European Food Authority (Hansard, 3 May 2000)

§ Mr. Redwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the planned European Food Authority will replace the UK Food Standards Agency. [120188]

§ Ms Stuart
No it will not replace the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency. The White Paper clearly states that the proposed European Food Authority must be a "value-added structure" which will work in close co-operation with national agencies and institutions, thus making the best use of existing structures and resources.
176W
We envisage that the planned European Food Authority will work in close co-operation with our own agency which, in any case, has a wider remit than the proposed Authority.

§ Mr. Redwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the estimated first full year cost of running(a) the UK Food Standards Agency and (b) the European Food Authority. [120189]

§ Ms Stuart
The gross budget for the Food Standards Agency in its first full year (2000–01) is £148 million including £8 million for the executives in the devolved administrations, and £70 million for its executive agency, the Meat Hygiene Service. (The £148 million is net of internal transfers between the Food Standards Agency headquarters and the Meat Hygiene Service).
The Commission has proposed that the European Food Authority has a budget of only 100 million ecus (£62.5 million). We will have to be clear about whether this is an additional cost or total funding. Clearly most of the functions of the EFA are already performed elsewhere within the EU framework and we must be careful to avoid duplication of effort.