Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed John Griffiths AM to the meeting as a permanent member of the Committee. The Chair placed on record his thanks to  Dawn Bowden AM for her contribution to the work of the Committee.

Andrew R T Davies AM declared an interest as a farmer.

Lesley Griffiths AM, Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs

Tim Render, Director, Land, Nature and Food

Christianne Glossop, Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales

Keith Smyton, Head of Food Division

The Committee questioned Lesley Griffiths AM, Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs on the Welsh Government’s response to its report, Rethinking Food in Wales: Public Procurement of Food.

During the session, the Cabinet Secretary agreed to:

•        share with the Committee a copy of her recent correspondence with Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in relation to the provisions on the red meat levy within the UK Agriculture Bill;

•        provide the Committee with further details of steps she had taken, and intends to take, to increase capacity and expertise within her department to prepare for the UK’s departure from the European Union, including:

i.        confirmation of the total number of staff recruited and the vacancies yet to be filled, and

ii.       the total funding allocation from within her departmental budget to meet the cost of additional staff and the associated opportunity cost; and

•        clarify the time period for which the disapplication of paragraph 6.2 of TAN 1 will be in place.

The Committee noted the correspondence from the Chair of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs in relation to the UK Government’s Agriculture Bill.

The Committee resolved to exclude the public for the remainder of the meeting.

The Committee discussed the evidence received from the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs. Members requested the following from:

A note from Legal Services on the Assembly’s legislative competence in relation to food labelling, and

A note from the Research Service on the provisions within the French Agriculture Bill relating to public food procurement.