Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed review of the EU hormone-free beef quota on the allocation of EU and UK tariff rate quotas.
Answered by George Eustice
The High Quality Beef quota (also known as the EU 481 grain fed quota) established under the Revised Memorandum of Understanding of 21 October 2013 is an autonomous tariff rate quota not bound in the EU’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) schedule. The review of this quota consequently has no bearing on the apportionment of the tariff rate quotas in the EU’s WTO schedule between the UK and the EU-27.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the potential redistribution of the EU hormone-free beef quota on UK beef exports to the EU in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
The European Commission submitted a draft negotiating mandate to the Council for approval on 4 September. The draft negotiating directives specify that the Commission may offer the United States a country-specific allocation of a certain proportion of the annual tariff rate quota for High Quality Beef (also known as the EU 481 grain fed quota). They make clear, however, that negotiations should not increase the total volume of the quota or total market access into the European Union. As this nonetheless encompasses a range of potential outcomes, it will not be possible to make an assessment of the impact until the negotiations are concluded and the details of any allocation that may be agreed upon are known.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK beef sector of the European Commission’s proposal to allocate a larger share of its hormone-free beef quota to the US.
Answered by George Eustice
The European Commission submitted a draft negotiating mandate to the Council for approval on 4 September. The draft negotiating directives specify that the Commission may offer the United States a country-specific allocation of a certain proportion of the annual tariff rate quota for High Quality Beef (also known as the EU 481 grain fed quota). They make clear, however, that negotiations should not increase the total volume of the quota or total market access into the European Union. As this nonetheless encompasses a range of potential outcomes, it will not be possible to make an assessment of the impact until the negotiations are concluded and the details of any allocation that may be agreed upon are known.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of leaving the EU Customs Union on (a) the dairy sector and (b) UK-EU trade in dairy products.
Answered by George Eustice
As part of our preparations to leave the EU, we are in the process of carrying out a rigorous programme of analytical work that will contribute to our understanding of how leaving the EU will affect the UK’s dairy sector.
Part of that programme has included modelling work co-funded between the four UK agricultural departments. In August 2017 FAPRI-UK published this analysis in the report “Impacts of Alternative post-brexit trade agreements on UK agriculture: sector analyses using the FAPRI-UK model”. It considers the impact of different trading scenarios on many commodity sectors, including the UK milk and dairy sector. The full report is available on agri-food and biosciences institute website.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her policy to maintain current food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary controls for (a) chlorinated chicken, (b) hormone enhanced beef and (c) genetically modified goods in the event of any future UK-US trade agreement.
Answered by George Eustice
Once we have left the EU, maintaining the UK’s high standards of food safety will remain a priority.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on food and farming exports in the event that the UK does not have tariff-free access to EU markets after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Retaining tariff free access between the UK and the EU is a significant benefit to the food and farming sectors in both the UK and Europe. In 2015, the UK exported £7.5 billion of food to the EU, and imported £18 billion; for all agri-food and drink products this increases to £11 billion and £28 billion respectively. We aim to secure a mutually beneficial deal that delivers market access for the benefit of farmers and food manufacturers both in the UK and the EU.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on food prices for products sourced from EU countries.
Answered by George Eustice
Commodity prices, exchange rates and oil prices are known to be the most important drivers of retail food price inflation. It is too early to tell what, if any, impact leaving the EU might have on these factors.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to support food and drink supply chains through the Great campaign.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra is working with the Department for International Trade to deliver a shared International Action Plan, launched in October, to drive exports of British food and drink. This will be supported by a campaign under the ‘Food is GREAT’ pillar to encourage UK producers, throughout the supply chain, to export more and to build global recognition of UK excellence in food and drink.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the application in the UK of standards under the REACH regulation on the sale of chemicals.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
As we start the process of leaving the EU, we will aim to deliver a stable and clear legislative framework for the continued effective management of chemicals, including maintaining standards that underpin trade and the protection of human health and the environment, and deliver on our international commitments.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials from the Government plan to attend the Montreal Protocol meetings in July 2016.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The UK Government delegation comprised two officials from Defra’s Environmental Quality Directorate and one official from the Department’s Team of the Government Legal Service.