Lords Sub-Committee on the Windsor Framework to question how the Framework is operating in new political environment in Northern Ireland

The Committee will pose questions to Mr Baker, and Gavin Hall, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at DEFRA, on the impact of the Windsor Framework on the availability of veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland in its final evidence session on that issue.

The session will see the Committee press Mr Baker on issues with transparency in the Government’s dealings with Parliament in relation to the Windsor Framework, with a consistent failure to respond to letters from the Committee in a timely manner and a reluctance to provide adequate information when doing so.

The evidence session will start at 3pm on Wednesday 13 March in Committee Room 4 of the House of Lords. Giving evidence to the Committee will be:

• Rt Hon. Steve Baker MP, Minister of State at Cabinet Office
• Gavin Hall, Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Director of Authorisations at Veterinary Medicines Directorate, DEFRA
• Brendan Threlfall, Director General of Union and Windsor Framework at Cabinet Office

Issues the Committee will cover with the witnesses include:

• The current political situation in Northern Ireland with respect to the Windsor Framework and the UK Government’s role in the restoration of the devolved institutions.
  
  
• The Government’s record in providing information to Parliament on the operation of the Windsor Framework in a fulsome and timely manner and whether that record will improve now the devolved institutions have been reestablished.
  
  
• If no joint UK-EU solution is found, what will be the impact on the supply of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland when the current grace period expires on 31 December 2025?
  
  
• What solutions is the Government actively exploring to address the issue of the supply of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland?
  
  
• In the absence of an agreed solution to the supply of veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland, whether the Government are considering taking unilateral action to guarantee supply. What impact might this have on Northern Ireland and wider UK/EU relations.
  
  
• When the promised NI Veterinary Medicines Working Group, announced in the Government’s Command Paper Safeguarding the Union, will be established and how it will be constituted.