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Food Standards Agency
6. Helen Jones (Warrington, North): When he will establish the Food Standards Agency; and if he will make a statement. [107883]
10. Mr. Tony Colman (Putney):
When he will establish the Food Standards Agency; and if he will make a statement. [107889]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Ms Joyce Quin):
We successfully completed the legislation to establish the Food Standards Agency in November last year. We are on course for the agency to begin work in the spring and it will be accountable to this House through the Secretary of State for Health.
Helen Jones:
I know that consumers will welcome the establishment of the Food Standards Agency. Given the widespread public concern and confusion about genetically modified food, can my right hon. Friend assure the House that the agency will make sure that proper advice and information, including proper labelling, are available, so that consumers may make an informed choice about whether or not they wish to eat products containing GM food?
Ms Quin:
Even in advance of the establishment of the agency, the Government have been active on labelling with relation to GM food. The legislation has ensured that
Mr. Colman:
I am pleased with that answer, but it is my view that there should be a UN-based, not a World Trade Organisation-based, world food standards agency. What discussions have my right hon. Friend's officials had, in setting up the UK Food Standards Agency, with the officials at the Codex Alimentarius, which is administered by the World Health Organisation and the FAO?
Ms Quin:
Officials regularly meet with WHO officials and those specifically involved in the Codex Alimentarius outfit.
Mr. Tim Yeo (South Suffolk):
Outfit?
Ms Quin:
Yes. We are making a positive contribution to the Codex Alimentarius system. My hon. Friend raises an important point because, although the establishment of the Food Standards Agency here is important, it is also vital that this country's knowledge and expertise in some areas is channelled into the wider UN system and the WHO.
Mr. Owen Paterson (North Shropshire):
In major cases of food poisoning in meat in the future, who will be held publicly responsible--the Meat Hygiene Service or the Food Standards Agency, which will be simultaneously policing the Meat Hygiene Service as well as administering it?
Ms Quin:
If the hon. Gentleman looks at the interesting Third Reading debate held in the other place, he will see that my noble Friend Baroness Hayman, who leads for the Government on the issue, went into detail about the relationship between the Meat Hygiene Service and the Food Standards Agency, so that they are able to work with each other, while having their separate responsibilities and functions.
Mr. Malcolm Moss (North-East Cambridgeshire):
Will the powers of the European food authority--which we assume that the Government support--override those of the UK Food Standards Agency? If it does not take precedence, why cannot the Government go ahead unilaterally with a scheme for simple, clear and honest labelling of food products? Does it not speak volumes about this Government's track record of saying one thing and doing another that, although they pay lip service to labelling, they cannot bring themselves to support the private Member's Bill soon to be proposed by my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien)?
Ms Quin:
The Government support in general terms the proposals of the European Commission to establish a European Union food standards authority. We will work with the Commission and our partners in the Council of Ministers to try to make sure that the final system that comes out of the consultation process is as effective as possible.
We have had the Commission's support in recent food safety disputes because we have accepted our responsibilities in the European Union framework and ensured that our national system complements it. We believe that we can have a system whereby we benefit from the strength of the EU acting together and make a constructive input to that system through our own Food Standards Agency. When there is clear agreement at European level to take certain action and enact certain policies we shall abide by it, by contrast with certain other EU countries at present.
7. Ms Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North):
How many farmers began the process of conversion to organic production in 1999. [107884]
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Elliot Morley):
All 1,176 farmers who applied for conversion aid under the organic farming scheme in 1999 had begun the process of conversion by the beginning of the year. Few, if any, will have converted without applying for aid.
Ms Walley:
I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. He should be congratulated on the extra money for organic farming, but may I warn him that he could be a victim of his own success? I understand that in January 2000 alone, the Organic Conversion Information Service received 351 applications from people wishing to convert to organic production. Will there be new money for new conversions between now and April 2001? If not, will he have further urgent talks to see what extra money could be available through the rural development plan? Will he perhaps consider what has been done in Wales and the possibility of giving retrospective guarantees for those who want to convert before April 2001?
Mr. Morley:
My hon. Friend makes a serious point. There has been a huge increase in organic conversion and that is not unrelated to our doubling of organic conversion payments in order to encourage it. The Government want to give farmers as many diversification options as possible. The allocation to April 2001 has been made; but I take my hon. Friend's point and we shall take further action if there are opportunities to do so. However, I reassure her that the England rural development plan makes available a further £140 million for organic conversion over the next seven years.
Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire):
Is the Minister available--[Laughter.] I am sure he is. Is he aware of how badly livestock producers who have converted to organic farming have been affected by the decimation of the rural abattoir network, which has made it effectively impossible for many of them to sell their meat as organic? I urge him urgently to consider that question and the establishment of a proper network of mobile abattoirs in rural areas.
Mr. Morley:
That is an important point. At least two mobile abattoirs are operated by the Humane Slaughter Association and they play an important role in terms of organic livestock. As part of the review of red tape, we are
Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford):
Does my hon. Friend agree that organic production is based on good science and best farming practice? In the light of recent utterly unwarranted claims that there are dangers in organic food, will the Department undertake to evaluate its merits, or perhaps suggest that the Food Standard Agency make that one of its first priorities?
Mr. Morley:
I understand that a number of organic organisations are carrying out a detailed study of some of the points to which my hon. Friend refers. I saw the article in question. Articles are written for and against organic food and some claims are not always backed by the facts. I agree that any claim for organic or non-organic food must be backed by sound science, and the Department will evaluate all the available information it has.
Mr. Michael Colvin (Romsey):
Is the Minister aware of consumers' growing demand for organic foods, and of the fact that 70 per cent. of organic food sold through British shops is imported? Will he do more to make money available to British farmers who want to convert? The supply of money from the Ministry does not meet the demand from agriculture.
Mr. Morley:
Demand has certainly increased, but only 400 farmers converted to organic farming under the regime of the previous Administration. In the past year alone, 1,100 farmers converted because of the increased aid that the Government have provided. We want to do more. Organic foods constitute an expanding market, and we want our farmers to take more of a share. We are making more resources available to help them do that.
8. Mr. Phil Hope (Corby):
If he will make a statement on Government support for developing new rural enterprises. [107887]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Ms Joyce Quin):
The England rural development plan, on which we propose to spend £1.6 billion, explains how we propose to use the rural development regulation to support the development of rural enterprises over the next seven years.
Mr. Hope:
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Farmers in my constituency and the National Farmers Union recognise that agriculture faces structural problems which require fundamental change, as well as short-term measures to help with current difficulties. I welcome the Government's rural development plan, which signals a new direction for farming and the rural economies. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that the proposed transfer of wasteful subsidies to new environmental schemes and farming enterprises will mean real cash and support for farming communities in my constituency?
Ms Quin:
Yes, I can reassure my hon. Friend about that, because we have been able to get extra spending from the Government to match the modulation system that
The regulation is important because it allows support to be given to some of the sectors that do not receive mainstream support from the subsidised common agricultural policy. It allows pig farmers, poultry farmers and others to apply for assistance. It thus provides for a better, more flexible system in future.
Mr. James Paice (South-East Cambridgeshire):
Following the Prime Minister's successful tour of the south-west last week, when he managed to convince any remaining doubters that he knows nothing and cares less about the true state of the rural economy and of rural enterprise, why did he not tell farmers about the proposed closure of two thirds of MAFF regional offices? That could mean the end of the Exeter office, which is the only MAFF office in the south-west. Does the Minister understand the impression that that will give to farmers, who are in the middle of an agricultural crisis, and who need the support from, and the face-to-face contact with, excellent MAFF officials? If the Minister goes ahead and closes two thirds of the network of offices, it will simply confirm to farmers that the Government are all talk and no action and that they do not care.
Ms Quin:
That was an extraordinary question, given the launch last week of the rural development plan and the extra money that we have put into agriculture. As well as the Prime Minister's visit to the south-west, during which he spent two days in the region, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and other Ministers from the Ministry and from the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions visited rural areas throughout the country.
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