S.C.B.
Amendment Paper as at
Thursday 15th July 1999
STANDING COMMITTEE B
FOOD STANDARDS BILL
NEW CLAUSES
Financial provisions
Mr Jeff Rooker
NC8
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament—
(a) any expenditure incurred by a Minister of the Crown by virtue of this Act;
(b) any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable out of money so provided under any other enactment.
(2) Any expenditure incurred by the Agency shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament unless it is met from money paid or appropriated under subsection (3) (or from money which the Agency is authorised by virtue of any relevant provision to apply for the purpose).
(3) Sums may be—
(a) paid by the National Assembly for Wales;
(b) paid out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund; or
(c) appropriated by Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly,
for the purpose of meeting any of the expenditure of the Agency.
(4) Any sums received by the Agency, other than—
(a) money provided by Parliament or paid or appropriated under subsection (3);
(b) receipts which are, by virtue of provision made by or under any enactment, payable—
(i) to the National Assembly for Wales;
(ii) into the Scottish Consolidated Fund; or
(iii) into the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland,
or which would be so payable but for any relevant provision relating to those receipts; and
(c) other receipts specified, or of a description specified, in a determination under subsection (5),
shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
(5) The Treasury, the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Ministers and the Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland acting jointly may determine that any sums received by the Agency which are specified, or of a description specified, in the determination shall (instead of being payable into the Consolidated Fund by virtue of subsection (4)) be payable to the National Assembly for Wales, into the Scottish Consolidated Fund or into the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland, subject to any relevant provision relating to such sums.
(6) A determination under subsection (5) may be revoked or amended by a further determination.
(7) In this section—
"enactment" means an enactment contained in an Act, an Act of the Scottish Parliament or in Northern Ireland legislation;
"relevant provision" means—
(a) provision made by or under any Act as to the disposal of or accounting for sums payable to the National Assembly for Wales;
(b) provision made by or under the Scotland Act 1998 or any Act of the Scottish Parliament as to the disposal of or accounting for sums payable into the Scottish Consolidated Fund; and
(c) provision made by or under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 or any Northern Ireland legislation as to the disposal of or accounting for sums payable into the Consolidated Fund of Northern Ireland.'.
Transfer of property, rights and liabilities to the Agency
Mr Jeff Rooker
NC9
To move the following Clause:—
'.—(1) The Secretary of State may make one or more schemes for the transfer to the Agency of such property, rights and liabilities of a Minister of the Crown (in this section referred to as "the transferor") as appear to him appropriate having regard to the functions conferred on the Agency by provision made by or under this Act, the 1990 Act or the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.
(2) The power conferred by subsection (1) may also be exercised by the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Ministers or a Northern Ireland Department in relation to their property, rights and liabilities.
(3) A transfer scheme—
(a) may provide for the transfer of property, rights and liabilities that would not otherwise be capable of being transferred or assigned;
(b) may define property, rights and liabilities by specifying or describing them or by referring to all of the property, rights and liabilities comprised in a specified part of the undertaking of the transferor (or partly in one way and partly in the other);
(c) may provide for the creation—
(i) in favour of the transferor, or of the Agency, of interests in, or rights over, property to be transferred or, as the case may be, retained by the transferor; or
(ii) of new rights and liabilities as between the Agency and the transferor;
(d) may require the transferor or the Agency to take any steps necessary to secure that the transfer of any foreign property, rights or liabilities is effective under the relevant foreign law; and
(e) may make such incidental, supplemental and consequential provision as the authority making it considers appropriate.
(4) On the date appointed by a transfer scheme the property, rights and liabilities which are the subject of the scheme shall, by virtue of this subsection, become property, rights and liabilities of the Agency (and any other provisions of the scheme shall take effect).
(5) The authority making a transfer scheme may, at any time before the date so appointed, modify the scheme.'.
Duties regarding availability of food
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC1
To move the following Clause:—
'In providing advice under sections 6 and 7 the Agency must take into account the overriding importance of not restricting the availability of food to the consumer and that restriction of the availability of food should only take place when it remains the only solution.'.
Duties regarding imported food
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC2
To move the following Clause:—
' .—(1) The Agency has the same functions and must exercise the same degree of scrutiny in relation to imported food as to domestically produced food.
(2) The Agency must not allow the sale of any imported food that does not meet the same standards as domestically produced food in the methods by, and standards to which, it is produced.'.
Duties regarding labelling of food products
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC3
To move the following Clause:—
' .—The Agency has a duty to ensure that all food products are accurately labelled with a complete list of ingredients, whether they are genetically modified, the country of origin of each major ingredient and the system of production where appropriate.'.
Meat Hygiene Service to continue as separate agency
Dr Peter Brand
Mr Andrew George
NC4
To move the following Clause:—
'The Meat Hygiene Service shall continue to operate and exercise its functions separately from the Food Standards Agency.'.
Independent adjudicator
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC5
To move the following Clause:—
'The Secretary of State shall appoint an independent adjudicator to whom reference may be made by any individual or corporate body to whom the Agency has issued orders under this Act, and the adjudicator shall consider such reference and decide accordingly.'.
Performance criteria
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC6
To move the following Clause:—
'The Agency shall define and publish quantifiable criteria of its performance and shall include performance against those criteria in each annual report to Parliament.'.
Cosmetics
Mr James Paice
Mrs Caroline Spelman
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
NC7
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The Agency has the function of:
(a) obtaining, compiling and keeping under review information about matters connected with cosmetics,
(b) providing advice, information and assistance in respect of such matters to any person who is not a public authority,
(c) requiring a declaration of ingredients by percentage, on all cosmetic products proportion.
(2) In this section cosmetics shall be defined as articles intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering appearance without affecting the body's structure or functions.'.
Duties of the Agency in relation to food supplements
Dr Peter Brand
Mr Andrew George
NC10
To move the following Clause:—
'.—(1) The Agency shall define what constitutes a food in accordance with section 1 of the 1990 Act.
(2) The Agency shall decide what foods or food products are to be classified as food supplements in accordance with the definition in subsection (5).
(3) The Agency may refer food supplements to the Medicines Control Agency to decide whether or not they should be submitted to the licensing authority for medicinal products to determine whether they should be licensed as medicines.
(4) Where a food supplement which has been referred under subsection (3) is not subsequently licensed as a medicine, the Agency shall retain responsibility for all regulatory matters relating to that food supplement.
(5) In this section, "food supplement" means food, in the form of a capsule, tablet, powder or liquid, which—
(a) contains any vitamin, mineral, fatty acids or amino acids,
(b) if consumed, would supplement the intake of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids or amino acids from the diet,
(c) is not a significant source of energy, and
(d) is not specifically claimed to have the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease.'.
