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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of inspection agents required for the inspection of high priority plants imported from the EU from (a) 1 January 2021 and (b) 1 July 2021; how many trained and qualified agents are employed by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

GB plant health authorities have undertaken significant recruitment to increase the number of plant health inspectors in order to service the demand for import and export checks and certification. We will have sufficient resources to meet demand from 1 January 2021 when checks of high-priority plants from the EU begin, and July 2021 when we will have arrived at our end-state regime, to ensure minimal disruption to trade.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) delivers plant health services in England and Wales where the majority of additional inspectors will be required. APHA is well advanced in its recruitment of plant health inspectors, with nearly 200 new field and desk-based staff undergoing training in time for 1 January 2021.

Further recruitment campaigns are being progressed which would enable adaptation of the number plant health inspectors if volumes prove to be higher than anticipated. Additionally, Defra officials also have well developed contingency plans in place, which involve re-prioritisation of services and securing temporary resources to ensure no disruption to trade.