Food Safety (Hansard, 2 July 1997)

§ 9. Mr. Heppell
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what discussions he has had with colleagues on issues relating to food safety. [4935]

§ Dr. David Clark
At the request of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, I chair the ministerial group on food safety. In this capacity, I co-ordinate departmental considerations of issues arising from the establishment of the food standards agency and other aspects of food safety.

§ Mr. Heppell
Can my right hon. Friend confirm what I believe that he was saying earlier—that responsibility for the food standards agency when it is set up will rest with the Secretary of State for Health—and can he tell us how it will report to the House?

§ Dr. Clark
It is envisaged that the food standards agency will be a body akin to the Health and Safety Commission which for the past 20 years has served health and safety in Britain very well. At the end of the day, it has been decided that the food standards agency should report to the House through a Department of Health Minister.

§ Mr. Paice
I welcome the fact that McDonald's now recognises that British beef is safe, but can the right hon. Gentleman tell the House of any action taken by his Government which means that British beef was any safer last week than it was on 1 May?

§ Dr. Clark
It stretches credulity a little for a member of the Conservative party to talk about the safety of British beef. That is the party which was supposed to go ahead with a cull of beef cattle to try to ensure that Britain's beef herd was safe. That is the party which promised that the European ban would be lifted when it was not. The Government will take no lecturing at all on the beef industry from Conservative Members.