§ Mr. HillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the responses to the public consultation on the White Paper, "The Food Standards Agency: A Force for Change". [43436]
Dr. John CunninghamThe Government have received over a thousand responses to public consultation on the Food Standards Agency White Paper, reflecting the considerable importance that the British public attaches to issues of food safety and standards. The responses show widespread support for the general thrust of our proposals.
The many useful comments we have received will inform the preparation of draft legislation, which will be published later in the summer for a final round of public consultation. We will also issue a detailed paper for separate consultation on the proposal to charge the food industry for a greater proportion of food safety costs. The Government are considering, alongside the White Paper responses, the comments made by the Agriculture Select Committee in its recent report on food safety, and will publish its response in due course.
I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of those responses to the White Paper for which confidentiality was not requested by the respondent. These are accompanied by an alphabetical index and a summary of comments on individual parts of the Government's proposals. All will be available in the Library for the next six months.
§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will set criteria to govern the priorities of the research programme of the proposed Food Standards Agency. [42620]
§ Mr. RookerThe proposed Food Standards Agency will have a substantial research budget to support its work on food safety and standards. It will be for the Agency to establish its research priorities, although it will no doubt wish to consult a wide range of interested parties.