Food Law

THE FOOD STANDARDS BILL

FACT SHEET: ADDITIONS AND CHANGES TO THE CONSULTATION DRAFT

The Bill no longer contains a levy clause, as Ministers have decided that there will be no levy.

The additions to the Bill cover the following:

Food-borne diseases

• Guidance and laboratory notification of test results: the Agency may issue guidance to local and health authorities on the management and control of outbreaks of food-borne diseases - eg salmonella, Ecoli O157 (clause 20);
  
• Ministers may set up a scheme under which laboratories would be required to notify the results of tests for food-borne disease to a central body (clause 27). A statutory laboratory notification scheme on these lines was mentioned in the document accompanying the draft Bill and the consultation exercise produced general support for this proposal.

New provisions arising from devolution

• The agency will be a UK body operating in a devolved area. New clause 32 provides a power to modify the Agency's constitution and relationship with Ministers and the devolved authorities. This might be needed in the light of experience of the operation of devolution in practice; there is also a power to deal with the agency's property and liabilities and to make consequential changes (eg to its constitution), should Scotland or Northern Ireland decide to withdraw (either in part or completely) from any of the UK arrangements (clause 33); The devolved authorities and legislatures are only now coming into operation, so it is not yet clear how they will choose to exercise their powers in a devolved area.
• The Food Safety Promotion Board: The Agency is to have a duty to co-operate with the Board, which is one of the all-Ireland implementation bodies created following the Belfast agreement (clause 34). The Agency will not duplicate the functions of the FSPB in Northern Ireland.

Application to the Crown

• The Agency's remit is to extend to the Crown (except the Queen personally) (clause 38). This means that the Agency can carry out its functions (eg monitoring the work of enforcement authorities or conducting surveys) on Crown premises such as hospitals and prisons. The new provision ensures that the legislation is consistent with the Food Safety Act 1990.

The Changes to the Bill:

• Animal feedingstuffs: a new clause 9 has been added to ensure that the Agency's advice and information function extends to all feedingstuffs matters from the outset, including those which are not directly related to food safety (eg pet foods, or some aspects of the labelling of animal feed).
• Advisory committees: detailed provisions on these are now in schedule 2. This includes new powers allowing joint committees to be set up to advise the Agency and other authorities - eg MAFF or the Department of Health; it also permits the existing non-statutory advisory committees to be transferred to the Agency and treated as though they had been set up in accordance with powers in the Bill;
• Publication of advice: provisions of the Bill relating to the publication of information have been amended in several ways: all the provisions relating to publication have been brought together in a single clause (clause 19). before publishing, the Agency must consider whether the public interest outweighs any confidentiality issues, but apart from this, and the point below, no prohibitions on publication apply to it (clause 19(3); the revised clause clarifies that the Agency's power to publish advice and information does not automatically override statutory prohibitions on publication in other legislation or Community law, or the rules on contempt of court (clause 19(2)); Ministers may make orders to lift or relax any statutory prohibitions, where these would prevent the Agency from obtaining or publishing information which is clearly in the public interest (clause 25); it is an made an offence for any officer carrying out observations on behalf of the Agency to disclose information on trade secrets other than in the course of their duty (eg acting privately to sell trade secrets to a competitor); these modifications take account of comments made during the consultation exercise and the draft Freedom of Information Bill.
• Education and training: clause 21 makes it explicit that the Agency may carry out educational or training activities. This is included in response to comments made by respondents to consultation;
• Promoting links with local authorities: this has been added to the list in subsection (2)(b)(i) in clause 22 (statement of general objectives and practices) to emphasise that the Agency will have to work closely with local authorities, in particular, in order to develop national standards and improve consistency in enforcement.

The Food Standards Bill - A Short Summary

• establish the Agency for the purpose of carrying out the functions given to it elsewhere in the Bill;
• state that the its main objective is to protect the public health in relation to food, but also to protect the wider food standards interests of consumers such as labelling;
• provide for appointment of the Agency's members by the Secretary of State (in practice the Secretary of State for Health), the Scottish Ministers, the National Assembly for Wales and the Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland;
• provide for appointment of the Agency's Chief Executive (who will be responsible for the Agency's day to day running and accountable for its expenditure) and of separate directors to run the Agency's executive arms in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
• require the Agency to produce an annual report to be laid before the Westminster Parliament and the devolved legislatures;
• establish advisory committees to advise the Agency on food safety and standards issues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and allow the Agency to set up other committees to advise it on food safety etc.

Clauses 6-16 (General functions in relation to food and animal feedingstuffs) give the Agency the functions of:

• developing policies and advising Ministers and public authorities on food safety, other interests of consumers of food, and on animal feedingstuffs;
• providing advice and, information or assistance on food safety and standards matters and animal feedingstuffs to the general public or other interests;
• obtaining and keeping under review information about food safety and related issues (eg by commissioning advice or undertaking or commissioning research).
• carrying out observations of the safety or quality of food at any point in the food chain (including on the farm) for the purposes of informing its general policy work;
• setting standards for enforcement and monitoring the performance of food law enforcement authorities (this will mainly relate to local authorities).

Clauses 17-21 (Other functions) give the Agency the functions of:

• issuing, by agreement with the Secretary of State (in practice the Secretary of State for Health) or equivalents in the devolved administrations, emergency orders under the Food and Environmental Protection Act and emergency control orders under the Food Safety Act;
• publishing advice and information (including advice given to Ministers),except material whose publication is prohibited in other legislation or by virtue of a European Union obligation, and after considering whether the public interest outweighs any questions of confidentiality;
• issuing guidance to local and health authorities on the control of outbreaks of food-borne disease.

Clauses 22-25 (General provisions relating to the functions of the Agency) set out key provisions to govern the way in which the Agency will operate. They require the Agency to:

• prepare and publish a statement of objectives and proposed practice, which must be approved by the Secretary of State and the devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
• include in the statement its objectives for consulting interested parties, for promoting links with other government departments and local authorities, and for ensuring that the basis for its decisions is transparent and open to public scrutiny;
• take account of the statement of objectives and advice from any advisory committee in carrying out its functions;
• take account of risks, costs and benefits before exercising any of its powers.

Clauses 26-35 (Miscellaneous and supplementary) include:

• provision removing food safety and food standards responsibilities from the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food;
• an enabling power to set up a scheme under which laboratories would be required to notify the results of tests for food-borne disease to a central body;
• provision for the sharing of information on food-borne diseases carried by animals between the Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture and the devolved administrations;
• a duty for the Minister of Agriculture to consult the Agency on policy on veterinary medicines;
• a power to modify the Agency's functions in the light of its experience as a UK body operating in an area which has been devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland and to allow for its constitution to be changed should either Scotland or Northern Ireland decide to withdraw from any of the UK arrangements.

Clauses 36-42 (Final provisions)

• provides for the agency to be funded by monies voted by Parliament (and from the devolved administrations);
• applies the provisions of the Bill to the Crown;
• includes minor and consequential matters.

The Bill has 5 Schedules covering:

• the constitution of the Agency and its staffing;
• the advisory committees including arrangements for transferring existing committees to the Agency and for setting up joint committees to advise the Agency and another body such as the Department of Health or the Ministry of Agriculture;
• the Agency's functions under other Acts including the Food Safety Act 1990;
• minor and consequential amendments to other legislation;
• repeals.