Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the regime of discounts applied to meat charges incurred by undertaking inspection obligations under Official Controls Regulations on the small abattoir industry in Wales.

On 28 February 2025, further to engagement with industry representative bodies, the Food Standards Agency published the 2025/26 charge rates for inspections in meat premises in England and Wales. As in previous years, charges in 2025/26 will be offset by a taxpayer-funded discount scheme which will provide the greatest proportional support to smaller abattoirs, and will therefore benefit the small abattoir industry in Wales. A separate exercise is being conducted in respect of 2025/26 charges for abattoirs in Northern Ireland.