Food and drink is hugely important to the UK. It is our biggest manufacturing sector and a key element of our £100 billion agri-food chain. In 2015, the UK exported over £18 billion worth of food, feed and drink to more than 200 countries and territories. The joint Defra and Department for International Trade Food and Drink International Action Plan, published last month, sets out how the Government will work with the sector to champion UK food and drink overseas, break down trade barriers and open up new international markets.<\/p>
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Since the EU Referendum, Defra has continued to meet regularly with the food manufacturing sector to listen to their views and better understand key issues for the sector about leaving the EU. We will continue to engage constructively with the sector to ensure we get the best deal for the industry that we possibly can.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3934", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for George Eustice"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Camborne and Redruth"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "George Eustice"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-11-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-11-14T12:08:37.033Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-11-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Food: Manufacturing Industries"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the food manufacturing industry in the UK.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4061", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Bill Esterson"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Sefton Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Bill Esterson"} ], "uin" : "52438"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }