Chamber and committees

Again, I will give you the layperson’s view, and officials can come in with the details. The new regime involves the same kind of risk profiling as the existing scheme. As plants come in, we have to check that they are the correct plants, as identified, that they are healthy and that they are not bringing in pathogens. Risk assessments will be based on what we grow here, what pathogens might spread in the UK and what might create risks for our crops and commercial interests. My officials might like to add some detail.

I will refer to my officials on that one.

That is an excellent question. If you were one of the 3 per cent chosen to have your truck full of potatoes checked, it would be unfair if you had to pay the fee, because those checks are done randomly, so the costs are spread around the sector. For each individual consignment, the cost is spread across the whole sector so that the fees are fair and the person whose individual consignment is chosen is not unfairly penalised.

Thank you for making time to consider the Plant Health (Fees) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2022, which is a draft Scottish statutory instrument. The regulations are being made to amend Scottish legislation in the field of plant health, particularly as it relates to fees payable by an importer of a consignment originating in a third country in respect of the physical and identity checks of plants and plant products.

The import fees are being amended as a consequence of a new Great Britain-focused risk-based frequency-of-checks regime that is being introduced across GB from 22 July 2022. The new methodology is set out in the statutory instrument PH/038. The revised fees apply to consignments of all high-risk products that are imported from all third countries as well as lower-risk regulated products from all third countries except the European Union, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

The regulations also amend the Plant Health (Fees) (Forestry) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015. The forestry fees regulations contain provisions relating to export certification fees for forestry products under the United Kingdom Government’s movement assistance scheme, to provide that such fees are not payable in relation to exports from Scotland to Northern Ireland in certain circumstances. The movement assistance scheme was originally scheduled to end in December 2022, but the UK Government later extended the scheme, which is now due to end in December 2023. The 2022 regulations amend the forestry fees regulations to reflect that later date. These regulations are therefore necessary and appropriate.

My officials and I are happy to take any questions.

It is not a matter of deficiencies in the existing scheme. The EU scheme was based on risks for the EU. Now, we are bringing in this legislation at a GB level—the fees are related to Scotland, but the SI is at a GB level. Therefore, with regard to the risk assessment, although the methodology is very similar, the risks that we face in GB are different from the risks that are faced by the EU. For example, there are many citrus fruit growers in the EU. We do not grow citrus fruits in the UK, so the risk assessment on those products would be different in GB. It is not a matter of efficiencies; it is a matter of making appropriate checks for the risks that we have here.

Yes—citrus fruits are a practical example. My officials can give you more examples. We do not grow citrus fruit crops in the UK because we do not have a commercial interest in them, so importing citrus plants, for example, would not present a risk to our commercial agriculture. Those would be considered a lower-risk product, whereas products that we grow here as part of our commercial agriculture would be considered a higher risk. We do not need the same level of checks on citrus plants as a country that grows them as a commercial product.

I will need to get my officials to go into the detail of any specific figure, but the principle is that we understand the risks on the basis of where things are coming from. For example, if we were importing from a country that we know has good plant health controls and where crops such as barley are not infected by a particular pathogen, we would not do as many inspections. However, if a plant or plant material was coming from a country that we know contains that pathogen and that does not have the standards of plant health checks and inspection that we would expect, we would need to increase our inspections to ensure our biosecurity.

I will let my officials answer the second question. On the first question, as I said to Alasdair Allan, it depends on where items are coming from. If items are coming from a country that has good plant health security and that is not affected by a known pathogen, we can safely reduce the level of checks. If plant material is coming from a country where we know there is a pathogen and there is a risk to our crops, we will increase the level of checks. That allows us to be flexible and dynamic and to use our resources to prevent those higher risks.

On the second question, perhaps my officials can give some examples.

I am sure that the answer to your first question is in the frameworks that Caspian Richards has just described. Those frameworks describe how the four nations of the UK work together. I am not sure what the instrument is for parliamentary scrutiny.

That is my understanding.