Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether any social events took place between three or more people within her Departmental buildings between (a) 5 November 2020 and 1 December 2020 and (b) 16 December 2020 and 22 February 2021.
Answered by Mike Freer
This information is not collected. At the time, staff were expected to work from home and undertake meetings remotely, wherever possible.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential effect of her Department’s trade policy on the protection of animal welfare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I am proud of our world-leading animal welfare standards and these will be upheld throughout our trade negotiations. We have established the Trade and Agriculture Commission in law, which will provide independent scrutiny of the effect on animal welfare our trade deals.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the need to introduce a trade, food and farming standards commission to ensure food imports continue to meet existing UK food standards after the transition period.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The approach of HM Government to food standards in trade deals is clear. We remain firmly committed to upholding our high environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards. Having left the EU, we will decide how we set and maintain our own laws, standards and regulations. We will remain global leaders in environmental protection and animal welfare standards, maintaining the high-quality of our produce for consumers at home and overseas.
The United Kingdom’s food standards, for both domestic production and imports, are overseen by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland. These agencies provide independent advice to HM Government and the devolved administration in Scotland respectively. They will continue to do so in order to ensure that all food imports comply with the United Kingdom’s high standards.
Decisions on our standards are a matter for the United Kingdom and will be made separately from any trade agreement. HM Government will stand firm in trade negotiations to make sure that any future trade deals live up to the values of farmers and consumers across the United Kingdom.