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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 33 of The UK's Approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol, published May 2020, what steps he is taking to ensure that there will be an adequate number of vets available to sign off the export health certificates which might be required for the shipment of food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Our aim has been to support the market in meeting likely demand for Certifying Officers to certify export health certificates. We provided funding for training of veterinarians to become Official Veterinarians (OVs) which enables them to certify exports of products of animal origin. In addition, we have created a Certification Support Officer role freeing up certifier time and increasing capacity. As of May 2020 1,217 OVs have completed this training.