My Lords, as always, I take this opportunity to thank all noble Lords for their constructive and valuable insights. I shall endeavour to do my best to answer the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, my noble friend Lady McIntosh and the noble Lord, Lord Rennard.
I entirely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, and am very grateful for her comments. The UK currently benefits from world-leading standards in both the safety and quality of its nutrition regulation and, as I said, we will be closely mirroring the existing regulatory framework. I reassure noble Lords, especially my noble friend Lady McIntosh, that this statutory instrument will ensure that we maintain those high standards if the UK leaves the EU with no deal.
I am also pleased to hear that the department’s presentations are clear, because it is very important that what we are saying in this area is communicated effectively and with understanding. I appreciate my noble friend’s comments.
I say again that this SI ensures a functioning regulatory system for this aspect of nutrition legislation. In response to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, it will ensure
minimum disruption to businesses, consumers and the public. We are fully prepared. The UK has a long tradition of close scientific collaboration with EFSA, which we of course greatly value. I say to my noble friend Lady McIntosh that we will endeavour to continue to work as closely as we possibly can with EFSA. However, the SI ensures that in the event that the relevant functions of EFSA can no longer be accessed, the UK is fully prepared to exercise them.
I reassure all stakeholders and noble Lords that it is our policy intention to mirror the existing regulation as closely as possible. The noble Lord, Lord Rennard, asked about the future. I understand and appreciate that, and it is a legitimate issue to raise—the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, also raised it—but this is an exit SI: if there is no deal, it will come into play. Everything is open for negotiation once we leave the EU. I cannot guess what may or may not happen in future; all I can say is that, currently, we will mirror current regulation as far as we possibly can and continue to work with the EU on the rapid alert system that my noble friend Lady McIntosh mentioned. If and when we leave the EU, the EU rapid alert system includes a duty of care to inform third countries, so that information will continue to be shared.
On the impact on businesses, I do not want to say to the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, that there will be no impact. We appreciate that there may be some additional administrative burdens on companies which have to submit claims to both the UK and the EU authorities if they want to claim in both areas, but we intend that procedures for submitting claims in the UK will closely follow those already in place in the EU. We estimate that the application paperwork should take nominal time—approximately 30 minutes—to complete. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, that costs are not expected to be significant.
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The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, asked about a number of issues on food, particularly sports foods. She rightly anticipated that I do not have an answer on that at the moment because, once again, it is up for negotiation. However, we are working closely with suppliers to identify the implications of alternative sourcing and substitution for their processes and menus and will be developing guidance in conjunction with other areas of nutrition, such as caterers and nutritional specialists, to ensure that the supply chain is prepared and continuous supply is maintained. Of course, that is part of business planning.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh asked when appointments will be made to the committee. I reassure her that appointment letters were issued to the specialist members and the chair on 6 March. As I said in my opening remarks, should the committee need to be set up, it is ready to go. It will be very important. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, said, we do not know what the future holds tomorrow or next week, but we are ensuring that we have systems and processes in place to continue to deliver our current high safety standards.
My noble friend also asked why infant formula is not covered by the statutory instrument. I alluded to that in my opening remarks and said that the Government
will work very closely with the industry. It will not be in place if we leave on the date that was envisaged, but we will of course mirror any future regulations as they come into play.