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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to change pesticide maximum residue level regulations in Great Britain to align with the EU regime still in place in Northern Ireland.

GB operates a pesticides regime based on assimilated EU law and continues to base decisions on the use of pesticides on careful scientific assessment. This includes maximum residue levels, which are set below, and usually well below, the level considered to be safe for people to eat.

Defra keeps the GB pesticides regulatory framework under continued review so that the regime is efficient and effective in ensuring pesticides will not harm human health or pose unacceptable risks to the environment.