Asked by: David Duguid (Conservative - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what certification would be required for live seafood exporters based in Scotland exporting to the EU 27 in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Delivering a deal with the EU remains our top priority, but as with any responsible Government, we are planning for all scenarios.
To continue exporting to the EU if the UK leaves without a deal, UK seafood exporters would need to provide a catch certificate and an export health certificate for most fish and fish products. We have published detailed guidance on the gov.uk website and have held several events nationally to help the industry prepare to abide by these rules imposed by the EU. These events have included demonstrations of the IT systems which exporters would need to use, and the processes they would have to follow in the event of leaving the EU without a deal.
Fisheries management is a devolved matter. That will not change as a result of leaving the EU. The UK Government has worked closely with the Scottish Government, as well as the Welsh Government and DAERA, to ensure consistency and help prepare the sector as a whole.
Asked by: David Duguid (Conservative - Banff and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to provide financial support to expand the UK fisheries sector following the UK’s departure from the EU common fisheries policy.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
On 10 December 2018 the Secretary of State announced £37.2 million of extra funding for the UK seafood sector – to be spent in line with European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) priorities – for projects approved during 2019 and 2020 to boost the industry as we become an independent coastal state.
The Secretary of State has also committed that the Government will put in place new domestic, long term arrangements to support the UK’s fishing industry from 2021, through the creation of four new schemes comparable to the EMFF to deliver funding for each nation. The devolved administrations will lead on their own schemes. The new schemes will be introduced after the EMFF has closed in 2020. Details of these will be set at the 2019 Spending Review, alongside decisions on all other domestic spending priorities.