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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing an improved plant health alert system; and whether the new system will include real time updates on border holds.

For goods that are detained at the border, there are already measures in place to inform the persons responsible for the loads that corrective action may be required or that in the event of a pest finding, certain processes need to be followed. Any non-compliance that results in statutory action is also formally notified to the exporting country, with publication of the non-compliances also published on the Plant Health Portal. Following recent feedback from individual cases, the Animal and Plant Health Agency has reviewed and updated its processes to ensure individuals are aware of any action being taken.