Food Standards Agency (Hansard, 18 November 1998)

§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)
My Lords, the Government remain committed to setting up a food standards agency. I cannot, however, anticipate the Queen's Speech.

§ Lord Peyton of Yeovil
My Lords, the noble Lord will not be accused of letting anything out of the bag! Is the Minister aware of how welcome the announcement back in January was that the old, arbitrary, uncertain and often bullying methods of enforcement were to be replaced by, modern, open arrangements which will deliver real improvements in standards"? Is that wonderful prospect now to be indefinitely delayed? I am also anxious to know whether, after all that has been said, it is possible for manifestos to be thrown overboard.

§ Lord Donoughue
My Lords, the noble Lord, with his great experience, will know far more than I about throwing manifestos overboard. I can state with complete assurance that the commitment to establish a food standards agency was, as he suggests, in our manifesto. It was in our White Paper, which he quoted with great learning. The commitment was repeated by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons three weeks ago. The precise timing, of course, was not a commitment. We await the Queen's Speech and a statement by my right honourable friend shortly after the Queen's Speech to establish that.
As regards the behaviour, as it were, of the enforcement authorities, I share totally the noble Lord's view and the intentions that were set out in the White Paper; namely, that enforcement should be conducted in a proper way. Of course enforcement must be firm in order to secure the food standards in which we believe. Under the food standards agency, enforcement will remain with local authorities but the new agency will take over the Meat Hygiene Service and will co-ordinate local authority enforcement in order to ensure high and continuing standards. Like the noble Lord I assume that "little Napoleons" will not be involved in seeking high standards.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, while I cannot ask my noble friend to anticipate what his right honourable friend will 1266 say in his statement after the Queen's Speech, can he assure us that it will confirm that the Government need to follow the general lines outlined in the White Paper, particularly that—I quote my noble friend's words of Monday— food safety and food health should be separated from the producer side"?—[Official Report, 16/11/98; col. 891.]

§ Lord Donoughue
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for those comments. That is the basic principle of separation, which is mentioned on page two of the White Paper. I cannot comment on what will be contained in the Queen's Speech, but whether it contains legislation or whether for the moment it does not, I believe that principle should remain in place. That should be the basis on which the new arrangements are progressed.

§ Baroness Masham of Ilton
My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that there is a serious problem of an increase in food poisoning and resistance to infection control? Who should do the monitoring?

§ Lord Donoughue
My Lords, the noble Baroness is quite right. That is one of our main concerns and a main concern of the Department of Health. It is in order to monitor and secure better standards of food safety that we propose to set up the food standards agency. It will operate as an independent agency but will report to the Department of Health. At that stage, to my great relief, questions will be directed towards my noble friend.