Departmental report : 1999 (MAFF) / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Forestry Commission ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

  • Great Britain. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Date:
1999
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Departmental report : 1999 (MAFF) / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Forestry Commission ; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SS Part A: Introduction 1.1 This is the ninth report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Intervention Board (IB). It reports on the year ending March 1999 and presents the Government’s expenditure plans for these two Departments for the years 1999-2000 to 2001-2002. It also provides a record of expenditure from 1993-94. 1.2 | MAFF’s diverse range of responsibilities includes food safety, animal health and welfare, agricultural policy, pesticides and veterinary medicines safety, plant health, fisheries, flood and coastal defence, and agri- environment schemes as part of the Government’s countryside and rural policy. MAFF addresses issues that impact on the efficiency and sustainability of the agricultural and food industries. A significant proportion of MAFF’s work is carried out by its seven Executive Agencies which employ approximately half of its staff. 1.3 Policies in most areas of MAFF’s work are set at the EU level which often necessitates liaison with the other Agriculture Departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, MAFF takes the lead in negotiations on most subjects for the UK as a whole. Following devolution legislation, responsibility for agriculture, fisheries and food, including implementing EU measures under the CAP, and on food standards and animal health and welfare, will all be devolved areas. Work is in hand to put in place the necessary co-ordination arrangements. 1.4 = The Intervention Board (IB), is primarily concerned with the administration of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and it is the recognised UK body for the receipt and administration of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), which funds the CAP (see Chapter 16). 1.5 The two Departments are jointly accountable for approximately £4.1bn [estimated outturn] of public expenditure in 1998-99. 1.6 MAFF takes the lead in negotiating in the EU on the CAP. The total cost of the CAP to the UK in 1998-99 is £3.4bn. 1.7 The CAP generates significant costs to consumers and taxpayers. Estimates made by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggest that, in 1997, the cost of the CAP to UK consumers through higher food prices was approaching £5 billion, when