Farming Regulation Task Force Report

Tuesday 21st February 2012 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice)]

I am pleased to announce that the Government published their full response to the Farming Regulation Task Force report today.

I established the independent Farming Regulation Task Force in June 2010. Its report, published in May last year, covered the full range of the regulatory landscape that affects farming, and set a challenging agenda for changing the way we regulate, and how we work with farmers.

We published our interim response in November last year. At that time I said that Government would be bold and ambitious in responding to these recommendations. Out of over 200 recommendations we have said an immediate yes to 159, setting out a clear agenda for implementation, and are actively considering a further 31. Some we are exploring through formal consultations which are currently under way, and for others we are working closely with different parts of the food and farming sector to find solutions. Where we have decided that we are unable to take forward a recommendation, we have explained clearly why.

I am proud that farming is taking forward the Government’s better regulation agenda by focusing on risk-based intervention and changing the way we work with industry and stakeholders to develop solutions in partnership. We are committed to achieving this—the task force report and this response are only the start.

The full response is available on the DEFRA website www.defra.gov.uk.