Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
Eighth Report - Seafood and meat exports to the EU
Published 29 Apr 2021
Paragraph 48
Addressed to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Seafood and Meat Exports to the EU All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Many production grounds for LBM in England and Wales are predominantly Class B under the current arrangements, and therefore produce from them is ineligible for export to the EU unless purified first. We welcome the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) April 2021 seasonal classification of LBM production grounds in England which has upgraded eleven areas to Class A water status for several months of the year, so allowing export to the EU of LBM from aquaculture without purification. Defra and the FSA should ensure that the classification of bivalve mollusc production grounds in England and Wales is in step with Scotland and EU Member States to ensure that Class A status is fairly granted wherever possible including on a seasonal basis. This work should be undertaken with the utmost urgency given the issues facing LBM fishers since 1 January.
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Eighth Report - Seafood and meat exports to the EU (HC 1189), paragraph 48, 29 April 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 July 2021 (deadline 29 June 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government states that it is "fully committed to supporting meat and seafood exports", but declines or has "no plans" on several recommendations, including a public certification service and extending the Movement Assistance Scheme to EU exports.
- On the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, it says the SPS chapter puts in place a framework to reduce SPS controls, and that frictionless trade "would require regulatory alignment with the EU", which it says would undermine regulatory autonomy.
- On certification, it says it has "no plans" to change the commercial Official Veterinarian market. Rather than publishing a comparative report, it is engaging with other countries. It has no current plans to ask the RCVS to admit vets to the temporary register for export health certification roles, but will "monitor the situation".
- On support schemes, it does "not consider support schemes for meat exporters are needed" on current market conditions, but says this "will be kept under regular review". It has "no plans to extend the MAS scheme" to exports to the EU or non-EU countries.
- It sets out phased import controls from October 2021, with physical checks at Border Control Posts from January 2022 and further checks from March 2022. Defra "will continue to report to the Committee" on progress.