Agricultural Marketing Act 1983

1 Food from Britain

(1) There shall be established in accordance with the provisions of this Act a council to be known as Food from Britain.

(2) The council shall consist of no fewer than thirteen and no more than fifteen members appointed by the Ministers; and in making any such appointment the Ministers shall have regard to the interests of the agriculture and horticulture industry (including agricultural and horticultural co-operatives) and food manufacturing and distributive industries in the United Kingdom.

(3) The Ministers shall appoint one member to be chairman and another to be deputy chairman of Food from Britain.

(4) Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to Food from Britain.

(5) In Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1975 c. 24.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and Part II of Schedule 1 to the [1975 c. 25.] Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 (bodies of which all members are disqualified under those Acts) there shall be inserted at the appropriate place in alphabetical order—

• “Food from Britain”.

2 Functions of Food from Britain

(1) The functions of the Central Council for Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operation are hereby transferred to Food from Britain.

(2) Food from Britain shall have power to organise, develop, promote, encourage and co-ordinate the marketing in the United Kingdom and elsewhere of—

(a) agricultural and horticultural produce of the United Kingdom;

(b) fish, other than sea fish, and fish products made in the United Kingdom; and

(c) any other food produced or processed in the United Kingdom.

(3) Food from Britain shall put itself in a position to advise Ministers on matters connected with any of its functions.

3 Central Council for Agricultural and Horticultural Cooperation

(1) Immediately after the coming into force of section 2 above the Central Council for Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operation shall be dissolved.

(2) Schedule 2 to this Act shall nave effect with respect to the dissolution of the Central Council and the transfer of functions under section 2(1) above.

4 Contributions by marketing organisations

(1) Without prejudice to section 6(2) below, any body to which this section applies may make contributions by way of grant or loan to Food from Britain of such amount as it thinks fit towards the expenses incurred or to be incurred by Food from Britain in connection with any of its functions other than the transferred functions.

(2) This section applies to the following bodies, namely—

(a) any board established under a scheme made (whether before or after the coming into force of this section) under Part I of the [1958 c. 47.] Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 or the [1964 c. 13 (N.I.).] Agricultural Marketing Act (Northern Ireland) 1964 or the [S.I. 1982/1080 (N.I. 12).] Agricultural Marketing (Northern Ireland) Order 1982;

(b) the Eggs Authority established under Part I of the [1970 c. 40.] Agriculture Act 1970;

(c) the Home-Grown Cereals Authority established under Part I of the [1965 c. 14.] Cereals Marketing Act 1965 ;

(d) the Meat and Livestock Commission established under Part I of the [1967 c. 22.] Agriculture Act 1967 ;

(e) the Livestock Marketing Commission for Northern Ireland established under the [1967 c. 21 (N.I.).] Livestock Marketing Commission Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 ;

(f) the Apple and Pear Development Council established under the [S.I. 1966/1579.] Apple and Pear Development Council Order 1966; and

(g) the Scottish Seed Potato Development Council established under the [S.I. 1981/1767 (S. 183).] Scottish Seed Potato Development Council Order 1981.

(3) The functions of any body to which this section applies for the purposes of which any person or class of persons is or may be required to make contributions (whether by way of levy or otherwise) to the body shall include the function conferred on the body by subsection (1) above and the provisions of any enactment or other instrument relating to such contributions shall have effect accordingly.

5 Accounts and annual reports

(1) Food from Britain shall—

(a) keep proper accounting records in such form as the Ministers may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine; and

(b) prepare a statement of accounts in respect of each financial year.

(2) The statement of accounts shall give a true and fair view of the state of Food from Britain's affairs at the end of the financial year and of its income and expenditure in the financial year, and shall comply with any directions given by the Ministers with the consent of the Treasury as to the information to be contained in the statement or the manner in which it is to be presented or as to the methods and principles according to which the statement is to be prepared.

(3) The statement of accounts shall be audited by persons to be appointed in respect of each financial year by the Ministers, and the auditors shall be furnished by Food from Britain with copies of the statement of accounts for any financial year not later than 30th June following the end of that year.

(4) The auditors shall complete their audit and send the Ministers copies of the statement of accounts and of their report on the statement as soon as possible after the end of the financial year to which they relate and in any event not later than 30th September following the end of that year.

(5) No person shall be qualified to be appointed auditor under this section unless he is a member of one or more of the following bodies—

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales;

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland ;

• The Association of Certified Accountants ;

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland ;

but a Scottish firm may be appointed under this section if each of the partners is qualified to be so appointed.

(6) As soon as possible after the end of any financial year and in any event not later than 30th September following the end of that year Food from Britain shall prepare and submit to the Ministers a report of what has been done in the discharge of its functions in that year.

(7) The Ministers shall lay before Parliament copies of the report for any financial year made under subsection (6) above together with copies of the statement of accounts and of the auditor's report for that year.

(8) The Ministers and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall be entitled to inspect all books, papers and other records of Food from Britain relating to or to matters dealt with in any statement of accounts required to be prepared pursuant to this section.

(9) The first financial year of Food from Britain shall be the period beginning with the coming into force of this section and ending with 31st March 1984 ; and any subsequent period of twelve months ending with 31st March shall be a financial year of Food from Britain.

6 Borrowing powers, etc. of Food from Britain

(1) Food from Britain may borrow money or make loans in accordance with this section but not otherwise.

(2) Food from Britain may borrow temporarily (by way of overdraft or otherwise and in any currency) such sums as it may require for the purpose of financing any of its functions other than the transferred functions; but the aggregate amount outstanding by way of principal of any sums so borrowed shall not exceed £500,000.

(3) Food from Britain may borrow any such sums—

(a) from the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State for Scotland or the Secretary of State for Wales or the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, or

(b) with the consent of the Ministers and the Treasury, from any other person.

(4) Food from Britain may with the consent of the Ministers make such grants or loans as it thinks fit in pursuance of any of its functions other than the transferred functions.

7 Grants, etc. by Ministers

(1) The Ministers may with the approval of the Treasury make grants to Food from Britain in respect of any expenses incurred or to be incurred in connection with any of its functions other than the transferred functions.

(2) The Minister may with the approval of the Treasury lend to Food from Britain any sums which it may borrow in accordance with section 6(2) above.

(3) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament any sums required for making payments under this section or under paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to this Act.

(4) In this section " the Minister" means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Secretary of State for Wales or the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

8 Interpretation

In this Act—

• " agriculture and horticulture " includes everything included in the expression " agriculture " as defined by section 109(3) of the [1947 c. 48.] Agriculture Act 1947 or, as the case may be, section 86(3) of the [1948 c. 45.] Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948 and " agricultural and horticultural" shall be construed accordingly;

• " animal " includes any bird or fish ;

• " the Central Council" means the Central Council for Agricultural and Horticultural Co-operation ;

• " fish " includes crustaceans and molluscs of any kind ;

• "fish products" means any food made wholly or partly from fish processed otherwise than solely by filleting or gutting;

• " food " includes any food or drink produced or processed for human or animal consumption (including game of any kind) and any ingredient of such food or drink ;

• "the Ministers" means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland acting jointly ;

• " pension " includes a superannuation allowance or gratuity payable to or in respect of any person on retirement or death;

• " processed" means having been subjected to any kind of process including packaging or bottling ;

• " sea fish " means any fish (excluding crustaceans and molluscs of any kind) found in the sea except any of the salmon species, trout and eels ; and

• "transferred functions" means functions transferred to Food from Britain by section 2(1) above.

9 Short title, repeals, commencement and extent

(1) This Act may be cited as the Agricultural Marketing Act 1983.

(2) Subject to paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to this Act, the enactments mentioned in Schedule 3 to this Act (which include spent provisions) are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(3) This Act shall come into force on such day as the Ministers may by order made by statutory instrument appoint and different days may be appointed for different purposes.

(4) This Act extends to Northern Ireland.