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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his officials consulted their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive in preparation for the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 16 and 17 June 2014.

Defra's normal practice is to consult the Devolved Administrations in preparation for all Agriculture and Fisheries Council meetings. In this case the Northern Ireland Executive was consulted in advance on the briefing for all of the main agenda items.

The Northern Ireland Executive had the opportunity to see all of the briefing in advance, and their representative was present at the pre-Council briefing meetings.