Select committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
6th Report - The future for food, farming and the environment
HC 870
Published 6 June 2018
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Work of DEFRA: Health and Harmony inquiry Report on parliament.uk ↗
At a glanceGovernment response published 12 October 2018
The government's response
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.
The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation in turn, pointing to the Agriculture Bill and its 'Health and Harmony' policy statement as the basis for future policy.
- On Direct Payments, it says the transition will last "seven years from 2021", with the last payments made "for the 2027 scheme year", and it published impact analyses on 13 September.
- On funding, it calls the claim of minimal Treasury discussions "incorrect" and says it has pledged "the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the parliament, expected in 2022".
- On healthy food as a public good, it "agree[s]" that healthy food contributes to public health, but says "the market remains the best way to reward the production of good-quality food" and that paying farmers for it would not "necessarily" deliver the outcome.
- On trade, it says it "will not water down our standards on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection as part of any future trade deals"; on origin labelling it "will consider" improvements after EU exit.
What the committee recommended
No recommendations or conclusions have been extracted from this report. This is normal for correspondence and for special reports.
Sources
- 6th Report - The future for food, farming and the environment ↗The committee's report, HC 870, parliament.uk
- 12th Special Report - The future for food, farming and the environment: Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report ↗The government's response, 12 October 2018, parliament.uk