Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what services the Government Legal Department’s Litigation Group has provided to his Department since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Since 1 January 2021, Litigation Group has continued to provide litigation services to the majority of Government departments, including Defra, and executive agencies, as well as many non-departmental public bodies.
The Group’s work encompasses litigation in public and private law as well as supporting public inquiries and acting in Inquests. This has involved, amongst other things, attending in a wide range of courts, including Coroners’ Courts, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, the Royal Courts of Justice and the Supreme Court. Our Employment and Commercial Groups similarly provide litigation services to the majority of Government departments and have done so in the period in question.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of number of annual sanitary and phytosanitary checks in all forms that will be conducted for (a) exports from Great Britain to the EU and (b) imports from Great Britain to the EU once full border controls have been implemented.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Full import controls on GB exports to the EU have been in operation by the EU since 1 January 2021. The number of export health certificates being issued will not change as a result of our own implementation of border checks on EU imports into GB.
Estimates of the total number of export health certificates required following the end of the transition period indicated that up to 300k additional certificates would be needed for GB-EU trade, and up to 480k per annum when GB-NI and GB-Rest of World Trade were included. The EU determines how many physical checks it needs to conduct with minimum levels set out in the Official Controls Regulation. Regulated imports and exports are subject to 100% documentary checks.
We estimate, based on our own analysis of customs data, that 4 million to 5.9 million consignments of sanitary and phytosanitary commodities will be imported annually from the EU. These are divided between 1.3 million to 2.5 million consignments of products of animal origin, and 2.7 million to 3.4 million consignments of plants and plant products. Each individual consignment will require certification. A minimum 1% of all low-risk imports will be physically checked with higher percentages for commodities that present a greater biosecurity risk.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of number of annual Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) documents, including export health certificates, phytosanitary certificates and catch certificates, that will be required for (a) exports from Great Britain to the EU and (b) imports from Great Britain to the EU once full border controls have been implemented.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Full import controls on GB exports to the EU have been in operation by the EU since 1 January 2021. The number of export health certificates being issued will not change as a result of our own implementation of border checks on EU imports into GB.
Estimates of the total number of export health certificates required following the end of the transition period indicated that up to 300k additional certificates would be needed for GB-EU trade, and up to 480k per annum when GB-NI and GB-Rest of World Trade were included. The EU determines how many physical checks it needs to conduct with minimum levels set out in the Official Controls Regulation. Regulated imports and exports are subject to 100% documentary checks.
We estimate, based on our own analysis of customs data, that 4 million to 5.9 million consignments of sanitary and phytosanitary commodities will be imported annually from the EU. These are divided between 1.3 million to 2.5 million consignments of products of animal origin, and 2.7 million to 3.4 million consignments of plants and plant products. Each individual consignment will require certification. A minimum 1% of all low-risk imports will be physically checked with higher percentages for commodities that present a greater biosecurity risk.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many EU exporters have faced sanitary and phytosanitary checks exporting to the UK since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK is introducing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import controls in a phased manner, supporting businesses as they come through the pandemic and ensuring that we do not disrupt food supply. From 1 January 2022, high-priority plants and plant products and live animals will be subjected to full import controls with checks taking place at destination. We will be introducing pre-notification requirements for all other regulated SPS goods from 1 January 2022 and full import controls from July 2022 onwards.
We cannot break down individual business numbers easily. Approximately 1,400 businesses registered for pre-notification and the following checks have been conducted:
73,401 consignments of regulated plants and plant products have been imported to the UK from the EU: 59,210 (80.67%) were subjected to SPS documentary checks of which 48 failed (0.07%).
49,822 were subject to identity checks (67.88%) of which 12 failed (0.02%).
11,310 faced physical SPS checks (15.41%) and 22 failed such checks (0.03%).
9796 consignments of live animals were imported into the UK from the EU. All were subject to documentary checks and 2122 (22%) were subjected to physical inspection.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many goods exported from the EU to the UK have faced sanitary and phytosanitary checks since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK is introducing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import controls in a phased manner, supporting businesses as they come through the pandemic and ensuring that we do not disrupt food supply. From 1 January 2022, high-priority plants and plant products and live animals will be subjected to full import controls with checks taking place at destination. We will be introducing pre-notification requirements for all other regulated SPS goods from 1 January 2022 and full import controls from July 2022 onwards.
We cannot break down individual business numbers easily. Approximately 1,400 businesses registered for pre-notification and the following checks have been conducted:
73,401 consignments of regulated plants and plant products have been imported to the UK from the EU: 59,210 (80.67%) were subjected to SPS documentary checks of which 48 failed (0.07%).
49,822 were subject to identity checks (67.88%) of which 12 failed (0.02%).
11,310 faced physical SPS checks (15.41%) and 22 failed such checks (0.03%).
9796 consignments of live animals were imported into the UK from the EU. All were subject to documentary checks and 2122 (22%) were subjected to physical inspection.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many UK exporters have faced sanitary and phytosanitary checks exporting to countries in the EU since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The EU introduced sanitary and phytosanitary controls on all exports from Great Britain (GB) to the EU on 1 January 2021. Since then, all animal and animal product exports must have an appropriate export health certificate (EHC) and plants and plant products require a phytosanitary certificate (PC).
Each commodity type in a consignment will require a minimum of one EHC but in some cases, mixed load consignments or packages may require multiple EHCs. Physical checks conducted by the EU are not notified to the UK and therefore we are unable to confirm how many exporters have faced checks at EU border control posts. Minimum percentages for specific checks are set out in the Official Controls Regulation for both the EU and the UK to comply with.
Since 1 January, 1,533 GB plant exporters have applied for 28,904 PCs (this figure include plants moving to Northern Ireland).
Likewise, there have been 159,000 EHCs issued for animal and animal products commodities exported to EU member states from approximately 1,300 businesses.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many goods exported to countries in the European Union from the UK have faced sanitary and phytosanitary checks since 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The EU introduced sanitary and phytosanitary controls on all exports from Great Britain (GB) to the EU on 1 January 2021. Since then, all animal and animal product exports must have an appropriate export health certificate (EHC) and plants and plant products require a phytosanitary certificate (PC).
Each commodity type in a consignment will require a minimum of one EHC but in some cases, mixed load consignments or packages may require multiple EHCs. Physical checks conducted by the EU are not notified to the UK and therefore we are unable to confirm how many exporters have faced checks at EU border control posts. Minimum percentages for specific checks are set out in the Official Controls Regulation for both the EU and the UK to comply with.
Since 1 January, 1,533 GB plant exporters have applied for 28,904 PCs (this figure include plants moving to Northern Ireland).
Likewise, there have been 159,000 EHCs issued for animal and animal products commodities exported to EU member states from approximately 1,300 businesses.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has allocated from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to support the development of the UK onion industry.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
While no specific provision for the onion sector has been allocated from 2021-22 to 2024-25, sources of funding available to the onion industry between now and 2024-25 could include the three funds available under the Farming Innovation Programme, the forthcoming Farming Investment Fund, and existing Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organisations under the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
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 he has made of potential retail shortages of (a) soft drinks, (b) bottled water and (c) alcoholic beverages over winter 2021-22; and what discussions he has had with suppliers and retailers on those potential shortages.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on access to a range of sources, including robust domestic supply chains, as well as imports through stable export routes
Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement with manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption across different product groups in food supply chains.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
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 he has made of potential retail shortages of baked goods and baking ingredients over winter 2021-22; and what discussions he has had with suppliers and retailers on those potential shortages.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on access to a range of sources, including robust domestic supply chains, as well as imports through stable export routes
Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement with manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption across different product groups in food supply chains.