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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the (a) number of Certification Support Officers (CSO) and (b) volume of work undertaken by CSOs in order to support Official Veterinarians with a potential increase in export health certificates after the transition period.

Defra is facilitating the employment of Certification Support Officers by both Official Veterinarians and local authorities to assist with export health certification ahead of the end of the transition period. Since October 2020 the training that is needed for an individual to qualify as a CSO has been available free of charge and CSO numbers GB wide have grown by over 50%. My officials have made webinars available to certifiers where the value of CSO role in assisting OVs and LA certifiers in their work is emphasised. Follow up Q&A sessions are being held this week.