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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the cost of introducing a not for EU labelling scheme for agri-food businesses in Fylde constituency.

Defra has published an impact assessment which sets out the likely costs to businesses. Due to the scope of products that need to be labelled from 1 July, and uncertainty as to the extent to which these products may be removed from sale in Northern Ireland and hence the scale of any requirement in Great Britain, it includes a ‘range’ for the potential cost to businesses.

As is set out in the Impact Assessment, the indicative cost to business of applying ‘not for EU’ labelling to a subset of product lines is significantly less than the whole scope and will vary depending on the product. We made the decision to introduce a targeted power, as opposed to a mandatory requirement for all goods, in order to prevent some of these costs to businesses.

Moreover, the non-monetised benefits - particularly safeguarding food security in Northern Ireland - will be a crucial part of maintaining a strong economy.