The Government shares the Committee’s concerns about illegal imports of meat and dairy products into England and the potential risks posed to animal health and food safety. Defra is working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue, with the support of Border Force, port health authorities, local authorities and the Devolved Governments, including Food Standards Scotland. Different risks arise from meat and dairy products imported for sale (commercial imports) and those intended solely for personal consumption or use (personal imports). Since leaving the EU, the Government has adopted a transitional approach to imposing controls on imports of commercial and personal goods from the EU into GB. Measures in place include a series of restrictions on personal imports from the EU since 2022, in response to specific animal disease threats, and border controls on commercial imports, introduced in 2024 under the Border Target Operating Model. By default, commercial imports are required to enter GB via border control posts (BCPs). Imports exempt from BCP checks may enter via any port of entry. Import controls are part of a wider system of risk mitigation including pre-border checks, controls on sale of animal products and controls on disposal of animal by- products. Imports of meat and dairy products into England are regulated under the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011. Local and port health authorities are enforcement authorities under the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 and are solely responsible for checks and enforcement at BCPs. Border Force is responsible for enforcing the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 on animal products in any place, other than BCPs, where goods are subject to customs supervision. Border Force also has discretionary powers under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. Given the volume of passengers and vehicles entering the country, border checks must strike the right balance to avoid unnecessarily impacting on port and airport flow. Nevertheless, information provided by Border Force and by port health authorities such as Dover indicates that GB border officials are successfully intercepting illegal commercial goods, alongside illegal personal imports. The information also indicates that some of the goods intercepted have entered the EU illegally or breached EU rules restricting their sale. At the UK-EU Leaders Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU announced their intention to negotiate a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, which will establish a common SPS area, and in turn significantly reduce barriers to trade in relation to movements of agri-food goods. The Government expects negotiations to start later in the autumn, once the EU member states have approved the EU Commission’s negotiating mandate. Once any agreement is implemented, the UK will play a key role, alongside EU Member States, in protecting the shared UK and EU SPS area from external biosecurity and public health risks, while also having the shared responsibility to address any risks that arise internally. As such, we have carefully considered in each of our responses if action would be better taken before or after (or a combination thereof) the conclusion of any such negotiations.