§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minster of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many statutory instruments his Department sponsored in the last Session of Parliament; how many of these(a) constituted a new rule or regulation, (b) were introduced to implement European Community directives and (c) amplify the minimum standards set out in an original European Community directive. [2467]
§ Mr. Boswell[holding answer 28 November 1995]: In the 1994–95 Session the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food sponsored 121 statutory instruments.
The cost of analysing each to provide detailed responses would be disproportionate. However, approximately half the SIs involved new rules or regulations and about a third were introduced to implement European Community directives, neither category being exclusive.
It is firmly not our policy to amplify the minimum standards set out in directives unless there are overwhelming policy reasons for doing so. We have recently introduced new internal procedures to ensure this.