I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. I am very much looking forward to the debate; I rather think I am looking at a number of the participants already. I am most grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Browne of Belmont and Lord McCrea, for participating and emphasising that we wish this matter were being dealt with elsewhere. That should be the right way forward—it is the way mature politics needs to proceed—so I very much endorse what the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, have said. In my view, the responsibility is really on everyone in the public service to ensure that these talks
are productive and successful. Alas, as we all know, we are talking about people’s lives and communities. We want a better time for Northern Ireland—what a great place it is—so, although I should not be doing this, it is a privilege and we are seeking to do the right thing for Northern Ireland.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh hit on a vein: I think she and many of your Lordships know that I am rather keen on the horse. Obviously, the Government recognise the value of the equine sector to the UK economy. I also know—declaring an interest in that my wife’s family breed horses in County Tipperary—that it is of great importance to the rural economy of Northern Ireland and the Republic. We therefore need to do all we can to ensure the movement of horses between the United Kingdom and Ireland—and indeed France; across the piece—and to ensure that in some way we can continue what was the tripartite agreement. We need to work on some arrangement to ensure the free movement of horses, particularly bearing in mind biosecurity. We do not want any future arrangements to jeopardise something that is absolutely crucial, particularly in that thoroughbred end—racing—where pest diseases, viruses, et cetera, are absolutely kept to a minimum by high biosecurity.
How to find an arrangement to best succeed the tripartite agreement is something for negotiations. We all recognise—the UK Government and, I think, the Irish and French racing interests as well—that what we had was of value, and we need to see how we can work. This is why the British Thoroughbred Industries Brexit Steering Group is collaborating with Defra officials. We absolutely need to see what we can do for a very important part of the rural economies of the Republic and our country.
The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, rightly raised a number of points about the resource implications and so forth. My understanding of the sort of numbers under a new regime is that the five inspectors would need to be increased to 11—a doubling. All consignments of regulated—that is, high-risk—plants and plant products currently imported from the EU under the existing EU passport system would require pre-notification, to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and subject to remote documentary checks in the event of exit without an agreement. This plays into a point that I emphasised and that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, acknowledged: this is precisely because neither we in this country nor the Republic want to have checks at the border. We think there are ways in which these matters can be checked. As we said in the previous debate, we should not be nervous of thinking about the best ways of heightening biosecurity. Making this the responsibility of a country’s plant health authority has that strength and imprimatur. If we import something from Italy, say, it will be the Italian plant health authority that has to signify the phytosanitary certificate. We should not be fearful of some elements of this new arrangement because they are about what we increasingly need to look at.
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The recent survey suggests that these checks include a significant number of consignments which are subject to existing plant passport checks, and make an additional
provision to undertake phytosanitary certificate checks that may be required to accommodate some trade in smaller consignments. Furthermore, these checks are likely to continue to be undertaken in the existing border inspection posts.
It is estimated that each documentary check would take approximately 10 minutes to complete and DAERA’s resources will, as I say, need to increase to 11 inspectors to facilitate this eventuality. This equates to a maximum of 17 checks per inspector to be carried out within their daily duties. I quizzed officials about whether this was manageable and within the scope of what the 11 could undertake, and they were sure that this amount of people would be able to undertake that important work.
The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, raised an important point about pets. This instrument simply proposes to maintain the current standards and requirements for pet animals travelling into the UK from the EU using pet passports and other documentations if the UK leaves without an agreement. We have made a proper response: biosecurity will not be put in jeopardy by keeping the same arrangements immediately post exit. I have no agenda and the question of whether we have the right level of biosecurity is for the future and, perhaps, for the debate of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, later in the week.
EU law imposes additional requirements on pet movement into the EU from third countries, the extent of which depends on the category of listing. The United Kingdom has already made its application for listed pet travel status precisely to mitigate potential burdens, and the agreed extension on the date of EU exit provides a good opportunity to progress this application further. Defra officials are working closely with those in Northern Ireland so that we can further those discussions. We understand that people feel strongly about this issue.
The noble Baronesses, Lady Parminter and Lady Jones of Whitchurch, referred to the important issue of authorised trade premises. It is correct that no business has, as yet, applied to become an authorised trade premises. However, future applications will be facilitated by DAERA. For goods entering Northern Ireland directly from third countries, the established border inspection posts currently accommodate the trading level of 500 annual consignments. DAERA is engaging with stakeholders about the implications of the regulations for each sector. This bears out what the noble Lord, Lord McCrea, said about discussing and raising the issue with Ulster’s farming unions and so forth. Clearly it is essential that there is a continuing dialogue with stakeholders, because there will be a number of requirements that they will need to attend to.
The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, also raised the issue of animal welfare consequences. This is an area where DAERA and Defra are working on all contingency plans to minimise any disruption in the event of leaving with no deal. We are working with APHA to ensure that transporters have the most robust contingency plans. We clearly need to ensure that. I have to say that these SIs cover imports to the UK only as we cannot legislate about how the EU will choose to treat exports from the UK. That is why negotiations and a deal are what we all desire.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, raised the question of delay. We wanted to ensure that the policies we had developed would work within the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland. On 13 March this year the UK Government confirmed their policy of having no new checks or controls on goods at a land border between the Republic and Northern Ireland if the United Kingdom were to leave without an agreement. This enabled these instruments to proceed, ensuring the important controls to protect the biosecurity of the island of Ireland, while managing without checks at the land border.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, raised the question of increased bureaucracy. The intention is that regulated plants and plant products imported from the EU will be subject to remote documentary checks. They will not be subject to physical inspection following entry. We must not be fearful of this. A phytosanitary certificate gives an extra handle. We have discussed biosecurity with DAERA and Defra officials, and this is a constructive and important way forward.
The noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, raised the issue of the cost of plant health checks and their costs. They are consistent with the existing policy of recovering the cost of providing plant health services through charging those who use the services. Fees will apply for any inspections undertaken. Our policies and plans for day one seek to maintain current high levels of plant health biosecurity. We also want to preserve the flow of trade in plants and plant products, and we are seeking to minimise new impacts on businesses.
The noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, referred to plant materials transiting through the Republic of Ireland. This may have come up in our earlier considerations. Regulated plants and plant products from third countries that transit the EU en route to Northern Ireland are currently subjected to plant health checks at the first point of entry into the EU to ensure biosecurity protection. Cleared goods can then circulate within the EU and are assigned the same status as EU goods. Regulated plants and plant products from third countries transiting the EU en route to Northern Ireland which have not been cleared in the EU would be subject to regulatory controls under this instrument. They require all imports of regulated plants and plant products from third countries transiting to Northern Ireland via Dublin or anywhere in the EU to provide DAERA with three days’ pre-notification of any consignment’s arrival in Northern Ireland. The pre-notification provides relevant details of the goods and their expected date of arrival at a DAERA-authorised approved place of inspection within Northern Ireland where documentary and physical checks are completed. Goods will not be subject to plant health checks at the Northern Ireland border. The instrument also requires that the goods be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the appropriate authority in the country of origin. This instrument gives the same assurance for third-country goods transiting the EU to Northern Ireland as is provided by the corresponding Defra instrument in respect of Great Britain.
I am very conscious of seed potatoes. I am aware of the historic interest in them, particularly in Scotland, where seed potatoes are very important—and, of course,
Northern Ireland sells seed potatoes to the Republic. At present, annually the Northern Ireland seed potato sector produces 4,000 tonnes, which are marketed in the EU, Great Britain and third countries. In 2017 approximately 50% of certified seed potatoes produced in Northern Ireland were exported to the Republic of Ireland, and the market in the Republic was valued at £525,000 annually. So seed potatoes are very significant for Northern Ireland farmers in this sector.
It is envisaged that without an agreement there would be a curtailment of outlets for seed potatoes grown in Europe in markets including the Republic. That is why we need to work on getting an arrangement, and it is an example of precisely why this Government are seeking a deal rather than no deal.
The noble Baroness also raised the importance of areas of legislation. Biosecurity is of paramount importance. We are clear that our aim is to have a fully functioning statute book from exit day to ensure that we continue to protect public health and the environment. All relevant powers and provisions covered by EU legislation will still be available. Our intention to retain relevant EU legislation inevitably meant that it was not possible to include everything in earlier SIs, as EU legislation is updated frequently. Obviously, I cannot guarantee that there will not be further updates in this area that we will need to attend to.
If I may, I will return with further information about some of the consultations that I know have taken place with stakeholders in Northern Ireland. The noble Lord, Lord McCrea, in particular raised that point. I will also come back to your Lordships if there is any further information about ports and docks. Certain owners of business premises may now be reflecting that going to the dock or the airport is not the most sensible thing to do. Clearly, trade premises need to be of a sufficient standard. I absolutely take the point that there must be no way in which these arrangements permit pests, diseases and other problems to travel from the point of entry to the inspection point. Again, I assure noble Lords that I have been ferocious on that point.
I will look at Hansard because there might be some details that I have not covered sufficiently.