Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they will use to decide whether the National Food Crime Unit should have direct enforcement powers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The review of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) will consider the following issues:

– Current and likely future reactive demand from food crime;

– Current and likely future proactive opportunities to disrupt and prevent food crime;

– Gaps between reactive/proactive demand and current response;

– The current and future role of local authorities, the police service, other government departments/agencies and the wider food crime response landscape, including the international response and cross border collaboration post European Union exit;

– Value for money of current and potential responses; and

– The current form and function of the NFCU, and whether this meets current and future demand.

In the first Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment, the NFCU highlighted the limitations of current intelligence and reporting, and the difficulties in estimating the scale and impact of food crime. The review will therefore take these limitations into account when considering the current and future demands and opportunities, and make reasonable judgements where evidence is incomplete or lacking.