Food Safety Council (Hansard, 30 January 1997)

Lord Lucas

My right honourable friends The Secretary of State for Health and the Minister of Agriculture, fisheries and Food are today announcing together with my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the Government's intention to appoint an independent, eminent chairman of a newly created Food Safety Council, who will also be an adviser on food safety. The council will advise Ministers on food safety and related matters, take a strategic view of the longer term agenda and identify issues cutting across the work of the existing network of independent expert advisory committees. Its membership will be drawn from a wide range of fields with an interest in the safety of the food supply, including both scientific experts and lay members.

The council and food safety adviser will report jointly to my right honourable friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The proposed terms of reference for the adviser and the council are set out below.

Our intention is that the council and the adviser should be free to advise on any matters related to the safety, quality, labelling and authenticity of food and also that they should be available as an authoritative source of advice to the general public. These arrangements will strengthen the existing network of advisory committees but will not detract from the role of the individual expert committees. The food safety adviser will work closely with the chief medical officers.

In addition, we are formally appointing the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Kenneth Calman, as adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on public health matters. This formalises arrangements which in practice have applied for many years. These new arrangements help to confirm the importance of public health advice in the area of food policy.

Terms of reference for the Chairman of the Food Safety Council and Food Safety Adviser:

to advise the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on any matters related to the safety, quality, labelling and authenticity of food, and the Secretaries of State for Health, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the area of their department's responsibilities.
to chair the Food Safety Council; and
to communicate information relating to the work of the Food Safety Council to Parliament, the media and the general public.

100WA

Terms of reference for the Food Safety Council:

to advise the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on any matters relating to the safety, quality, labelling and authenticity of food, and the Secretaries of State for Health, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in the area of their departments' responsibilities having regard at all times to the views of relevant expert bodies and to public concerns;
to co-ordinate those areas of work of the independent advisory committees which fall within the remit of the Food Safety Council and identify issues of common interest;
to advise on how these matters are best communicated to the general public;
to report annually to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State for Health, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on food safety and related matters, and to lay a copy of the report before Parliament.