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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken a risk assessment of the impact of import controls on food prices; and whether they are taking any steps to mitigate any inflationary pressures on consumers.

We have introduced controls which are more proportionate to risk, with low-risk animal products not requiring certification or checks at the border by default. This approach will apply to all our trading partners, meaning a direct removal of burdens for certain Rest of World importers.

Compared with the import model that was originally scheduled to have been introduced in July 2022, we believe that this new model will reduce costs to businesses by around £500 million per annum by reducing the complexity and volume of paperwork associated with importing.

The Government’s modelling of the inflationary impact of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) has been undertaken through a peer-reviewed econometric model.

For consumers, the implementation of the BTOM should have minimal impact on food price inflation. Initial analysis has indicated that the policies introduced under the BTOM would lead to an approximate increase in consumer food price inflation of less than 0.2 percentage points over a three-year period.