Examination of Witnesses (Questions 57
- 59)
WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2007
MR DAVID STATHAM AND MRS SARAH APPLEBY
Q57 Chairman:
Good morning both to Sarah and David, and a very warm welcome
to join the Committee today. Unfortunately we have four members
absent this morning, but there are enough of us to both field
comments from you and to ask questions. So we are delighted to
have you with us. We have, as you probably know, already seen
Defra.
Mr Statham: Yes.
Q58 Chairman:
We had quite a good session with them at the last meeting. It
was obvious that we should hear evidence as soon as possible from
the Food Standards Agency, and you have already sent us an excellent
paper on your position, but recognising, on the basis of that
paper, of course, that your main interest is labelling. On the
basis of that paper, therefore, we would like to ask you some
questions. First of all, I have to say that we are recorded—there
are probably half a million people watching!—so what you
say is giving people the chance to take note of what is being
said. Having said that, we realise, of course, that we are setting
forth on a study of a sector that is quite complicated—far
more complicated than people realise. It is not a matter of deciding
whether the quality is right or whether there is doubt about it,
but, nevertheless, it is a matter of great importance. It is not
an inexpensive area if you look at this on a full Community scale.
Mr Statham: Absolutely.
Q59 Chairman:
And, like so many things that are European, like the Common Agricultural
Policy in particular, from time to time these things have to be
considered and revised to make sure that production is as cost—effective
as it can be. So, as I say, having taken evidence from Defra we
would now like to hear something from you. We would like you to
introduce yourselves first of all and, if you have anything to
say first, if you wish to add to your paper or comment on the
paper, please do so.
Mr Statham: Thank you, and thank you first of
all for the opportunity to come and give evidence to this Committee.
If I can introduce Sarah Appleby, who is the Head of the Imported
Food Division of the Agency, and that particular division also
has the responsibility for wine standards enforcement. It might
be helpful if I gave a little background to explain a little bit
about the FSA and particularly its role in wine standards enforcement,
because it has changed recently. We have only fairly recently
taken on this responsibility. So if I explain that very briefly,
that might give a bit of background to where we are. I am sure
you are aware that we are a non-ministerial government department
and that we were set up on 1 April 2000—I am not sure whether
the first was a significant date, but that is when it happened!—and
obviously we were set up particularly following public concerns
about food safety and the need to restore confidence in food.
Our role is to deal with all aspects of food regulation and food
control; also to deal with public health advice, food safety advice,
consumer protection and also to deal with issues of nutrition
and diet. All those things have an impact to some degree on the
wine area. The Agency became responsible for wine standards enforcement
on 1 July last year and we have two full time equivalents working
at headquarters in London within Sarah's team, and eight inspectors
who work across the UK, although in Scotland and Northern Ireland
that work is limited solely to imported wine, because there are
no vineyards, in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The team deals
with the registration of vineyards, and they have vineyards from
Yorkshire down to the south coast of England and they carry out
checks on grape harvest, wine production and particularly the
area you have mentioned—the labelling. We also deal with
checks on wine that is imported, and again the area there in which
we are particularly interested is labelling. Just to complete
the picture, we work closely with local authority colleagues and
Environmental Health Officers and Trading Standards Officers,
who enforce the hygiene and labelling regulations of wine at the
retail level. So our inspectors only deal with them at the wholesale
level and at the vineyards, and the local authorities deal with
them at that level. I think that is probably sufficient background
to give you a feel for where we are, how we do it and how we came
in. And, unless there are any specific questions raised by that,
then that would be our introduction.
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