May 26th, 2021
3 mins
You will recall from recent communications that Defra have established a new weekly industry forum for all businesses within the agri-food supply chain moving goods between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI).
The BFFF took part in the first meeting of the NI-GB Forum on Thursday, 20 May at 9am along with around 460 other stakeholders!
This first 30 minute meeting was primarily to set the purpose and intent of the forum before moving onto updates from government and industry representatives.
The aim of the NI-GB Food Supply Chain Forum is to create a community for the entire Agri-food supply chain to have open discussions of issues affecting business with a focus on operational issues in the main rather than the wider NI Protocol.
It has also been established to give access to regular cross-government advice not just from Defra themselves but also from the likes of DAERA, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Other Government Departments may also be invited to join the forum as and when applicable depending on specific issues arising.
If you would like to be a member of this forum then don’t worry, you haven’t missed the boat! – there is still time to register by clicking on the link below: https://defragroup.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8wiv6ngPEfeZBEG
If you have any questions about the forum you can also email Defra at: NIGBFoodSuplyChainForum@defra.gov.uk.
If you are unable to join the forum but have topics which you would like to suggest are discussed, then please let richardharrow@bfff.co.uk or deniserion@bfff.co.uk know and we will do our best to get them on the agenda.
