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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the proposed process is for adding products under part 1 of schedule 1 to the Agriculture Bill.

The current list of sectors in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Agriculture Bill applies to England and is based on the list in EU Common Market Organisation Regulation No 1308/2013, which provides the legislative framework for existing EU marketing standards. There is a power in Part 3 of Schedule 1 that will enable the Government to add sectors to that schedule via secondary legislation. The list of sectors and the regulation-making power (including the power to add sectors to the list) are reproduced for Northern Ireland at paragraphs 15 and 16 of Schedule 4 of the Bill.

In England, the power to add sectors will be exercised if, following public consultation with interested stakeholders, a decision is made to introduce a new marketing standard. As agricultural policy in the UK is devolved, it is for each administration to decide its approach and what measures it should adopt. Decisions on amending the list in Schedule 4 of the Bill will fall to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.