Devolution headache for MLC

Devolution has created special problems for the Meat & Livestock Commission (MLC), agreed the senior economist conducting a government review of...

Devolution has created special problems for the Meat & Livestock Commission (MLC), agreed the senior economist conducting a government review of producer bodies charging statutory levies.

Opinions were sharply divided over the MLC's decision to devolve its activities, with some observers arguing that it created internal competition in the UK when the real threat came from meat imports.

"It is quite complicated and it has been quite controversial," said Rosemary Radcliffe, the former PricewaterhouseCoopers chief economist for Europe, adding that Scotland's decision to go it alone had created "special issues" for the MLC.

Devolution was not up for review but its consequences were, she said, and special measures might be needed to sort it out.

"Clearly, I will be looking at some of the implications of the devolved structure as far as meat and livestock is concerned," she said. "Those are special issues relevant to the levy board; they don't really arise in the same way in any of the other four."

The review of the British Potato Council, the Home Grown Cereals Authority, the Horticultural Development Council, the Milk Development Council and the MLC covers each organisation's role, funding and functions and is intended to lead to cost-cutting. Radcliffe will have talks with the levy-funded bodies this month and expects to report to the government by the end of October.

The food minister Lord Bach said: "I recognise that this will be an unsettling time for all concerned, particularly within the levy boards themselves, but frankly it is important that at a time when the food and farming sectors are changing dramatically, that we should look at the institutions which support them."

Comments should be emailed as soon as possible to levyreviewcomments@defra.gsi.gov.uk.