Food: Crime

(asked on 4th September 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her written statement of 4 September 2014, on the Elliott Review, what extra resources (a) her Department and (b) the Government will provide to the Food Standards Agency for the establishment and operation of the Food Crime Unit in financial year (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 9th September 2014

Professor Elliott estimates that the Food Crime Unit will cost between £2-4 million per year. The costs of a unit this size will be met within the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) existing budgets, however it is too early to predict exact figures.

No other budgets within the FSA will be cut and their core remit will remain food safety and consumer protection. Instead the FSA has used a recent restructuring exercise to bring together skills in intelligence and investigation and redirect them to resource the new Unit. The FSA is also bolstering its analytical and intelligence capability through recruitment and secondments from other agencies.

The FSA has committed to review likely future needs after two years. At this point there will also be further consideration of budgetary implications.

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