Minister unveils plan to slash red tape

FARM minister Jim Paice has unveiled a new task force to scrutinise bureaucratic burdens on growers and livestock producers.

The Task Force on Farming Regulation will identify ways to reduce red tape through a review of the relevant regulations and their implementation. It will also advise on how best to achieve a new risk-based system of regulation.

“There’s too much red tape tying up our farmers and preventing them from getting on with the business of producing our food and managing our countryside,” Mr Paice told listeners at the Cereals 2010 event in Cambridgeshire on Wednesday (9 June).

The government would reduce the regulatory burden on farmers by moving to a risk-based system of regulation, said Mr Paice. The task force would be chaired by former NFU chief executive Richard Macdonald, he added.

“I’m going to ask this industry-led task force to look at the way we make and implement regulations right across the board, both at what’s already in place, and how we should do things in the future.

“I’m very pleased that Richard Macdonald has agreed to head this task force, as he brings with him a unique knowledge of the farming and food industry, outstanding leadership skills and a track record of commitment to partnership working between government and industry.”

The task force will make its initial recommendations to the government by early 2011. Its terms of reference and details of how farmers can submit evidence will be published later this year.