My Lords, I thank noble Lords for contributing to another thought-provoking debate. I will deal with the amendments as one because they are so interrelated.
As noble Lords will be aware, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains in law our standards on environmental protections, animal welfare, animal and
plant health, and food safety at the end of the transition period. The independent advice of our food regulators, the FSA and FSS, and the rigorous processes they have developed, will continue to ensure that all food imports into the UK are safe and meet the relevant UK product rules and regulations, including imports under new free trade deals. A range of other government agencies, such as the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the Health and Safety Executive and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, will ensure that the full range of standards and import requirements within their remits are upheld.
I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Trees, will remember what I said in response to an earlier group of amendments, but I will repeat it. The FSA has doubled the number of risk assessors since 2017. It can draw on the expertise of 100 scientific experts and support staff and has recruited 35 additional members to its advisory committees. It also takes into account wider consumer interests such as the impact on the environment, animal welfare and food security.
The noble Lord, Lord Trees, also spoke about the Japan trade deal. The audit and verification function is currently being developed within Defra and will be in place and operational before the end of the transition period. All existing import standards will continue to apply to the new Japan trade deal, as they will for other trade agreements.
In addition, a range of established stakeholder groups is already in place to advise the Government on trade policy development. These include the DIT’s agri-food trade advisory group, which has a recently renewed membership of more than 30 representatives from the industry who will provide close technical and strategic advice to the Government as negotiations progress. This approach has been welcomed by these stakeholders as a way to input meaningfully into ongoing trade talks. Defra also continues to run various supply chain advisory groups, such as the arable group, the livestock group and the food and drink panel. These groups already provide valuable expert advice to help the Government develop trade policy and they will continue to do so.
In addition to this, the Government listened closely to valuable feedback from Parliament and stakeholders, most notably the NFU—of which I should declare my membership—to strengthen these existing arrangements. In July we established the Trade and Agriculture Commission, which operates under the auspices of the Department for International Trade. Defra is closely involved in this work and Defra officials are part of the commission’s secretariat.
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I should also say that the Government have ensured that there is a cross-section of representatives across agriculture, animal health, international development, hospitality, food SMEs, retail and the environment. The Trade and Agriculture Commission will help shape the future of trade policy, both in our current negotiations and in those to come. It will also provide advice to help promote our agenda at the WTO and other international fora, including on standards for animal welfare and environmental protections, and to advance and protect consumer interests and those of developing countries.
The commission has already met five times and recruited additional representatives to working groups to assist in its work. There are more than 20 additional individuals sitting on three groups covering consumers, competitiveness and standards to provide even greater depth and breadth of knowledge to the commission’s work. This number will continue to grow. The commission is also fully open to evidence and input from any organisation or individual and will reach out as guided by its members and working group participants. Specifically, a stakeholder engagement exercise was recently discussed by the members, as the public summaries show. It is important that I should emphasise “the public summaries show”. The Trade and Agriculture Commission’s report will come before noble Lords at the end of year when the Department for International Trade presents it to Parliament.
With regard to Amendment 101, the established Trade and Agriculture Commission is fully free to consider and make recommendations on any of the issues laid out in the amendment, including on the need for other groups, trade policy measures or duties on government relating to the examination of trade agreements. Indeed, work is already under way considering these issues. The establishment of the Trade and Agriculture Commission and the wide inclusion of authoritative figures are testament to the fact that the Government recognise the need for advice on these matters and will listen.
I should also say that if, at a meeting held with my noble friend Lord Grimstone, the commission came forward and said that it needed somewhat more time to conclude its work, I have no doubt that both departments would look on that favourably.
I also note that Part 1 of Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy review has recommended a role for the Trade and Agriculture Commission, to define a set of core standards covering animal welfare, environmental and climate protections, which could be linked to tariff reductions in new trade deals. It is also worth noting that in the same recommendation the review reflected that broad legislation on the standards of imported products would create negotiability challenges. The independent membership of the existing Trade and Agriculture Commission has already started considering these recommendations and will report publicly with its view.
I should also say, particularly to my noble friend Lady McIntosh, that the working groups set up by the Trade and Agriculture Commission are equipped with appropriate expertise to consider in depth the recommendations of Henry Dimbleby’s report. They are examining all details thoroughly and, as I say, will provide a clear view.
With regard to Amendment 97, I note that the Trade and Agriculture Commission has been set up as an advisory board, not another regulatory body with a fixed term and a tight scope. This is a deliberate decision, which may not find favour with some of your Lordships, taken to avoid duplication of the work of our agencies. It is important that our established regulatory bodies continue to be a defining voice. The advice provided by the Trade and Agriculture Commission will be taken very seriously and the expertise provided will be essential to the development of trade policy.
In contrast to bodies foreseen in both amendments, the commission’s work is already under way and we do not have to wait until the Bill is passed. Moreover, its existence could not have come at a more opportune time, as our trade negotiations with the United States, Australia and New Zealand are live and it is perfectly placed to feed into the talks.
Throughout the passage of the Bill, we have heard from many noble Lords about trade-related bodies in other countries. I did look into this, and I would like to highlight the strengths of the government department, agencies and bodies that we have in this country which carry out a wide range of trade-related activities, including research, analysis and adjudication. Your Lordships will also be aware that the Government have recently set up 11 trade advisory groups, including one dedicated to agri-food to which I referred earlier. These groups have been designed to provide the blend of strategy and technical expertise necessary to support UK trade policy.
Some noble Lords have pointed to the US International Trade Commission as a model to be followed. However, the ITC has no direct policy-making or negotiation responsibilities and, unlike the Trade and Agriculture Commission, it does not have a food or agriculture-specific role, or provide advice on the policies that the US should adopt in trade agreements to protect standards.
The Government are committed to a transparent and inclusive trade policy. As your Lordships are aware, Parliament already has a clear scrutiny role under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010—CRaG—which provides parliamentarians with a period of 21 sitting days to scrutinise the final treaty text before it can be ratified.
International treaties cannot themselves amend domestic legislation. Should any changes to our law be needed to implement a future free trade agreement, legislation will need to be scrutinised and passed by Parliament. However, the Government have gone well beyond the statutory requirements of CRaG, in line with our commitment to transparency in our trade policy. We have provided extensive information to Parliament on our negotiations, including publishing our objectives and economic scoping assessments prior to the start of talks. We have continued to keep Parliament updated on negotiations as they progress, including close engagement with the International Trade Committee in the other place and the International Agreements Sub-Committee in your Lordships’ House.
At the end of negotiations, we will lay the final agreement text in Parliament under the CRaG scrutiny procedure for 21 sitting days, alongside an Explanatory Memorandum and a final impact assessment. In the case of Japan, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, we will also work closely with the International Trade Committee and International Agreements Sub-Committee so that those committees may produce an independent report on those deals. We believe that this approach strikes the right balance between respecting the UK constitution and ensuring that the Government can negotiate in the best interests of the United Kingdom, while also making sure that Parliament has the information and time it needs to scrutinise effectively the UK’s trade policy.
This is a key issue—I well understand that—and that is why the Government set up the Trade and Agriculture Commission. We have retained laws relating to imports and we have a range of statutory bodies whose members have experience and expertise. I think that, with those statements of mine as to the bodies, institutions and expertise that we have at our disposal, and, as I say, the way in which Parliament can scrutinise these matters, we have, in setting up the Trade and Agriculture Commission in the way we have, come forward with an arrangement which provides the clear advice that we desire for these trade deals, with a continuing statutory requirement of bodies of very considerable expertise.
It is for those reasons, and not because I dismiss the points that have been made—I know that some noble Lords will not want to accept the Government’s bona fides on their manifesto, which is why I said on an earlier group that it will only be when the trade deals are done that we can demonstrate, as we have done with the 20 already rolled over, that these standards have not been compromised—that I perceive that I will be able to satisfy your Lordships. But I can assure your Lordships, and I emphasise again, that the Government’s setting up of this Trade and Agriculture Commission was designed so that it did not duplicate or overlap with the work that statutory bodies have in place and will be fulfilling. So it is with all of those points in mind that I hope my noble friend Lady McIntosh will feel able to withdraw her amendment.