Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of vets that will be required at ports and airports to issue export health certificates in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how many vets are currently available.
Exporters are required to have certified Export Health Certificates before goods leave the approved premises, therefore we do not anticipate any need for additional certifying officers at UK borders.
To date, over 1000 vets are registered as official veterinarians that can certify Export Health Certificates – an increase of around 60% since February 2019. We have put in place a number of measures to increase certifier capacity, including introducing a new certification support officer role to assist certifiers in collating the evidence needed, as well as providing free training for vets.