Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what preparations he is making to ensure sanitary and phytosanitary checks take place at the UK border on the day the UK leaves the EU.

The precise nature of our future relationship with the EU is still to be determined and is the subject of negotiation. The Government is working to secure a deal which achieves the freest possible trade in goods and services between the UK and the EU.

Discussion on the sanitary and phytosanitary conditions and related official controls that will be applicable to trade in animal and plant products will form part of these negotiations. Negotiations between the UK and the EU have so far been limited to the withdrawal arrangements. Like all Government departments, Defra is working on preparations for a range of scenarios to deliver a smooth departure from the EU.