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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with industry in the (a) UK and (b) EU on the potential impact of import checks on food products arriving from the EU.

Following the launch of the draft Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) in April 2023, the Government ran a 6-week engagement period with affected stakeholders, including businesses in the UK and EU. As part of this, the Government engaged approximately 10,000 participants that registered for Government-led events and received over 200 written responses to an online portal and over 650 detailed responses at focused sessions. The feedback received is reflected in the publication of BTOM, notably the decision to move the introduction of controls by three months to give businesses more time to prepare.