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January 1999 - Doran calls for Food
Standards Agency
to be based in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Central MP Frank Doran today welcomed the publication of the Government’s
proposals for an independent Food Standards Agency, and called for its
headquarters to be located in Aberdeen.
Mr Doran
said: "I am delighted to see publication of the draft Bill to set up an
independent Food Standards Agency, and I hope it will be able to get through
Parliament as quickly as possible.
"I have
written to Frank Dobson, the Secretary of State for Health, to put the case for
the headquarters of the Agency to be in Aberdeen. This area is a major food
producer and an established centre of food-related scientific research. Sections
of both the Department of Trade and Industry and the Health and Safety Executive
have already relocated from London to Aberdeen.
"At the
time of the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, there could be no stronger
statement of the significance of the Union to Scotland than to locate such an
important new British-wide institution here. We want the same high standards of
food safety throughout r tam, and Aberdeen is ideally placed to give a lead.
"The
independence of the new agency will be key to its success. Nothing could better
signal the separation of food safety issues from the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food (MAFF), which currently is responsible for many of the tasks
the Food Standards Agency will take over, than to make a fresh start in a new
centre such as Aberdeen.
"I have
asked Frank Dobson to meet a delegation from the North East as part of his
consultation on the draft Bill, to give us an opportunity to put the case for
locating the headquarters of the FSA in Aberdeen. No part of Britain is better
placed to give a lead on food quality, food safety, and food standards."
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