§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the mandate of the EU Advisory Committee on food stuffs is; how many times it has met over the last 12 months; what the 303W United Kingdom representation on it is; what the annual cost of its work is to public funds; if she will list the items under its consideration; if she will take steps to increase its accountability and transparency to Parliament; and if she will make a statement. [63636]
§ Ms BlearsI have been asked to reply.
The mandate for the Advisory Committee for Foodstuffs is set out in European Commission Decision 1980/1073/EEC. The Committee may be consulted by the Commission on any matter relating to the harmonisation of foodstuffs legislation.
The Committee, whose term of office is three years, is composed of ten permanent members and twenty experts, and the secretariat is provided by the Commission. It represents socio-economic interest groups concerned about food safety, such as agriculture, commerce, consumers, industry and workers, and is chaired by a permanent member of one of the economic groups. The Committee has not met during the last twelve months.
The Committee is accountable solely to the Commission which pays the travel and subsistence costs of members amounting to approximately " 290,000 for each meeting. There are no additional costs to the United Kingdom's public funds.