My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for setting out why the SIs that we are debating today have been subject to the affirmative procedure under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act. Like other noble Lords, while we accept that this is necessary, we share the frustration that we could be doing something much more constructive in taking these issues forward rather than revisiting the past. This feels like a bit of a futile exercise; nevertheless, we understand that the Minister has to do what he has to do.
I am grateful for the helpful briefing with the Minister’s civil servants prior to this debate. I declare an interest through my involvement with the Rothamsted institute, which carries out scientific research into the areas that we are debating today.
I have a couple of general points about the process being used. In his letter of 4 April, the Minister explained that the procedure was being used because the EU had asked for a specific reassurance that these measures were in place to support the UK Government’s application for third-country status, and he has repeated a similar explanation today. Of course we understand why that third-country status was necessary, but when we met the Minister I asked whether the EU had been consulted over the wording of the SI prior to the deadline for it to consider that third-country status. I was told that that was not the case and it had not been consulted in advance. I find that a bit odd; I would have thought that, in the spirit of co-operation and particularly because we wanted its goodwill over our application, it would have been beneficial to keep the EU in the loop on what we were proposing, including the proposed wording for this SI before the decision was made.
I suppose that that raises another question: if the EU does not see the SIs in advance, does it simply take the Government’s word on trust that this legislation is in place? If that is the case, some of the corrections to errors that we have been considering may not even be necessary because we can just promise that the legislation is in place and not actually have to justify it.
The Minister apologised and I think we all understand that this is not his fault, but we are concerned about the number of errors that are coming to light after the SIs have been considered and agreed. As he said, this is the case here. Like the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, I wonder how these errors came to light. Were the SIs being double-checked specifically in preparation for our EU third country application? In other words, did someone go back through them before we reassured the EU that they were all in place? Does that mean that many of the other SIs which we have already agreed and signed off may also contain errors which have yet to come to light? Is there another batch of error-ridden SIs which will be brought before us and updated in due course when someone goes back and double-checks them?
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Does the Minister agree with the Green Alliance that a lessons-learned exercise should be held on the whole process so that we can address the unintended consequences of the errors that will undoubtedly have crept on to our statute book? Indeed, are there lessons to be learned about how we could have better used stakeholders at an earlier stage to highlight and double-check some of these issues, so that we could have more confidence in the ultimate product?
Regarding the SIs before us, I accept that the Animal Health, Alien Species in Aquaculture and Invasive Non-native Species (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 are basically a tidying-up exercise and I do not have any specific points to make beyond those I have already made about the errors. We have already debated the Animal Health, Plant Health, Seeds and Seed Potatoes (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, and I do not intend to repeat what I said last time we considered them.
The Minister will know that, since then, the JCSI has raised a question about how we define the exceptions—small quantities in travellers’ baggage. I know that the department had an answer to that, but it would be helpful if the Minister could put the outcome of that dialogue on record, given that it has been raised by the JCSI, and so that we are clear on the department’s answer.
Lastly, of course, we all recognise the importance of robust biosecurity measures. It is something we have flagged up time and again and we cannot say that too often. The Government seem far more intent on getting a trade deal than they do on securing continuing involvement in the EU-wide intelligence gathering and disease notification systems, and the co-ordinated research institutions. The noble Lord, Lord Deben, is absolutely right that our future is a common cause and we need a common strategy on all these issues. If we cannot get information sharing and a common strategy on biodiversity in place, we will be the loser.
Can the Minister clarify what progress is being made in the talks with the EU to guarantee that we will not face greater biosecurity risks and that we will maintain alignment with the EU, including sharing scientific advances and information about new threats without delay? Can he also reassure us about the Government’s plan for future biosecurity collaboration with the EU post Brexit? I look forward to hearing his response.