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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions officials of his Department have had with officials from the Scottish Government on UK common agricultural frameworks after the UK leaves the EU.

Ministers and officials are in regular discussion with their Scottish counterparts on future agriculture policy after the UK leaves the EU. Meetings were held over the summer between Defra and Scottish Government officials, along with their counterparts from Wales and Northern Ireland, on UK common agricultural frameworks. Further discussions have taken place on 14 and 15 November.

The Secretary of State met Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, on 6 November to discuss future agricultural policy, along with Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs and Noel Lavery, the Permanent Secretary in the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland.

The Government is committed to delivering an approach that works for the whole of the UK and reflects the needs and individual circumstances of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.