Speeches by Roca.

“SPS is generally positive and potentially has massive positive implications for the economy. We do need to say that out loud sometimes, because this is a great achievement. It is timely that we are talking about this today, as the EU working group on the UK—or the European Council working group—is meeting as we speak t…”

“Thank you, Chair, and belated congratulations on your appointment, Minister.”

“You will do your modelling again and then that will help your design of the revised SFI scheme. Thank you.”

“What are you doing to build capacity in DEFRA, FSS, FSA? How many civil servants in the Department are assigned to supporting the negotiations and preparing to implement the agreement? If you do not have the figures with you, perhaps you could send them to us.”

“My question is extremely brief, Chair. To clarify on viability, there was obviously the NAO information. Emily, are you saying that there will be new information on viability?”

“Broadly speaking then, you would prefer there not to be any further divergence during the period of the negotiations?”

“We heard here that when talks and negotiations intensify, devolved Administrations have felt that they were left out in the past. Are you making sure that you do have the structures in place so that even when negotiations become dynamic—as they do—the devolved Administrations are plugged in?”

“In the meantime, are we planning to stop any further divergence?”

“That is helpful. You will have seen that in our previous sessions we have been looking particularly at dynamic alignment, and the exemption that we are requesting around precision breeding. Food Standards Scotland gave us an example—colleagues, correct me if I get this wrong, because it was a bit of a tongue twister at…”

“Does that programme team support the negotiations as well as the implementation?”

“How is liaison with the devolved Administrations on SPS going? How is it managed?”

“What is the situation in Scotland?”

“Chair, can I ask a quick question? It was your questions about governance at the beginning that piqued my interest. Am I right in saying that the FSA is responsible or accountable to Ministers? Is the FSS responsible to the Scottish Parliament as a non-ministerial agency?”

“It is interesting, because that is two or three times now, quite understandably, that you have said that we do not know the details of the agreement yet, but we are talking about it coming in in early 2027, which is round the corner, frankly, in policy terms. Are you worried that the timescales are too ambitious?”

“The public will expect standards to be as high as possible, and that should surely be one of the exemptions. Labelling did not really appear in the food strategy last year. We have diverged quite a bit on labelling policy. It is really important for the public to know where their food is from and how it is produced. Yo…”

“I am just trying to think. We will not automatically be realigning with the EU thresholds on this. It depends on that risk assessment.”

“You have good collaboration with industry on these points. There are concerns about the new EU thresholds around mycotoxin contamination levels, particularly with regard to oat producers. I have oat producers in my county, Cheshire. I know that in Scotland it is a big issue as well. What were the findings from your joi…”

“There has been a degree of divergence since we left the European Union, particularly around inputs, feed additives, pesticide residues and toxin levels in food and animal feed. What do you both anticipate some of the challenges will be as we realign UK regulations?”

“In a remarkable policy environment that is changing all the time, you are facing real-terms cuts.”

“Sarah, could I pick up on the budget issue? Geoff, before coming here I was looking—you have had a flat budget settlement this year, a flat budget settlement from the Scottish Government the year before and a flat budget settlement the year before that and the year before that. Are you into your fourth year of flat cas…”