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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their decision to delay the requirement for export health certificates for Products of Animal Origin on the ability of the British Veterinary Association’s members to prevent disease incursion to the UK.

There are no biosecurity risks from delay. The agreement reached with the EU means the UK and EU have highly similar animal and plant health measures, now the transition period has ended.

Moving forward, we are committed to maintaining high biosecurity, food safety and animal welfare standards. This includes the introduction of the staged SPS controls.

In advance of the implementation of the new regime of checks, we already have controls in place on high risk goods. This includes Products of Animal Origin that are subject to additional safeguard measures, and the Government remains able to take emergency safeguard action at very short notice to prohibit or restrict the importation of certain products from certain countries following an outbreak of disease or a public health issue, such as avian influenza.