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Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Lord): Order.
Public Bodies (Food Purchasing)
1.30 pm
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones (Ynys Mon): I welcome the opportunity to debate this important subject. I thank the Minister in advance for responding to this debate and to the previous one. I know that he is having a heavy day in the Chamber; I am sure that when he eventually returns to Gwydyr house he will insist on being served a good lunch of Welsh lamb or Welsh beef--a decent recompense for his hard day's work in the Chamber.
There is a crisis facing the livestock sector in Wales. I informed the Minister's office that I would concentrate today on the crisis in the beef sector, especially in Wales--although I understand that the issue is also important in the other countries of Britain.
I need not remind the House of the crisis that the industry has faced for the past 15 months. The difficulties that followed the announcement by the then Secretary of State for Health on 20 March last year have been severe for the industry. That statement will be etched on the memory of farmers for a long time to come. I shall not recount the events since then in any detail--merely say that I have attended more mass meetings of farmers who are worried about the crisis than I have at any time in the past 20 years or so.
Most farmers were under the impression that once the over-30-months scheme was nearing a conclusion the crisis would probably be over. They thought that confidence and prices would start to recover, but things are worse now than they were at the height of the crisis. Prices in the marketplace are lower and farmers are losing a considerable amount of money on the cattle that they sell for slaughter. Such losses cannot be sustained for much longer. Interest rates have been historically low, but there are signs that they will rise in the next 12 months, thus adding to the pressure on farm incomes.
I accept that the fall in beef prices is due to a combination of factors. First, there is the revaluation of the green pound and the failure of the previous Government to ask for European Union money to alleviate the consequences. I hope that the new Government will make positive moves to rectify that. Secondly, there is the importation of beef from EU and third countries--beef that does not meet the high hygiene standards in the UK imposed as a result of the BSE crisis. Thirdly, the market has yet to recover the full confidence that it enjoyed before the BSE crisis erupted.
Mr. Lembit Öpik (Montgomeryshire):
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that British and Welsh beef is now the safest that can be bought anywhere in the world?
Mr. Jones:
That is a good point. I shall reiterate it to the Government with some force before the end of this short debate.
The decision by the current Government to cut compensation for beef farmers entering the over- 30-months scheme has caused considerable resentment in the industry. The Government need to recognise--whether we like it or not--that the compensation price affects the market price. The great danger that many farmers perceive is that the cut in the one will affect the other--the market price will fall even lower.
I acknowledge the considerable cost to the Exchequer resulting from the BSE crisis and I know that that cost has been revised upwards in recent days, but I hope that the Minister will recognise the importance of agriculture to the rural economy. We need to underpin that economy; anything that affects beef producers is bound to have a deleterious effect on the rural economy.
Farmers recently received a significant boost when McDonald's said that it would reintroduce British beef to its fast food outlets. That showed that confidence is returning to the industry. It is thus all the more surprising that many public bodies in Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom buy the vast bulk of their beef from abroad. When I looked into it, I was astounded by the scale of this purchasing problem.
I have a letter from the chief executive of the Naval Bases and Supply Agency stating that the task of procuring food for the armed forces is contracted to the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute. I am told that some British beef is purchased, but that
I have also inquired about the purchasing policy of health trusts in Wales. Many of them are located in prime beef-producing areas. My office was able to contact eight trusts; of those that could supply me with information, none had a policy that ensured that local beef was purchased as a matter of course--although some local beef was used. They all said that they now had to ensure value for money. The trusts that gave me information included the Bridgend and District NHS trust, the Carmarthen and District NHS trust, the Clwydian Community Care NHS trust, the Derwen NHS trust, and the Glan Clwyd District General Hospital trust. Some of them did not even know where their meat came from.
I understand that most, if not all, of the trusts in Wales receive their supplies under standard contracts negotiated by Welsh Health Supplies, which is a business unit of the Welsh Health Common Services Authority, or WHCSA. The NHS in Wales ceased purchasing carcase meat some time ago, moving to prejointed frozen cuts. Under the current arrangements, those frozen cuts of beef, lamb and pork come from South America, New Zealand and the home market respectively. That may be good news for Welsh pig farmers, although there are not many of them, but it is very bad news for the vast majority of Welsh farmers who are lamb and beef producers.
The good news, however, is that WHCSA is reviewing the policy and the balance between frozen and fresh meat and asking for more flexibility to be applied to contracts. On behalf of Welsh beef and lamb producers, I ask the Minister to urge the authority to introduce these proposals at an early date.
I have also made some inquiries with local education authorities in Wales about their school menus. The Minister will be aware of the report in the Western Mail in March of this year which stated that most schools in Wales did not serve beef to children. At the time, 13 of 22 LEAs were operating policies that totally or partly excluded locally produced beef from school menus. Of those 13, seven operated a total ban on beef, one gave head teachers discretion to use imported beef and five
excluded beef from primary schools. My office contacted some of those LEAs and found that, in Cardiff, beef is on the menu only in secondary schools. Even there, there is no policy of buying local beef and LEAs follow what is described as the value-for-money rule.
In Denbighshire, an area noted for quality agricultural produce, beef is banned in primary schools and in secondary schools, where beef is offered and there is a choice, there is no policy to buy local beef. All meat is bought through a purchasing consortium.
In Rhondda Cynon Taff, all the beef used is imported, although I am pleased to say that a review of that policy is taking place.
The purchasing policy of Ynys Mon and Gwynedd county councils specifies the use of locally killed beef in schools.
Needless to say, the farming unions in Wales want the Welsh Office to encourage public bodies not only to purchase beef, but to buy locally produced meat. They and I understand that no one can be forced to buy or eat Welsh meat, but the Government can use their considerable authority to encourage its consumption.
In a letter to me, the Farmers Union of Wales asks that the Government positively discriminate in favour of fresh, home-produced meat, the value and quality of which are second to none. It would also help if the Government advocated the specification of fresh as opposed to frozen products in public body contracts. Such a move would be greatly welcomed.
The NFU has told me that, following the decision by McDonald's Restaurants to obtain local beef, it is renewing its strong invitation to public bodies to source their beef from British supplies.
The industry generally welcomed the stance taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he made it clear that he expected imports from the European Union to meet the standards on the removal of specified bovine material that must be met by British beef and that, if they do not, orders banning imports will be laid before the House. He repeated that warning on the Floor of the House during the recent debate on the common agricultural policy.
Given that that is the Government's position, that--as the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire (Mr. Öpik) said--beef is safer than it has ever been and that we now have stringent hygiene standards, I believe it is right to expect Ministers to encourage its consumption now. It is ironic, is it not, that while statements in the House and elsewhere are made about the nutritional quality of locally produced beef, hospital patients, members of the armed forces and schoolchildren are eating beef from every country under the sun except their own. It is ironic, therefore, that the Government are not bringing pressure to bear on public bodies.
I believe that we are entitled to ask today for a clear statement from the Minister that all contracts entered into by public bodies for the purchase of meat be reviewed so that locally produced meat can be considered. That can be done quite easily by stating that they should consider fresh meat as well as, or instead of, frozen meat. That would give public bodies a clear signal that they should buy local beef.
There are encouraging signs from the WHCSA and local education authorities. I am asking the Minister to give a clear signal to those that are not moving in that
direction to consider their contract sourcing policy. Will he encourage the local education authorities who still refuse to have beef on their menus to think again?
"the Armed Forces' requirement is mainly for frozen products and the majority of beef joints are sourced on cost grounds, from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia."
So none of this frozen beef is bought in Wales or anywhere else in the UK.
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