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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

May I say how delighted I am that at last, following on from December 2002, the House has an opportunity to debate matters connected with agriculture? I want to say at the outset how pleased I was that the Liaison Committee saw fit to recommend two of the reports by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee—the report on the Government’s document ““A Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy”” and the report on the Rural Payments Agency and the problems that it faced—as subjects for this part of the estimates day debate. In the light of the publication in December 2005 of a seminal document looking to the future of the common agricultural policy, my only regret is that the Government have not seen fit to hold any kind of debate on a document that was billed as singularly important, particularly during the remaining weeks of the British presidency, which is when it was produced. Given the fact that some 40 per cent. of European Union expenditure is still on agriculture—it is a major part of the EU budget—it was something of a surprise to me and to the Committee that the Government did not choose to debate that report. If nothing else, it would have given the House, and those who represent agricultural constituencies, an opportunity to make a contribution to the development of the ideas for reform of the CAP. I shall try to highlight some of the points that the Committee drew out as it looked into that subject. I am delighted to see on the Front Bench the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw), and I welcome him to his challenging role. Before the debate started, I noticed that he was thumbing through the ““vision”” document. It might have been the first time that he touched it, and if it was I hope that he enjoyed his brief read of it and that he will go back to it after the debate. It will be very important indeed, particularly as we move towards 2008, when the European Union will take stock and give the common agricultural policy a health check. In particular, the EU will consider the major reforms that were introduced by the previous Commissioner in 2002, and thinking will begin to turn towards the reform programme that is scheduled to be introduced in 2013, when, effectively, the current CAP will come to an end. It all sounds a long time away, but as we all know, given the way in which the wheels of Europe turn, we will arrive at that point rather quickly. If we have not done our homework, we will not be prepared to lead and take part in the debate about shaping not only the future of Europe’s agriculture but its rural policy. Our report touches on that point.