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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to retain regulations on environmental health and food safety when retained EU regulations in other areas are removed.

HM Government is committed to upholding standards on environmental health and food safety.

Defra is in the process of analysing its retained EU law (REUL) stock and determining what should be preserved as part of domestic law, as well as REUL that should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill and therefore inform assessments of the Bill’s impact, including in relation to the above. HMG catalogued and published the ‘retained EU law dashboard’ on 22^nd June which includes REUL covering environmental health and food safety.

The independent Food Standards Agency, working with Food Standards Scotland, is playing a full part in the review of all REUL within their areas of responsibility and will advise Ministers, Welsh Ministers and the Northern Ireland Executive (when operational) as appropriate. They will not compromise consumer safety or business’s ability to trade during this review.