Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Reform

• Report: Innovation in EU Agriculture
• Seminar summary: Innovation in EU Agriculture ( PDF 91 KB)
• Letter from Lord Roper, Chairman to the House of Lords EU Select Committee to Commissioner Cioloş, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission ( PDF 175 KB)
• Letter from Commissioner Cioloş, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission to Lord Roper, Chairman to the House of Lords EU Select Committee ( PDF 129 KB)
• Report: Leaving a bitter taste? The EU Sugar Regime

Since publication of the proposals in October 2011, the Committee has been scrutinising the Government position. In November 2011, it convened a Seminar to debate the findings of its Innovation in EU Agriculture report in the context of the reform proposals. The Seminar was attended by the European Commission, a Government Minister and stakeholders. Subsequently, the Committee sent its positions to the Government and EU institutions.

Since then, the Committee has continued its scrutiny work. On 4 July, the Committee held an oral evidence session with former Agriculture Minister, Jim Paice MP, on CAP reform, including a series questions relating specifically to the sugar regime and others relating to:

• Risk management
• Direct payments – "greening" and re-distribution between Member States
• Rural Development Regulation
• Farm Advice
• Integration of the Water Framework Directive into the CAP reform
  Innovation

The Committee also remains in correspondence with the Government on these issues. The most recent correspondence is available below:

• June 2012 letter from the Committee ( PDF 77 KB)
• 8 November update from the Minister ( PDF 547 KB)
• 22 November 2012 letter from the Committee ( PDF 132 KB)
• 28 November 2012 update from the Minister ( PDF 58 KB)
• December 2012 update from the Minister ( PDF 952 KB)
• February 2013 update from the Minister ( PDF 4.58 MB)

The Minister's February 2013 letter was referred to during the debate of the House on the Government's response to the report of the Independent Panel on Forestry, which took place on 27 February. 

If you would like to read the Government’s explanatory memoranda on the proposals sifted for further scrutiny you can find them on the Cabinet Office's European Memoranda search page.