Plants: Imports

(asked on 14th December 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of inspectors required to inspect EU imported plants after the end of the transition period; and how many inspectors are employed and fully-trained to carry out such inspections as at 14 December 2020.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 22nd December 2020

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has undertaken significant recruitment to increase the number of plant health inspectors in order to service the demand for import and export checks and certification in England and Wales, where the majority of inspectors will be required. We will have sufficient resources to meet demand from 1 January 2021 when checks of high-priority plants from the EU begin, and July 2021 when we will have arrived at our end-state regime, to ensure minimal disruption to trade.

As of 14 December, APHA has more than 300 fully trained Plant Health inspectors undertaking a wide range of roles across England and Wales, with a further c150 staff completing their training and further new recruits to be onboarded before the end of December. Some of the additional staff recruited and trained will be dedicated to plant imports, with flexibility to expand the number from within the overall resource pool, based on demand.

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