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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to maintain the level of UK and EU funding for the fishing industry and communities as part of the UK's negotiations on leaving the EU.

The Chancellor has set out that the guarantee for European Structural and Investment Fund projects announced in August will be extended to the point at which the UK departs the EU. This guarantee includes the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and provides further certainty to those fishers, seafood businesses and other organisations seeking support. Where projects secure EMFF funding before we exit, payments will be guaranteed even after the UK has left the EU.

Defra officials will be working with the Department for Exiting the EU to look at future policies for fisheries. We will continue to work closely with relevant industry and other key stakeholders to develop these new arrangements.