Speeches by Roca.

“How much trade will be affected come 1 July? Do you know? We have an overall figure of 3.5 million tonnes of fresh produce from Europe, but I presume most of that falls into the low-risk category, like you say.”

“I agree with the confidence point. Is trade right, though, when they have told us that border control posts are already at capacity, and that they are worried about BCPs meeting the additional demand that will now be created post July?”

“Can I suggest that there is more work to be done with the sector? As we heard on 25 March, which is not that long ago, being here on 6 May, they did not feel confidence in knowing what they had to do, and as to what will happen and when. That is something the Department could look at quite urgently, with this deadline …”

“We have had a hint at European negotiations. Is that what “wider circumstances” mean?”

“Minister, it is good to see you. There is a big role for inland local authorities. We know about the pressure that local authorities have been operating under financially, et cetera. They have a crucial role in terms of public health and biosecurity. What is your assessment of the demand on them at the moment in the pr…”

“I might turn to intelligence and sharing with local authorities in a moment, but are you seeing any trends in particular with inland seizures?”

“We have talked about the importance of intelligence sharing. At the moment, local authorities do not have real-time access to IPAFFS, do they?”

“But inland authorities do not at the moment.”

“Is that something that you might look at as a Department?”

“Are inland local authorities getting the same access to intelligence that the port health authorities are getting?”

“Is an assessment of what local authorities need in terms of intelligence something that you are working on as a Department?”

“The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health raised a flag with us about the significant shortages of environmental health and trading standards professionals. I wondered what plans the Department had to help local authorities with that, because there seem to be some quite significant shortages.”

“That might be a rich vein of work to work with the LGA on. In one of our stakeholder surveys for this inquiry, the FSA used quite strong language. It said, “A lack of new entrants in the pipeline and declining options for education and training are threatening the future security of our food system”. It is a real issue…”

“My questions lead very well on from those questions, which are around trading fresh produce. I wonder whether you could just confirm what the situation is with the easement of import checks on medium-risk fruit and vegetables, which expires on 1 July. The sector and trade told us that they did not feel they had clarity…”

“We are going ahead in July.”

“We had very strong representations from the Fresh Produce Consortium and others. They said that they did not feel that they had enough notice to prepare for the new checks, and they were concerned that a lot of the trade, particularly European trade, is between small businesses that have not been involved in border pro…”

“Before reflecting on the anniversary itself, I wish to pay tribute to the Royal British Legion and its volunteers. I have a dickie bow that the Bollington branch of the legion, one of the oldest in the country, has kindly given me, and I will be wearing it with pride on Thursday, along with other RBL volunteers across …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I wanted to speak today because, as has already been said, this is a really important debate—one that must be had in a respectful and open manner. I am particularly grateful to the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) for opening the debate in precisely that …”

“indicated dissent.”

“My hon. Friend is talking about fairness, which is really important. The Institute for Public Policy Research said that, if the north was a country, it would be second bottom in the OECD league table in terms of public investment, just above Greece. Is that not a sign of how unfair public investment is in the UK?”