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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) financial and (b) staffing resources of (i) the UK Export Certification Partnership and (ii) that Partnership's beef certification team.

UKECP was founded in 2009 and is made up of Defra and Export Certification Ltd (ECL). The partnership reviews resources on a regular basis under their terms of agreement, to ensure that the financial and staffing arrangements in place are adequate to deliver our joint aspirations in beef market access. Last year Defra contributed £65,000 and ECL contributed £144,700 giving a total budget of £209,700. ECL consists of five directors one of whom is a vet. It can also draw upon the expertise of three additional vets and contractors.

Industry has recently agreed to increase its financial contributions to the partnership by up to 20% and additional veterinary support has been taken on. In addition, six Defra policy and veterinary officials support the work of the partnership, with over 400 export health certificates for livestock products available to exporters.

Export certifications are issued by a 40 strong team at APHA in Carlisle.