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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the need for more staff in her Department to deal with the effects of the UK leaving the EU on farming and fishing.

Defra is amongst those Government departments whose work is most closely linked to and impacted by EU activity, legal frameworks and funding. In terms of work arising from the UK’s vote to leave the EU, some 80% of Defra’s work is framed by EU legislation and a quarter of EU laws apply to Defra’s sectors. Many roles across the Defra group are now supporting EU exit-related work, either directly or indirectly.

As with all departments, Defra’s work programmes and recruitment plans are continually kept under review ‪to ensure we are appropriately staffed to deal with the task at hand. The resourcing of EU Exit work is a key priority of the Department and will be subject to on-going assessment. Staffing resources will be deployed flexibly across the entire Defra agenda, including work on our farming and fisheries policy.