Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP,
Secretary of State for DEFRA
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR

17th July 2014

Dear Liz,

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you again to your new post. Today in Defra parliamentary questions I asked you to respond to the delay in publication of the Elliott Review on food crime, and the necessity of publishing the report before parliament goes into recess. I was disappointed that your reply was at best ambiguous, and at worst suggested that there will be continuing delay while the government continues to “consider” the report.

Under your predecessor, the horsemeat scandal damaged the reputation of the valuable and important meat processing sector, but also severely damaged consumer confidence. Clearly trust in the integrity of UK food is key to our export markets. The Elliott Review is a critical part of the journey to restoring that trust, and the continuing delay and obfuscation from Defra ministers is damaging that process.

Defra made clear that the report was due to be published in Spring 2014. It is now mid-July.

I need not remind you that the actions of your government in splitting the responsibility for food safety and authenticity between the Food Standards Agency and Defra weakened consumer protection and created confusion within the food industry. This became apparent during the horsemeat scandal. In fact it was specifically identified by the National Audit Office as having contributing to the delayed reaction to the horsemeat scandal, as well as to the confusion within local and national government and agencies at the early stages of the crisis. Defra and its agencies have much to do to restore its role for food governance, thanks to the changes your government has made.

There has been no satisfactory explanation given for the delay of the Elliott Review. I therefore ask you again to confirm that the report of the Elliott Review will be presented to parliament before the house rises next week. There must be no attempt to bypass parliament by releasing the report during recess, or by further delaying this to the autumn. I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Huw Irranca-Davies MP
Shadow Minister for Food and Farming