5. Statement by Peter Fox: Introduction of a Member Proposed Bill: Food (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:48 pm on 14 December 2022.

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Photo of Peter Fox Peter Fox Conservative 3:48, 14 December 2022

Thank you, Minister, for your response. I do still respectfully disagree with you; I think there is a need for this, as respondents who have responded from all over the country—from health boards, from councils—say that there is a need for this, because there is a lack of joined-up policy in this regard. Whilst there are many good things coming forward, like the agriculture Bill and the sustainable farming scheme, they look at the producer, the production in the main; they don't take a holistic approach at how we use food in the best way to address societal issues. I know that the community food strategy is being developed, but it's very unclear what that contains, and we believe that it probably contains more around local initiatives to produce local amounts of food, but it wouldn't provide something that probably could be scaled enough to drive what I'm proposing through this Bill. 

Responding to your questions, the resources, as you'll know, in the explanatory memorandum, have been based—and there's a range of costs that they could fall within. Obviously, we need to—. Because it's a framework Bill, the discretion of what the actual costs of that are would be in the hands of the Government, in many ways. We believe that—I believe that—this Bill will give an opportunity to rationalise the food system and the regulatory framework that we have now, which will actually unlock efficiencies, and actually enable us to deliver valuable resources into other areas. I do not believe that the future generations commissioner has the capacity, nor do her food goals reflect the breadth of what we're trying to do with this Bill. The food goals we've created in this Bill synergise with the good work of the future generations commissioner, but to ask the commissioner to take on such a broad task as big as the food system is in Wales, on top of the things that she's already doing would be a big ask and it would take the commissioner's focus away from the important task they have of holding local government, other bodies and the Government to account in the areas currently looked at. So, whatever, you would have to put more resources into the future generations commission to be able to deal with the food system if you were serious about actually trying to deliver on that holistic approach for the food system. So, there is a cost, whichever way, if we're going to secure food security and make a holistic food system.