Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will direct the Food Standards Agency to publish details of the overhead costs associated with charging businesses for meat hygiene controls, specifically the costs of (a) administering the billing and discounting system and (b) correcting billing errors.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has for many years published comprehensive information on how its meat charges are made up annually. This information can be found in Cost Data Slides available on its website, at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/charges-for-controls-in-meat-premises

The costs of administering the FSA’s charging and discounts system, including correcting billing errors, are factored into its charges as a proportion of the work carried out by the finance function. As indicated on page 44 of the Cost Data Slides relating to England and Wales, £0.18 million is budgeted for this for the forthcoming 2026/27 financial year. As indicated on page 41, a proportion of this amount relates to billing and collecting charges, which includes correcting billing errors.