Food Fraud

I thank my hon. Friend for that point, which is made in the Elliott report. Intelligence-led moni...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on fighting on this issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton a...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Of course, because we are in the European Union we expect that...

My hon. Friend will remember that I had some involvement in the problems at that time. It was imp...

I commend my hon. Friend for the work he did right at the beginning of the horsemeat scandal. He ...

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way a second time. Does he agree that there is huge pressure on...

My hon. Friend is completely right that food fraud is price-driven—there is no doubt about that. ...

Is there watered-down beer in Brecon?

We do not have any examples in Brecon; it is mostly down in south Wales! But the history books ar...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate and thank him for giving way. Particula...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point—one that is addressed in the Elliott report and one th...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for generously giving way again. In his interim report, Professor Chri...

If the hon. Gentleman reads the full report by Professor Elliott, he will find that he responds t...

No doubt the Minister will correct me later if I am wrong, but I believe that Professor Chris Ell...

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will develop his point further when he makes his own speech, an...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. As he has already pointed out very eloquent...

As always, the Chairman of the Select Committee has made a very good point. I listened to what sh...

In order to prevent a Select Committee love-in, may I press my hon. Friend a little further? I th...

I have not, but I was going to mention the establishment of a police crime unit, which I think is...

I thank my hon. Friend for indulging me a third time. I rather fear that a few small operators ma...

That is the point that I was trying to make. There have been a number of arrests, but on a very s...

While we are on the subject of crime, may I ask what my hon. Friend thinks are the ultimate respo...

My hon. Friend has put his finger on it. As has already been pointed out, price is the driver of ...

The hon. Gentleman is making a very good and wide-ranging speech on the basis of his experience. ...

I think that the hon. Gentleman is trying to introduce a political point which is far outside the...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. Let me return it from the political poi...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I am tempted to give a long list of local butchers in my ...

To press my hon. Friend on one of the points I made earlier, does he feel that the legal responsi...

No, my hon. Friend makes a good point, and certainly there was a lack of prosecutions. Where pena...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams) on leading our bid to ...

It is a great pleasure to follow my fellow Committee member, the hon. Member for Poplar and Limeh...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her work on the Committee. I declare an interest in the agri-food...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. My hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnors...

One important part of the report is where Professor Elliott says that he anticipates that the Sel...

Indeed. I wish to record how pleased I am that Professor Elliott has agreed in principle to come ...

I fully support some of the proposals the hon. Lady has mentioned, and I think there should be cr...

Not to my knowledge, but the Minister will be better placed to answer that. As my hon. Friend the...

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams) on securing ...

I thank the hon. Gentleman and former Minister for giving way. He has great experience and knowle...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. One of the earliest actions I took as a Minister was to c...

Let me reinforce the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. Every food retailer was affected by...

We made it clear that testing was the retailers’ responsibility. Retailers had not only a legal r...

I enjoyed my hon. Friend’s tribute to British food earlier, to which I completely subscribe. Does...

I see no reason to compromise on high standards of quality. There are areas that I think we can q...

I neglected to apologise for my late arrival when I intervened earlier, so if I was repetitive I ...

I did hear that complaint and I must say that what was coming into our ports from outside the EU ...

I am following my hon. Friend’s elegant words very closely indeed. The Secretary of State when he...

I find it enormously frustrating because, frankly, the then Secretary of State and I did absolute...

The hon. Gentleman is making a fantastic contribution to the debate. Does he agree that one of th...

They should indeed. People should also be aware—the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Pa...

I take the hon. Gentleman’s point that resourcing is no guarantee of local authorities providing ...

I entirely agree, although I suspect that the Food Standards Agency knows an awful lot of that in...

Green.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for coming up with a suitable colour on the spectrum. We must...

I apologise for missing the opening few remarks in this important debate, and I warmly congratula...

On supporting British food and farming, does my hon. Friend celebrate as I do recent moves by DEF...

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, who makes the point well. It is important that the Governme...

Yes we have.

I do apologise—buying local has been talked about already, but it is worth mentioning again. The ...

I congratulate all right hon. and hon. Members who have contributed. We may be few in number, but...

As I hope the hon. Gentleman will confirm, there is not sufficient intelligence. A lot of the tes...

I could not agree more. I hope that the Minister will also say that that is the way forward. It i...

Professor Elliott says in his report that when the FSA had control of authenticity testing in 200...

I was not the Minister at the time, but I would like the hon. Gentleman to continue to make his p...

Yes, it continued, but the point Elliott makes is that the FSA, as an independent body, took the ...

Let me put it back to the hon. Gentleman: when the coalition Government entered office in 2010, o...

It is very important to distinguish between the testing regime that remains within the province o...

After the horsemeat scandal erupted in February 2013, the National Audit Office looked at the con...

indicated assent.

They will, which is great.

What other foodstuffs are of primary concern for authenticity fr...

I congratulate the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams) on securing the debate...

In my exchange with the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), I accepted that this issue...

The FSA manages and monitors the work of local authorities, but one of Professor Elliott’s recomm...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way because he did not have the chance to reply on this ...

The key point is that the new food crime unit will have investigative powers, and it is envisaged...

I voiced a slight concern at the beginning of the debate that I thought the seriousness and impor...