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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with officials of the devolved administration in Northern Ireland on the (a) shortage of carbon dioxide supplies and (b) effects of that shortage on the agri-food industry in that country.

The Government recognises the importance of the industrial gases sector, including the CO2-providing subsector. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has continued to monitor the shortage and Ministers and officials have been in regular contact with producers and suppliers throughout the process. We have been assured by producers of CO2 that production and supply levels are now returning to normal.

Officials in the Department talked regularly to counterparts in departments whose sectors were affected by the recent carbon dioxide shortage, and cross-Whitehall discussions on the shortage were open to any affected department or agency and the Devolved Administrations. DEFRA officials were also in contact with the Devolved Administrations to update them on developments. In particular, DEFRA regularly convened the Food Chain Emergency Liaison Group (FCELG), which all the Devolved Administrations are members of, to gather intelligence about the impacts of the carbon dioxide shortage across the UK food supply chain.