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Covering Letter

Dear Consultee

CONSULTATION ON THE LEVY BOARD UK ORDER 2007

Background

On 28 June 2006, Ministers announced the outcome of an independent review by Rosemary Radcliffe of the five statutory agriculture and horticulture levy bodies: the British Potato Council, the Horticultural Development Council, the Home Grown Cereals Authority, the Milk Development Council and the Meat and Livestock Commission. The announcement followed consultation on the review recommendations, an analysis of the responses to which can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/AnalysisResponses. Paper copies are available from Marie Coventry at the address below.

The new structure for the levy boards will involve retention of a Great Britain approach for the milk, potato and horticultural sectors, with a UK-wide approach for cereals. New sector-based companies in these areas - and in the English beef and lamb and pork sectors - will be close to levy payers and answerable to an overarching Non-Departmental Public Body, Levy Board UK. This body will ensure effective governance of the sector companies and will enhance efficiency through the provision of shared common services. A separate red meat promotion body will be retained for Scotland and a separate consultation exercise is being carried out on the details of the new body.

The purpose of this current consultation exercise is to seek your views on the Statutory Instrument that will provide the basis for Levy Board UK and the accompanying Regulatory Impact Assessment. The consultation period starts today, 14 March 2007 and will run for 12 weeks, with a final deadline for responses of 6 June 2007.

Following the end of the consultation period, and subject to the views of respondents to this consultation, Ministers will take decisions on the way forward. The Statutory Instrument will be subject to debate in the Scottish Parliament in the Autumn and is due to come into force on 1 April 2008.

Consultation paper and consultation list

Enclosed is the consultation paper and the partial Regulatory Impact Assessment ( RIA) that will accompany the Statutory Instrument. If you have any questions about the consultation paper or the RIA, please contact me on 0131 244 6403.

The consultation list is attached at Annex A. We have tried to cover all relevant interests but if you feel another party would benefit from seeing this consultation, please pass on a copy.

Responding to this consultation paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 6 June 2007. Please send your response to:

marie.coventry@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
or
Marie Coventry

Tel: 0131 244 6953

We would be grateful if you could indicate clearly in your response which questions or parts of the consultation paper you are responding to as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Executive consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out the location of your nearest public internet access point.

The Scottish Executive now has an e-mail alert system for consultations ( SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly e-mail containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements but in no way replaces SE distribution lists and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SE consultation activity and to be alerted at the earliest opportunity to consultations of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form (attached at Annex B) as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential and we will handle it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Executive are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made under the Act for information relating to responses to this consultation exercise.

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, copies will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive library by 13 June 2007 and on the Scottish Executive consultation web pages by the end of June 2007. Where agreement to publish has been given, we will check all responses for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Executive library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help Ministers reach a decision on the future of the levy boards. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by mid July 2007 .

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Marie Coventry at the address above.

Yours sincerely

AILEEN BEARHOP
Head of Livestock and Livestock Products Policy Branch

ANNEX A: CONSULTATION LIST

Dairy UK Scotland
First Milk
Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Institute of Auctioneers & Appraisers Scotland
NFU Scotland
National Beef Association (Scotland)
Quality Meat Scotland
Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland
Scottish Agricultural College
Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society
Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers
Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs
Scottish Consumer Council
Scottish Council for Development & Industry
Scottish Crofters Commission
Scottish Crofting Foundation
Scottish Enterprise
Scottish Federation of Meat Traders' Associations
Scottish Organic Producers Association
Scottish Rural Property & Business Association
Scottish Seed Trade Association
Scottish Tenant Farmers' Association
VTSC Growers' Association

Covering letter and consultee list only:

British Potato Trade Association
British Potato Council
Home Grown Cereals Authority
Horticultural Development Council
Horticultural Trade Association
Meat and Livestock Commission
Milk Development Council

ANNEX B: RESPONDENT INFORMATION FORM: CONSULTATION ON THE QUALITY MEAT SCOTLAND ORDER 2007

Please complete the details below and return it with your response. This will help ensure we handle your response appropriately. Thank you for your help.

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