§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the debate on the livestock industry on 17 April (HL Deb, cols 944–984), when they propose to debate and act upon the recommendations in the Report of the Better Regulation Task Force, chaired by Lord Haskins. [HL3899]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)I assume the Question refers to the Better Regulation Task Force onEnvironmental Regulation and Farmers, published in November 2001, in particular to the recommendations relating to simplification and codification of requirements and to compliance inspections. The government response to the report, issued in February 2001, set out a series of timetabled commitments to action in light of the report's recommendations. We have made significant progress in delivering these commitments, and many have already been implemented in full.
In particular, we are actively pursuing options for streamlining and integrating the department's relations and contracts with farmers. Initial work is being done on a number of ideas such as the single business identifier and e-enabled whole farm plans. We are also combining previously separate inspections for cattle identification and subsidy purposes into a single visit.