Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish her Department’s policy process which ensures that the UK's animal welfare standards are not undermined when agreeing new free trade agreements.

This Government is committed to building a transparent trade policy, which is subject to robust and appropriate parliamentary scrutiny. The Government has made and fulfilled commitments to transparency, including publishing objectives and economic scoping assessments for its proposed Free Trade Agreements. At the end of negotiations, the Government will lay a final impact assessment prior to ratification under the statutory framework provided for by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

In all trade negotiations the Government works with industry through our Trade Advisory Groups (TAG), Strategic Trade Advisory Groups (STAG) and the Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC). The new TAC will report on whether new free trade agreements are consistent with maintaining UK statutory protections for animal and plant health, animal welfare and the environment.