Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, 26 Nov 2008

Meeting date: Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Official Report 238KB pdf

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Pig Industry

Agenda item 4 relates to our correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment on the pig industry. Members may recall that we asked the cabinet secretary in a letter to explain why, having set up the pig sector task force, he did not accept any of its recommendations. I invite members to comment on the letter that we have received from him. I remind members who would like us to discuss undertaking further work on the issue that we can do so under a later item relating to our future work programme.

The cabinet secretary's most recent letter is two and a half pages long. The first page seems to deny that there has ever been a problem; the second rebuts four of the task force's six recommendations. It is not clear on what the £1 million that has been announced will be spent. The reasons that the cabinet secretary gives for rebutting four of the six recommendations as backward looking could apply equally well to the Government's compensation scheme for lamb, which was welcome. I am not sure that the letter addresses all the issues. However, I recognise that market conditions have developed and that the industry appears to be expressing less anxiety publicly. I am not sure where we should take the matter, but I have problems with aspects of the cabinet secretary's response.

Like Liam McArthur, I think that we are at an impasse. In his response, the minister makes his position clear—he has set it out for the umpteenth time. Whatever I may think and regret, he will not shift on the matter. However, in light of the changing market conditions to which Liam McArthur referred, it may be useful for us to get a brief update from the pig industry on where it stands now. I would be happy for us to do that by correspondence.

We will talk about that when we come to discuss our work programme.

I understand that there have been subsequent meetings with the minister—perhaps not since the letter was written, but since he announced his response to the pig sector task force's report. The industry is working with the minister in a more agreed way than was once the case. Notwithstanding that, I share Liam McArthur's view that it is a shame that only two of the six recommendations were accepted and acted on.

Just on a point of correction, it was not a lamb scheme but an ewe scheme by which sheep farmers were compensated. There was a strong case for recognising the particular difficulties faced by pig farmers, but the situation is as it is.

I propose that I write, on behalf of the committee, to the industry representatives and ask if they would be prepared to give us a written update, given the current circumstances. We can share with them the exchange of correspondence and say that we are well aware that things have moved on considerably since then. We can invite them to give us a written update from their perspective, and tell us what issues still concern them. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.