THE PLANT VARIETY RIGHTS OFFICE (Hansard, 24 June 1997)

§ Mr. Baker
I beg to move amendment No. 1, in page 1, line 25, after subsection (1), insert— `(1A) The Controller shall each year make a report of his activities to Ministers, who shall lay a copy of every such report before Parliament.'. The amendment relates to the accountability of the controller of plant variety rights. I shall not take up too much of the Committee's time, because we had the substantive debate on Second Reading and now we want to concentrate on minor, technical points.
I am grateful to the Minister for having said earlier that he recognised the need for the public to have confidence in the food safety system. He also recognised the need for openness in that system. Given the concerns that have been expressed, not only by Liberal Democrat Members, but, to a lesser extent, by Labour and Conservative Members, I hope that he will look favourably on the amendment. Given the uncertainty in some people's minds about the direction in which those matters are progressing, it is an important safeguard for openness in food safety that, once a year, Ministers should have to lay a copy of such a report before Parliament. That is also in line with the Minister's thinking, so I hope that he will accept the amendment.

§ Mr. Rooker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his amendment. If a report on the activities of the controller were not already to be published, I would have accepted the amendment; however, what the hon. Gentleman is asking for already happens.
The decisions that the controller proposes to take or has taken are required to be published—and are published—monthly in the Plant Varieties and Seeds Gazette, of which I have obtained a copy for my better information. An annual edition of the gazette is published each year and provides details of all grants of rights in effect at the time of publication and information showing, for example, the name of the variety, who holds the rights and when they expire. The gazette is publicly available. Other information in applications for rights and rights granted is held on the registers in the plant variety rights office. Those may be inspected by members of the public during normal office hours and copies of entries on the register are freely available on request.
A substantial amount of information is therefore already published. More information is in the public domain and may be inspected or copies obtained on request. The amendment is therefore unnecessary. I have been told that no part of the work of the plant variety rights office is not already published and available. Accountability to the House is therefore ensured.

§ Mr. Baker
I am grateful to the Minister for listing the ways in which members of the public and Members of Parliament can obtain information about the activities of the controller. Perhaps the amendment was badly worded; what I sought to achieve was that, each year, Parliament would have an opportunity to debate those matters, rather than the information being published in a form that required hon. Members to bring the matter forward in a different way. However, I am grateful for the Minister' s response and I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.