HC Deb 30 July 1998 vol 317 cc522-3
8. Mr. Alan W. Williams (East Carmarthen and Dinefwr)

What steps he has taken to widen membership of advisory committees to include representatives of consumers and environmental organisations. [51693]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Jeff Rooker)

We have widened the membership of the independent advisory committees that deal with food, health, veterinary medicines, pesticides and environmental concerns to include at least one and sometimes two relevant consumer or lay members where appropriate; and we have some more announcements to make in the next couple of weeks.

Mr. Williams

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer and am pleased to hear that there is considerable progress in that direction. However, does he accept that the advisory committees have always tended to be heavily populated by industrialists or academics who derive their livelihoods—consulting fees or research grants—from the industries concerned? It is important that consumers and environmental organisations be strongly represented on the committees if we want a balanced report and if we want to retain public confidence.

Mr. Rooker

My hon. Friend is quite right. We are satisfied—I must repeat this, as people have been under attack—with the integrity of all members of the independent advisory committees. We are open and transparent about declarations of interest. Of course, some are statutory committees, such as the one on veterinary products in which the Medicines Commission is involved.

I am pleased to say that most of the lay, non-scientific, consumer representatives appointed to the committees in the past 15 months have been women, which contributes to righting the imbalance that we inherited. My hon. Friend is right to say that the committees have to engender confidence. They are not independent committees as such, although we want them to be committees of independent people—that aspect is crucial—whatever the background from which they come: academia, the health service, industry, and lay and consumer members.

Mr. Tom King (Bridgwater)

Does the Minister agree that the need in the present crisis in agriculture—the latest figures for the south-west show an 80 per cent. fall in incomes—for regional agricultural committees could hardly be greater? Will he urge the Minister of Agriculture, on taking up his new office, to note not only the seriousness of the situation but the feeling that has grown among farmers that the Government do not care? The best thing he could do in the recess would be to make early visits to as many regions as possible. Will he put the south-west high on his list?

Mr. Rooker

The right hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, although there was a note of criticism behind it. It is true that the farmers panels were abandoned when we came into office. However, on our regional visits, my ministerial colleagues and I have met liaison groups that have included farmers' representatives and others to take in a much wider spectrum of rural interests and the rural economy than could have been involved if we had stuck to the panels. It goes way beyond agriculture because of the spin-off into other areas. We do not apologise for that.

We will continue our regional visits, as we have for the past 15 months. The pace will be faster now that we have ceased to hold the presidency of the European Union.

Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall)

Will the Minister refer to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides the examination undertaken by The Guardian newspaper on the basis of the Environmental Protection Agency report that multinational chemical companies are paying substantial sums to students to use them as human guinea pigs for testing dangerous organophosphate pesticides?

Mr. Rooker

I welcome the hon. Gentleman's question. The research reported in The Guardian today, which was also reported in yesterday's Daily Mail, was done in 1992 and 1996–97. It is therefore not possible to get all the necessary information. Where a contract research laboratory in the United Kingdom undertakes work on pesticides on behalf of an overseas client, the Advisory Committee on Pesticides is not involved. It is for the client laboratory to satisfy itself that the ethical and medical conditions under which the work is carried out are in line with international guidelines under the Helsinki declaration and the guidance issued by the Royal College of Physicians in London.

My inquiries in the past 48 hours lead me to believe that the experiments were conducted in line with international guidelines and in conformity with the guidelines of the Royal College of Physicians. The reports merit further inquiry.