The Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
has today written to the Defra
Secretary expressing serious concerns about the effectiveness of
the Government’s measures for protecting biosecurity as it
introduces new import checks.
The Committee remains supportive of the implementation of the
Border Target Operating Model (BTOM). However, today’s letter
raises two particular issues: firstly, Defra’s planned funding
cuts for spot checks for products of animal origin at the Port of
Dover and secondly, the location of the new facility for physical
checks at the Dover border crossing, at Sevington – 22 miles away
from the point of entry at Dover.
Dover Port Health Authority and Border Force are currently
confiscating large amounts of illegal meat, smuggled into Great
Britain via the Port of Dover: since September 2022, when checks
were introduced, 60 tonnes of illegal pork have been seized, and
5.5. tonnes of illegal meat were confiscated over the weekend
before Christmas alone. Dover Port Health Authority said, "this
is the tip of the iceberg and these controls need to be bolstered
and not reduced”.
Meat which is being brought into GB illegally poses significant
potential risks to domestic biosecurity, in light of the
devastating impacts of African Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth
disease.
The Committee understands that Defra funding for these spot
checks at the Port of Dover will soon be reduced by around 70%
and cites the Dover Port Health Authority’s comments that the
cuts in funding “will have a catastrophic effect” on biosecurity.
Dover Port Health Authority has publicly called upon Defra to
abandon its plans to cut the budget for products of animal origin
(POAO) spot checks.
In today’s letter the EFRA Chair asks the Defra Secretary of
State for confirmation of ‘the current amount of funding in place
for spot checks of POAO at the Port of Dover and whether [they]
have plans to change that funding.’ The letter asks what
assessment Defra has made of the potential impact of a reduction
in funding on checks on the UK’s biosecurity.
The second major cause for concern to the Committee is the new
border control post coming into operation at Sevington, 22 miles
from the point of entry at Dover.
The letter raises the issue that the border control post at
Sevington will require vehicles to travel 22 miles unsupervised
across Kent, presenting potentially serious biosecurity risks,
and also compromising compliance. The Committee understands that
drivers will be under no obligation to go to Sevington, if asked
to do so.
The Committee ‘have real and reasonable concerns about the
geographic dislocation of the border control post from the point
of entry’ and ask the Secretary of State to confirm what
‘safeguards will be in place to ensure the required loads travel
from the point of entry (Port of Dover) to the Sevington site (22
miles away), without either offloading goods on route or not
presenting at Sevington at all’.
The Committee asks for the Department’s ‘rationale for persisting
with the plans to open the Sevington inland border facility
despite stakeholder concerns.’
Given that the plan is for Sevington to be used as the site for
checks, today’s letter also asks Defra to confirm what its
intentions are for the Bastion Point Inland Border Facility in
Dover.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- A copy of the letter to the Defra
Secretary of State, , is attached to this email
and can also be found here.
- The three phases of the BTOM can be
found here.
