§ Lord Joplingasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether (a) any Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (b) the Prime Minister, or (c) any special adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, met the Rural Recovery Co-ordinator, Lord Haskins, in October; and if so, on which days. [HL910]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)The only formal meeting with my noble friend Lord Haskins in his capacity as Rural Recovery Co-ordinator during October took place on 10 October and involved officials of the department and of some of the regional development agencies. My noble friend Lord Haskins briefed Ministers on the progress of his work informally on several occasions during that period.
It should be remembered that the main focus of his work was to look at the problems being encountered by the Cumbrian economy as a result of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. His work involved 94WA communicating with Ministers about aspects of that situation and his report is a summary of his conclusions at the end of his period of work.