Hansard

I thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to present the two orders to it. Both orders are made under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. The work behind the orders began in March 2005, when Rosemary Radcliffe was charged with undertaking a review of the five existing levy boards—the Meat and Livestock Commission, the British Potato Council, the Home Grown Cereals Authority, the Horticultural Development Council and the Milk Development Council. The review also examined the structure of Quality Meat Scotland.The review concluded that there remained a need for a compulsory statutory levy, but that changes were required to ensure a common overall framework for levy bodies to encourage common working and approaches, where possible, and to promote efficiencies. A new structure was proposed to ensure that those who were responsible for using the levy were as close as possible to the levy payers and that appropriate monitoring and accountability arrangements were put in place. Rosemary Radcliffe recognised that ministers in Scotland and Wales might want a different arrangement for their red meat bodies. All United Kingdom ministers agreed to the implementation of a modified version of the proposed Radcliffe model.The purpose of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Order 2007 is to abolish the existing levy boards and establish a single new public body in the form of the agriculture and horticulture development board. The order provides for the establishment of subsidiary companies for each sector. It is intended that companies will be created for the six sectors of cereals and oil-seeds, horticulture, milk, potatoes, beef and lamb in England, and pigs in England.Quality Meat Scotland is currently a private company. The dissolution of the Meat and Livestock Commission means an end to the current arrangements whereby functions of the Meat and Livestock Commission in Scotland are delegated to Quality Meat Scotland. Given the distinctiveness of the red meat sector in Scotland, it was not appropriate for Quality Meat Scotland to come under the wing of the agriculture and horticulture development board.Procurement rules require a full tendering exercise to be carried out if public funds—levies—are to be passed over to bodies that are not wholly publicly owned. Quality Meat Scotland could not, therefore, be guaranteed responsibility for levy expenditure if it remained a private company. The Quality Meat Scotland Order 2008 provides for the organisation to be established as a public body that is fully accountable to Scottish ministers. In reality, there should be no wholesale change to current accountability arrangements for Quality Meat Scotland, and there should be no extra costs for Government. Sponsorship arrangements are in place to ensure appropriate use of Scottish levy for the delegated Meat and Livestock Commission functions.The restructuring will improve accountability to levy payers, who will be well represented on the boards of the sector companies and Quality Meat Scotland. The provisions that allow for a ballot of levy payers, should 5 per cent of levy payers request a ballot, will also improve accountability. The agriculture and horticulture development board will provide more scope for collaboration and co-operation between levy boards. We expect Quality Meat Scotland to continue to co-operate effectively with its counterparts in England and Wales. In drafting the orders, we have taken the opportunity to make improvements to levy collection and to reduce the regulatory burden—for example, by removing the obligations to register in the horticulture, potato and cereal sectors.Throughout the policy development process, there has been considerable stakeholder involvement. During the review process, Rosemary Radcliffe consulted—often face to face—a wide range of industry players. That included detailed discussions with the Scottish industry and with Scottish ministers in the previous Scottish Executive. Public consultations were conducted on the review recommendations and, later, on the proposals for the two orders. There has been overwhelming support for continuation of the levy—in Scotland, too—and strong support for the proposals for change. That has included support for the establishment of Quality Meat Scotland as a public body that is accountable to Scottish ministers.The levy bodies have been fully engaged in the implementation process through project and strategic boards that were established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. There have been some concerns, particularly from the horticulture sector, in the course of that work, but the view of Rosemary Radcliffe and ministers was that horticulture would benefit from inclusion in the new structure and from greater collaboration with other sectors.Quality Meat Scotland has been working closely with Scottish Government officials and the Meat and Livestock Commission to ensure a smooth transition to public body status.The start date for implementation of the new levy board structure is 1 April 2008 and we are on target to meet that deadline. We will then have a levy board structure that is more joined up and efficient and closer to levy payers. The new structure and improved accountability will benefit the agriculture and horticulture industry. For the red meat sector, we will have a separate structure that is in the best interests of the Scottish industry and which is wholly accountable to Scottish ministers. I invite the committee to approve the orders.