Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
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 20 November 2023 to Question 1756 on Seed Potatoes: Exports, if he will publish the conclusions of his meetings at the third TCA Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on 11 October 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The minutes of the third TCA Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures will be published in due course on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had (a) with the European Union and (b) at the Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures on the resumption of exports of seed potatoes.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has consistently raised this issue with the European Commission, including most recently at the third TCA Trade Specialised Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on 11 October 2023. We remain committed to finding a solution that will allow a resumption in trade in seed potatoes between Great Britain and the European Union.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to minimise the disruption of import checks on food products arriving from the EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
From 30 April, our approach to compliance and enforcement will balance an expectation that businesses will do their best to comply, with an understanding that there will be a period of adjustment, and the importance of minimising disruption to supply chains. We will continue to pursue an approach of supporting businesses towards full compliance via guidance and warnings, and only escalating enforcement where necessary.
To support business in preparing for controls, Defra is engaging stakeholders in all SPS sectors within the United Kingdom, across the EU and with global trading partner. Information will be shared through a series of live and virtual engagement events. Online guidance will be available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) awareness of and (b) compliance with upcoming import checks on food products arriving from the EU to Great Britain among food importers in the (i) UK and (ii) EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is engaging stakeholders in all SPS sectors within the United Kingdom, across the EU and with global trading partners, to raise awareness of the Border Target Operating Model (TOM). Information will be shared through a series of live and virtual engagement events. Online guidance will be available on GOV.UK.
From 30 April, our approach to compliance and enforcement will balance an expectation that businesses will do their best to comply, with an understanding that there will be a period of adjustment to the new controls. We are working with APHA and PHAs to reach a clear and consistent understanding of how this calibrated approach will be implemented. We will continue to pursue an approach of supporting businesses towards full compliance via guidance and warnings, only escalating to enforcement where necessary.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve its communications with food importers in the (a) UK and (b) EU on upcoming import checks on food products arriving from the EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is engaging stakeholders in all SPS sectors within the United Kingdom, across the EU and with global trading partners, to raise awareness of the Border Target Operating Model (TOM). Information will be shared through a series of live and virtual engagement events and communications detailing actions required as a result of the new changes. Online guidance will be available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
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 potential impact of import checks on products arriving from the EU on (a) food prices and (b) consumers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) will introduce import controls on consignments arriving in GB from the EU. Our analysis indicates that these controls would at most have an impact on inflation of less than 0.2% in total over a 3-year period. We are taking steps to support businesses importing to GB to prepare for BTOM and do not anticipate BTOM will adversely affect supplies, including food supplies, to GB.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
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 potential impact of import checks on food products arriving from the EU on (a) independent and (b) small and medium-sized (i) sandwich shops, (ii) delicatessens and (iii) grocery wholesale businesses.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Border Target Operating Model provides a proportionate and streamlined import control regime that supports businesses of all sizes while maintaining high levels of biosecurity and public health protection. During the 6-week stakeholder engagement period, the majority of responding businesses identified as small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We have listened to the feedback and we have pushed back the implementation dates for SPS controls giving industry longer to prepare. We have also revised the SPS trusted trader scheme and set out further facilitations for importers using groupage models, all of which will benefit SMEs.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) border inspection teams and (b) port authorities are fully-staffed ahead of the implementation of import checks on food products arriving from the EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the decision to delay implementing new SPS controls on EU-GB imports of animal products, Defra agreed to fund up to 150 staff for Port Health Authorities through the Port Health Transition Fund. This funding was extended, confirming funding for existing staff at PHAs for the financial year 2023/2024, allowing retention of capacity and skills for delivery of the BTOM as well as continuing the ongoing work on managing biosecurity risks, (e.g., African Swine Fever). Following the publication of the final BTOM, we will continue to work with both APHA and PHAs to agree resourcing plans to deliver the proposed controls and develop a clear and consistent understanding across PHAs and APHA as to how the new controls should be implemented.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the implementation of import checks on food products arriving from the European Union to Great Britain causes minimal loss of perishable products.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fruit and vegetable imports have been classified as low-risk meaning they will not require any additional paperwork or checks. Where perishable products will require additional physical checks, the three-month period from 31 January 2024 will allow businesses time to familiarise themselves with the new requirements before full implementation on 30 April 2024. From 30 April, our approach to compliance and enforcement will be carefully calibrated to balance an expectation that businesses will do their best to comply, with an understanding that there will be a period of adjustment. We will continue to pursue an approach of supporting businesses towards full compliance via guidance and warnings and only escalating to enforcement where necessary.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with industry in the (a) UK and (b) EU on the potential impact of import checks on food products arriving from the EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the launch of the draft Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) in April 2023, the Government ran a 6-week engagement period with affected stakeholders, including businesses in the UK and EU. As part of this, the Government engaged approximately 10,000 participants that registered for Government-led events and received over 200 written responses to an online portal and over 650 detailed responses at focused sessions. The feedback received is reflected in the publication of BTOM, notably the decision to move the introduction of controls by three months to give businesses more time to prepare.