Huw Irranca-Davies, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
In accordance with the inter-institutional relations agreement, I can report to Members I attended the latest meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 23 June 2025.
The meeting was chaired by Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity of the Scottish Government, who was accompanied by Mairi Gougeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands and Gillian Martin MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy also for the Scottish Government.
Andrew Muir MLA, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and Caoimhe Archibald MLA, Minister for the Economy attended for the Northern Ireland Executive. The UK Government was represented by Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Mary Creagh MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Nature, Baroness Sue Hayman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs.
The Group agreed the importance of regular meetings and the collective commitment to engagement between governments.
We held the second deep dive of our agreed work plan, focusing on the circular economy. The Group discussed and agreed the necessity to preserve our precious resources, reduce carbon emissions, and grow our economies. It was also an opportunity to identify key priorities for all four governments such as evidence sharing, wider collaborations and identifying products to tackle environmental issues and make supply chains more resilient.
The Group considered preparedness and response to current biosecurity threats and the National Audit Office’s report on ‘Resilience to Animal Diseases in England’. Whilst the report and its recommendations are England only, diseases do not respect borders and therefore we agreed to work together on considering any actions arising from the report.
We discussed the recent UK-EU summit, which announced a Common Understanding agreement across several areas, and the next steps on engagement, negotiations and implementation. I outlined the continued importance of engaging and working with devolved governments, as so many policy considerations within the agreement are devolved matters. The UK Government committed to engage with devolved governments on this issue. All parties welcomed the removal of barriers to trade and discussed the importance of ensuring that biosecurity measures are maintained to adequate levels during the transition. Within the meeting we discussed the recently announced Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund, and I highlighted my expectation that the Fund should be devolved and administered by devolved governments.
We considered progress on finalising the EFRA Common Frameworks. I reemphasised the importance of the IMG, as it sits at the top of the Common Frameworks’ governance. We discussed the link between finalising the Common Frameworks and the ongoing review of the UK Internal Market Act.
A communique regarding this meeting will be published on the UK Government website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inter-ministerial-group-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-communiques