Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March to Question 126597 on Animal and Plant Health Agency: UK Border Force, if she will update Members on the effectiveness of the Service Level Agreement between Border Force and the Animal and Plant Health Agency following its three month initial assessment.

The introduction of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between Border Force and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) commenced at 09:00 on the 24 January 2022 and the agreement has been reviewed.

During the review period, all detections have been dealt with at the port and there have been no incidents of Border Force securing information and releasing the animals for APHA inland action.

Border Force and APHA have reviewed the process and the SLA will remain in place for all but exceptional cases and will continue to monitor its effectiveness on a regular basis.