 2015. However, we still rely on pet checkers to provide this info and so cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data.
Of the pets found not to be in compliance with the entry rules, these pets were either detained until their compliance could be established, re-exported or placed into quarantine.