Ben Goldsborough MP: written questions
113 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Animal Products: Import ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80341More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) increasing levels of funding and (b) widening the responsibilities for the Border Force to include animal products origina
Answer: Border Force is funded by Home Office. Defra has committed £3.1 million for Dover Port Health Authority to work in partnership with Border Force in seizing meat smuggled via the Port of Dover in 2025/26, additional to over £9 million of funding provided t...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Products: Origin MarkingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80340More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of transferring Products of Animal Origin enforcement (a) powers and (b) funding to port health authorities.
Answer: The Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 designate port health authorities in England, as enforcement authorities for animal products. Defra has committed £3.1 million for Dover Port Health Authority to work in partnership with Border Fo...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80339More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment with the Home Secretary of the potential merits of giving port health authorities stop, search and seize powers.
Answer: The Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 already give port health authorities in England, search and seize powers in relation to animal products.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: Import ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80338More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to concentrate the responsibility for tackling illegal meat imports into fewer bodies.
Answer: Border Force is responsible for enforcing the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 in England in relation to animal products in any place, other than Border Control Posts, where goods are subject to customs supervision. Defra is consider...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80337More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to produce a digital tool for travellers to identify what they can bring into Great Britain.
Answer: Defra is considering this recommendation in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on meat smuggling.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport ControlsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80336More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has considered compelling airports to display information communicating (a) the emergency ban on personal imports and (b) biosecurity threats from illegal import
Answer: International passenger transport operators, including airport operators, have certain responsibilities for drawing their customers’ attention to rules for personal imports. Defra is considering the recommendations in the Environment, Food and Rural Affai...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport Controls: UK Trade with EUDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80335More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to establish a permanent personal import policy for goods entering Great Britain from the EU.
Answer: Defra keeps the rules for personal imports of meat and dairy products from the EU under review. Defra is considering the recommendations in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on meat smuggling.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport Controls: UK Trade with EUDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80334More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on (a) biosecurity arrangements and (b) the illegal importation of food products.
Answer: The biosecurity arrangements and regulatory frameworks for imports are no longer the same as when we were in the EU. Since leaving the EU, we have put in place sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules for importing food products from the EU into Great Brita...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordImport Controls: PublicityDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80333More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding her Department has provided for (a) biosecurity and (b) food importation public awareness campaigns in each of the last 10 calendar years.
Answer: Marketing and campaign activity is based on need and in-year circumstances. The vast majority of communications is delivered through no-cost communications channels owned by the department (such as outreach to partner organisations, webinars or content po...
Answered 4 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: Origin MarkingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80332More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the sale of foreign meat labelled as being of British origin.
Answer: The fundamental principles of our food labelling rules are that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable consumers to make informed decisions. Food from elsewhere in the world that is simply re-packaged in the UK, without any ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: SmugglingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80331More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle illegal meat imports through passenger routes.
Answer: Border Force is responsible for enforcing the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 in England in relation to animal products in any place, other than Border Control Posts, where goods are subject to customs supervision. Defra is consider...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: SmugglingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80330More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to establish a taskforce for illegal imports of products of animal origin.
Answer: Defra is considering this recommendation in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on meat smuggling.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: SmugglingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80329More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help increase rates of prosecution for smuggling meat into Great Britain.
Answer: Enforcement authorities are responsible for deciding whether to prosecute. Defra is considering the recommendations in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on meat smuggling.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMeat: SmugglingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80328More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to estimate the amount of illegal meat that enters Great Britain.
Answer: The Animal and Plant Health Agency has a project aiming to improve estimates of illegal meat imports. Defra is considering the recommendations in the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on meat smuggling.
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordBluetongue Disease: VaccinationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80327More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the cost of bluetongue vaccinations for farmers.
Answer: Vaccine pricing is a commercial decision, which is the responsibility of manufacturers, wholesalers and veterinarians. Defra has worked closely with manufacturers to ensure that safe and effective vaccine is available for use in the UK, and to overcome su...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordBluetongue Disease: VaccinationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 80326More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of bluetongue vaccinations.
Answer: In response to emerging disease, Defra’s Secretary of State permitted the use of 3 bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) vaccines within the United Kingdom in September 2024, subject to licence. By working closely with manufacturers, Defra has ensured that safe a...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordRoads: Rural AreasDepartment for TransportTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77333More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking through the Road Safety Strategy to reduce fatalities on rural roads.
Answer: This Government treats road safety seriously and is committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies which will have national reach. More d...
Answered 14 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordVisas: Skilled WorkersHome OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77332More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to the Skilled Workers visa route on recruitment in (a) the biological sciences research sector, (b) universitie
Answer: On 12 May, we published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. We have now made Immigration Rules changes to bring the first of these reforms into effect.It is our intention to publish an Impact Assessment (I...
Answered 17 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordLife Sciences: ResearchTreasuryTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77331More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Treasury is taking to support the biological sciences research sector through the 10 Year UK Infrastructure strategy, published in June 2025.
Answer: The 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy is core to delivering the Government’s growth mission and supporting our priority growth sectors, including life sciences. The Strategy will fund at least £725 billion for infrastructure over the next decade and transfo...
Answered 17 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordAvian Influenza: Disease ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77330More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the readiness of (a) her Department and (b) the Animal and Plant Health Agency for any potential increase in the number of Avian Influenza cases in the
Answer: APHA regularly monitors the prevalence and spread of avian influenza, supported by epidemiological modelling, during critical disease transmission periods. This information is used to help with scenario planning and the allocation of resource. APHA also k...
Answered 16 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordCultural Heritage: CrimeHome OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77329More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the financial cost of heritage crime in each of the last 10 years.
Answer: This Government recognises the distress and disruption that heritage theft and vandalism can cause to local communities. We have supported the work of Historic England which leads on a number of initiatives to tackle heritage crime, particularly theft fro...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPolitical Parties: TaxationCabinet OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77328More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether she has considered taking legislative steps to ensure that leaders of UK political parties publish their tax returns.
Answer: Under the MPs Code of Conduct, the Leaders of UK political parties who are MPs are required to declare any financial interest which might reasonably be thought to influence their actions, however there is no requirement in the parliamentary rules for Lead...
Answered 13 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordMandatory Provident Fund: British National (Overseas)Foreign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77327More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the merits of holding an inquiry with HSBC and Standard Chartered on the withholding of the Mandatory Provident Fund from Hong Kong BNO
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer given on 16 September to question 73901.
Answered 17 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordBritish National (Overseas): Mandatory Provident FundForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77326More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help secure the release of Mandatory Provident Fund saving being withheld from Hong Kong BNO visa holders.
Answer: We are aware that individuals who have chosen to take up the BN(O) route are having difficulties accessing their Mandatory Provident Fund from Hong Kong. Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority has declared that they will not accept the BN...
Answered 14 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordHong Kong: ImmigrationForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 15 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 77325More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Hong Kong BNO immigration pathway on diplomatic relations with (a) China, (b) NATO allies and (c) Ukrai
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 22 September to Question 76322.
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament record
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