28 Accepted in Part

Provide details of ministerial working group meetings and expand to include frontline agencies

Recommendation
In its response to this report, the Government should provide details on how many times the group has met since September 2025 and share minutes of its discussions. Defra should expand the ministerial working group to include an additional operational group comprising of frontline agencies operating at the border, such as the Chief Veterinary Officer, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Food Standards Scotland and the Food Standards Agency. (Recommendation, Paragraph 75)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the Goods Border Small Ministerial Group and its meetings, but declines to share minutes publicly and refers to existing operational working groups for operational activity.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government Accepted in Part
The government partially accepts this recommendation. As set out above, the newly established Illegal Imports Improvement Project brings together a range of workstreams and stakeholders to focus on delivery of meaningful improvements to the current illegal imports situation. The Goods Border Small Ministerial Group first met on 9 July 2025. We expect a second meeting to take place in the spring, although this is not confirmed. The group is chaired by the Home Office’s Minister for Legal Migration & Citizenship, with Baroness Hayman as an attendee alongside other border stakeholders. The group to date has been strategic in nature, examining issues like underinvestment in the goods border. Given the broad scope of the group, touching on a range of sensitive issues, and its nature as a cross-government ministerial meeting, we do not believe it would be appropriate to put minutes in the public domain. As set out in previous responses and at previous hearings, we believe the group can play a role in co-ordinating cross-government activity in response to illegal meat imports. For operational activity, there are more appropriate operational working groups and decision-making bodies already in existence, including the Animal Disease Policy Group and the Intelligence Working Group referred to in our response to the committee’s previous report on illegal meat. These groups do not form part of the same governance structure as the Goods Border SMG as was suggested, but they do complement each other. Where relevant we expect outputs of the project to be reviewed by the SMG.
Timeline
Recommendation age 0.3 yrs
Report published 05 Feb 2026