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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2019 to Question 211247, which external organisations have been invited to view each Statutory Instrument in draft; and if he will publish the comments that those organisations have made on each instrument.

Information on stakeholder engagement, where applicable, is contained in the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying each Statutory Instrument (SI). For instance, Defra organised informal discussions with 23 stakeholders on The REACH Regulations 2019, and undertook targeted engagement with stakeholders for the Fisheries Regulations 2019 alongside coverage in the Fisheries White Paper.

Defra has also invited some specialists, on a personal basis, to preview late stage drafts of SIs. This provides an opportunity for technical scrutiny before the SI is laid before Parliament. This is independent of a specialist’s right to comment on SIs once public or as a member of an organisation. So far 44 specialists have been involved.