To:
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The Senedd
Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee
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Date:
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January
2023
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Senedd Cymru
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Welsh Parliament
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Pwyllgor yr Economi, Masnach a Materion Gwledig
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Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
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Bil Bwyd (Cymru)
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Food (Wales) Bill
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FWB-02
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Ymateb gan: Undeb Cenedlaethol yr Amaethwyr
Cymru
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Evidence from: National Farmers’ Union Cymru
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Dear
Committee
The Food (Wales) Bill
NFU Cymru
champions Welsh farming and represents farmers throughout Wales and
across all sectors. NFU Cymru’s vision is for a
productive, profitable, and progressive farming sector producing
world renowned climate-friendly food in an environment and
landscape that provides habitats for our nature to thrive. Welsh
food and farming delivering economic, environmental, cultural, and
social benefits for all the people of Wales whilst meeting our
ambition for net zero agriculture by 2040.
We
welcome the opportunity to provide the Economy, Trade and Rural
Affairs Committee with our views on the Food (Wales) Bill as part
of this Stage 1 process. Our views set out in this submission are
based on our current understanding of the Bill as introduced,
something which may well evolve further as we develop our knowledge
of the Bill, and as the Bill itself is amended as part of the
scrutiny process.
Introduction
- NFU Cymru is
grateful for the opportunity to comment on the Draft Food (Wales)
Bill. NFU Cymru agrees with the overarching principles which
the Bill seeks to achieve and commends Peter Fox MS for taking the
initiative with the introduction of this Bill. As
representatives of primary producers, we have long made the point
that access to high quality, safe, affordable food is the most
basic requirement for all people in society and we consider the
Bill and its provisions to be an important step forwards in terms
of according the food system the status it
deserves.
- As a Union we are
proud to represent the farmers and growers who provide the raw
ingredients for Wales’ £8bn food and drink sector, which
in turn supports over 229,000 jobs. We very much see
the sector and the primary production it represents as inextricably
linked to Wales’ future economic prosperity, as well as the
health and wellbeing of the nation.
- We believe that a
key sign of success in food policy is that consumers do not have to
worry about food security, safety, and resilience. We
are keen to work with the Welsh Parliament, the Welsh Government,
and other stakeholders in order to deliver on a successful food
policy and see the Food (Wales) Bill as a key plank in the delivery
of a food policy.
- NFU Cymru
believes that Wales has a social responsibility to contribute to
global food security, as food production systems around the world
become increasingly strained, and in so doing play to our strengths
of producing food in a climate friendly manner and to high
environmental and animal welfare standards.
General
Principles of the Bill
- NFU Cymru has
been consistently warning about threats to our national food
security and productive capacity for many years. Global
and domestic food supply chains have been placed under particular
strain over the last two and a half years as the Covid pandemic and
the UK’s departure from the EU’s single market have
impacted. More recently of course events in Ukraine and
drought conditions at home and abroad have amplified the challenges
facing us as producers of food.
- We all wish for a
speedy resolution to the conflict in Ukraine, unfortunately it is
likely that there will be a long and protracted conflict with a
significant tail to the energy and inputs price spikes which have
rippled through markets and supply chains, and ongoing uncertainty
about the all-important export of Ukrainian grains and
oilseeds.
- Whilst
legislation will never be able to anticipate unforeseen or sudden
events, it does have the potential to ensure that as a nation we
are in the best possible position in terms of our domestic food
security to respond to challenges and disruption in food supply
chains and to mitigate some of these adverse impacts by having a
more resilient food system in place.
- Maintaining food
production, which has historically been ensured through the Common
Agricultural Policy, has acquired a particular salience as a number
of factors and challenges coalesce to threaten our productive
capacity, and in particular as we transition away from CAP legacy
schemes, schemes which have historically ensured ample supplies of
safe, affordable, high-quality food.
- We would make the
point that we do not see this as being about having
self-sufficiency in a range of foodstuffs, as Wales is currently
and hopefully will remain an exporter of primary product to other
parts of the UK and the rest of the world, instead NFU Cymru sees
this as being about ensuring that food production in Wales does not
start to decline.
10.
NFU
Cymru is clear ensuring supplies of safe, high-quality food
domestically is increasingly important and should be a priority for
government. It is important to recognise that Wales is
expected to become an area increasingly favoured for agricultural
production moving forward, when compared to other regions across
the world where climate change impacts are expected to be more
severe and disruptive. Wales’s productive agricultural
capacity should be maintained and enhanced and decarbonisation and
other environmental policies in Wales should not result in
widespread land use change.
- We would also
make the point that a strong, undeniable linkage exists between
primary production (agriculture) and Welsh language and culture,
with 43% of Wales’ farmers speaking Welsh. If the
Bill is successful in achieving its stated objectives, then it
should also help to preserve Wales’ language and culture,
something which we should all very much welcome.
- With the UK
Government publishing its food strategy for England and the passing
of legislation in Scotland, Wales does now risk becoming an outlier
in terms of its approach to food policy. We therefore
feel that it is appropriate that there should be some legislative
provision in this area in Wales and so we welcome the Food (Wales)
Bill
13.
NFU
Cymru has long advocated for food security and the moral imperative
to play our part in producing climate friendly food for our nation
and for our trading partners.
- Whilst it is
commendable that the Welsh Government has set and achieved some
ambitious targets around things such as growing the size of
Wales’ food and drink sector, these targets are not statutory
targets.
- It is our view
that it would be desirable to put targets in the Food (Wales) Bill
on a statutory footing and oblige the Welsh Government to report to
the Senedd on its performance against these targets. Mechanisms
need to be established to ensure levels of domestic food production
are assessed, maintained, and enhanced alongside climate,
biodiversity and broader environmental objectives, particularly as
we move towards new arrangements for supporting our
farmers
- NFU Cymru
supports the inclusion of Food Goals within the Bill as a means of
underpinning the policy objectives, including the creation of a
Primary Goal supplemented by Secondary Goals.
- It is the
Union’s view that there could be more explicit provision made
around public procurement and food production in the food
goals. Although increased public procurement of Welsh food
and drink and enhanced levels of production may well be natural
corollaries of setting of the primary and secondary goals, NFU
Cymru is of the view that procurement and the safeguarding and
growing of food production levels need to be integrated as goals in
their own right.
- The Union is
also of the view that Welsh Government should be obliged by the
provisions of the Food (Wales) Bill to carry out Regulatory Impact
Assessments on any proposed new regulations and policies to
determine their impact on food production and/or food
resilience.
- We are concerned
that the impact of regulatory and policy actions may not always be
properly thought through in terms of their potentially adverse
impacts on productive capacity, and we would draw attention to the
water quality regulations as a case in point. By
obliging Welsh Government to consider the impact of the regulatory
and policy choices it makes on food production this could help
avert or mitigate some unintended, negative consequences in
relation to food production capacity.
- NFU Cymru agrees
that there need to be targets set in order to help ensure that food
goals are being met. We would also point to our comments
above regarding the need for explicit public procurement and food
production goals, as well as the need to assess the impacts of new
policies and regulations on food production.
- Although we
recognise the need to establish the Welsh Food Commission for the
purposes of advising Ministers ahead of making regulations setting
targets, we do consider the timeline for the making of the
regulations setting those targets to be quite long at 24 months,
and we would suggest looking to see if there are any ways of
truncating this process.
- We note that the
reporting date for any target set will be specified by Welsh
Ministers in regulations. NFU Cymru would suggest that
reporting to the Senedd should take place at least once a
year. NFU Cymru would also suggest that as part of the
scrutiny process that the Senedd should debate the statement by
Welsh Ministers. We consider the reporting
requirement to be particularly important and relevant on account of
the current volatility facing the agricultural sector, as well as
the challenge presented by changes to agricultural
support.
- In the past NFU
Cymru have called for the establishment of a Food and Farming
Commission, headed by an independent Commissioner, and tasked with
overseeing food and farming policy from ‘farm to fork’
with an annual reporting requirement and the establishment of
national indicators for food security.
- NFU Cymru agrees
with the establishment of a sufficiently resourced Welsh Food
Commission which will monitor and report on progress towards
Government commitments and statutory commitments to oversee the
delivery of the food goals and food plans and to advise public
bodies in relation to food matters. NFU Cymru agrees with the goals
and functions of the Welsh Food Commission, its size, and the
process for appointing its membership.
- We would be keen
to emphasise the need to ensure a clear demarcation between the
work of the Welsh Food Commission and the Food Standards Agency
(with the latter continuing to be responsible for food safety and
food hygiene). We must ensure that the public do not become
confused in relation to their respective roles and
responsibilities.
- We consider a
five-year term of office for a Commission member or Chair, with
re-appointment limited to one further term of office to be
appropriate.
- As part of the
scrutiny of the work of the Welsh Food Commission, it would be
appropriate that its members should appear before relevant
committees of the Senedd periodically.
- The
growth of the Welsh Food and Drink Industry since devolution should
be commended. Credit should go to the work undertaken under
successive Food and Drink Industry Plans / Strategies, that were
initially delivered under the umbrella of the Welsh Development
Agency (WDA) and more recently through the Food and Drink Industry
Board and the Food Directorate of the Welsh Government alongside
many hundreds of food and drink businesses with a dedication and
passion to ensure the production of high-quality produce. As
farmers we are extremely proud to be the providers of the primary
produce that underpins the entire sector.
- NFU
Cymru have consistently highlighted the importance of both Welsh
farming policies and the Welsh Food and Drink policies sharing a
similar ambition; meeting shared agreed targets and working towards
one common goal. In our responses to successive Welsh Government
consultations on both food and farming policies we have said that
this is the only way that we feel a truly integrated supply chain
could be achieved in Wales. We have been surprised and disappointed
that Welsh Government has not taken advantage of the great
opportunity presented to more closely align food and farming
policies in Wales. We would see a National Food Strategy delivering
on this ambition.
- The
approach of government to food is not always joined up with
tensions sometimes arising between different government
departments, which may on occasion be in pursuit of policy
objectives which are at odds with one another. Gathering the
data needed to inform a food strategy will in our view help focus
the minds of Welsh Ministers, civil servants, and civic society on
current and evolving threats to our food production.
- We
therefore believe that the having a National Food Strategy would
help to co-ordinate and cohere action between various government
departments and help ensure that policy pulls in one direction and
raise appreciation of factors which could have a negative effect on
Welsh food production from field to fork.
- NFU
Cymru acknowledges that there are resource implications stemming
from the creation of a National Food Strategy and delivering
against its objectives and targets. We do however believe
that putting in place a National Food Strategy at a time when a
number of factors appear to threaten both consumers’ access
to high quality, safe, affordable food, and the ability of our
farmers to produce food, is the right thing to do and a sensible
use of resource.
- NFU
Cymru agrees that there need to be local food plans given the role
of local authorities and local health boards as significant
procurers of food. The food goals identified in the Bill are
also very much in the scope and interest of local authorities and
local health boards to deliver.
- We
believe that that draft Bill contains sufficient provision relating
to local authorities’ duties to consult ahead of making local
food plans
- We
do consider the timeline for the publication of a local food plan
to be quite long at two years, and we believe that there may be
merit in considering a shorter timescale.
- We
believe the requirement to report on local food plans at least
every two years could be more ambitious, particularly as we move
away from CAP legacy support schemes and farmers are subject to
significantly increased costs of production which are likely to
persist for some time into the future.
-
NFU
Cymru agrees with the list of persons identified as public bodies
for the purposes of the Bill in the first
instance. We note the power conferred upon Welsh
Ministers to expand and amend the field of persons captured by the
definition of a ‘public body’ and it may well be the
case that at some stage in the future Welsh Ministers may need to
revisit this list. We would however wish to be clear
that it should not be open to Welsh Ministers to amend subsection 1
so that Welsh Ministers are not captured by the meaning of
‘public body’.
-
When
it comes to conferring regulation making power on Ministers, a
balance needs to be attained between equipping Ministers with the
powers they need to pursue the objectives of the primary
legislation and react appropriately to evolving and changing
circumstances, whilst ensuring that the powers and discretions open
to Ministers are not excessive or unfettered.
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Attaining the
right balance in these circumstances is challenging, and
furthermore it can be difficult to fully anticipate how, when and
for what purpose regulation making powers might be utilised.
NFU Cymru does therefore generally favour obliging Welsh Ministers
to consult ahead of exercising regulation making powers as well as
the use of the affirmative procedure in order to help ensure that
these powers are used appropriately and following stakeholder
engagement.