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 place in the House of Commons Library an analysis of the breakdown of regulatory burdens relevant to her Department including (a) listing items identified as out of scope due to EU membership and (b) their estimated red tape costs.

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Effective regulation strengthens our economy through enabling the operation of Defra sectors and preventing costly impacts on our nature, environment and public health. Where regulations are creating unjustifiable burdens on business, Defra is committed to reform them to ensure we support our environment and our economy alike. Defra has already brought forward ambitious reform in the Fisheries Act, Agriculture Act and the Environment Act and has already repealed numerous pieces of EU-legacy regulation. Further use of the powers in these acts and the core powers within the REUL Bill mean we can continue to deliver on the department’s innovative REUL reform ambitions to support businesses and take an approach tailored to the United Kingdom.