Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2019 to Question 453 on Chemicals: Regulation, whether the IT system for UK REACH will be fully operational on day one of the UK's exit from the EU. .
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK REACH IT system ‘Comply with UK-REACH’ will be ready to launch on Day 1 of the UK’s exit from the EU.
‘Comply with UK-REACH’ is being built in a phased approach, so that all features necessary for Day 1 are ready. This will include the ability to register existing UK-held registrations (‘grandfathering’), submit downstream user import notifications (DUIN) for those currently benefitting from EU held registrations, and submit new substance registrations and product and process-oriented research and development (PPORD) notifications.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department uses Office for National Statistics estimates of personal well-being in formulating policy; and what policies her department has introduced to improve personal well-being in the past 12 months.
Answered by George Eustice
We use Office for National Statistics (ONS) wellbeing statistics to inform Health and Wellbeing policy within the Civil Service. Defra also measures personal wellbeing through the annual Civil Service People Survey using the same national statistics that the ONS use for the UK population as a whole. The four personal well-being questions are: Life Satisfaction, Worthwhile, Happiness, and Anxiety. Further details can be found here.
Defra has an established work-related health and wellbeing programme, as part of our Health & Safety Policy, incorporated into the overall health and safety management system. Defra recognises its legal duty to identify both physical and psychological risks to harm and put measures into place to minimise work-related ill health and injury. The Health & Safety Policy is supported by our agreed safety, health and wellbeing standards, risk assessments, guidance and training which are reviewed and updated regularly to meet our aspirations around continuous improvement.
In the last 12 months specifically Defra has reviewed, refreshed and reinforced various services and support mechanisms in place to support employee health and wellbeing. This has included benchmarking against the core and enhanced standards in the ‘Thriving at Work Report’. For example Defra has implemented Mental Health First Aiders to support individuals in crisis, an internal employee-led mental health ‘buddy’ network. These improvements supplement our standard offer where employees have access to an external provider Employee Assistance Programme, and Occupational Health Service. Staff and Line Managers are encouraged to notify work-related stress via internal reporting procedures; follow up conversations help to identify areas to address and ensure individuals are signposted to appropriate support. A programme of regular wellbeing related webinars are available and we consult with areas of the business to provide bespoke health and wellbeing services as needed.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding her Department has allocated to accelerate the development of a digital system for processsing Export Health Certificates; when that system will be fully operational.
Answered by George Eustice
The digital system known as Export Health Certificate (EHC) Online will be available on gov.uk and allow exporters to complete and submit an online application for an EHC.
EHC Online will provide a better user experience, automate processes and reduce running costs for the Government.
The technology build is well developed and we are starting to test the system with stakeholders and users. EHC Online will be fully operational by the end of 2019 and we will be rolling this out to exporters, certifiers etc. in a phased way, sector by sector in early 2020.
In fiscal year (FY) 18/19, £7.05 million was invested into the EHC Online system and in FY 19/20 a further £5.31 million has been spent to date. In September, we were allocated approximately £3.15 million of additional funding to support the development of the digital system for processing Export Health Certificates from the Operational Contingency Fund. Until EHC Online is delivered exporters will continue to follow the existing process on gov.uk.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the cost to the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate of taking on regulatory functions currently undertaken by the EU.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
There will be no change to the cost to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) for taking on the regulatory functions currently undertaken by the EU. This is due to the VMD being a full cost recovery agency and these regulatory functions are paid for by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry through the charges made on applications submitted.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the duration of recognition of certifications by a qualified person for batch release of medicinal products for human and veterinary use in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The unilateral recognition of the results of batch tests carried out in the EU/EEA by the UK will be time limited. We are not currently able to give a definite timeframe because it is closely linked to the wider negotiations.
We are aware of the potential impact of this issue on industry and any changes to the unilateral recognition will be communicated as soon as we are able.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the capacity of the veterinary industry to deal with increased demand for Export Health Certificates in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We recognise there will be an increased demand for Export Health Certificates (EHCs) in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Our aim has been to support the market in meeting likely demand by increasing the number of trained Official Veterinarians (OVs) by providing free certification training.
The number of trained OVs has increased from around 600 in February 2019 to more than 1000 currently, there are around 250 who have registered but not yet completed this training. We have been contacting this group, encouraging them to complete the training as soon as possible.
In Great Britain, OVs operate in the private sector and over time we would expect the market to match supply and demand. Understanding what this means for certifying capacity is difficult as we cannot know how many hours a week these OVs will spend on certifying exports and to what extent their availability will respond to price incentives.
To support Local Authority Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and Official Veterinarians, we have created a Certification Support Officer (CSO) role and funded training. CSOs will handle a number of preparatory and administrative aspects of EHCs (checking documents, identifying products or sealing containers), freeing up EHO or OV time and capacity to provide the final assurance required. To date, in GB, we have 70 authorised CSOs.
EHCs for fish and fish products are primarily certified by Local Authority EHOs and OVs mainly certify EHCs for Animals and Products of Animal Origin (POAO).
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse was of setting up the IT system for UK REACH; and what estimate she has been made of projected spend on that system in each of the next five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Comply with UK REACH is the new IT system that will underpin the independent chemicals regime UK REACH. The cost of establishing this system and preparing it to facilitate the needs of UK REACH on Day 1 of our exit from the EU has been to date £14.32 million.
Annual running costs of Comply with UK REACH for the next five years will depend on the pace and extent of future development and the future relationship negotiated between the UK and EU.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the year on year increase of (a) surface surveillance, (b) aerial surveillance and (c) the number of warranted marine enforcement officers in fisheries protection in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by George Eustice
Compared with the financial year 2018/19, expenditure by the Marine Management Organisation is projected to increase by the following amounts with respect to the financial year 2019/20:
a) Surface surveillance: £7.44 million
b) Aerial surveillance: £2.23 million
c) Training and staff costs for warranted Marine Enforcement Officers: £2.11 million
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 7 of Operation Yellowhammer, HMG Reasonable Worst Case Planning Assumptions, what assessment he has made of the (a) availability of fresh food in each nation and region in the UK and (b) foodstuffs at greatest risk of scarcity in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Operation Yellowhammer HMG Reasonable worst case planning assumptions paragraph 19, what additional funding his Department has allocated for the purpose of enforcement of territorial fishing waters and increasing response capability in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.