Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ask the Foods Standards Agency to review the licence granted for BHM Food Group Ltd to operate an abattoir in Boosbeck.

BHM Food Group Ltd are no longer approved to operate as a slaughterhouse. They remain conditionally approved as a cutting plant and minced meat establishment. A third and final approval assessment will be conducted by 11 November 2016 to check their compliance against all relevant requirements of food law. If they have not met all these requirements their application for full approval will be refused.

The Food Standards Agency is aware of concerns raised by local residents regarding the environmental impact of a slaughterhouse sited within the village of Boosbeck. However, the Agency is not the competent authority for environmental hygiene matters which inform planning consent. Both of these roles (Environmental Health and Planning) are fulfilled by the local authority.