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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to provide financial support to expand the UK fisheries sector following the UK’s departure from the EU common fisheries policy.

On 10 December 2018 the Secretary of State announced £37.2 million of extra funding for the UK seafood sector – to be spent in line with European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) priorities – for projects approved during 2019 and 2020 to boost the industry as we become an independent coastal state.

The Secretary of State has also committed that the Government will put in place new domestic, long term arrangements to support the UK’s fishing industry from 2021, through the creation of four new schemes comparable to the EMFF to deliver funding for each nation. The devolved administrations will lead on their own schemes. The new schemes will be introduced after the EMFF has closed in 2020. Details of these will be set at the 2019 Spending Review, alongside decisions on all other domestic spending priorities.