Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the role and work of the Government Chemist.

The main work of the Government Chemist is the resolution of measurement science disputes in the food and feed control system and associated capability-building research. The demand-led nature of this work makes prediction of future trends difficult. Where EU law has an influence, such as on official controls and import controls, this is not expected to change in the short to medium term as it will be transposed into UK law as part of the UK’s exit arrangements from the EU.