Minutes of the 8 th Import & Processing Panel Meeting Held at Hilton Hotel, Euston, London Thursday 15 th October 2015 In attendance Jon Parker Chair Clare Dodgson (CD) Mike Glavin (MG) James Wilson Neil Auchterlonie (NA) Brian Young (BY) Steve Norton (SN) Mel Groundsell (MG) Laky Zervudachi (LZ) Tom Pickerell (TP) Dominic Collins (DC) Janice Anderson (JA) Gary Warner (GW) Malcolm Large (ML) Secretariat Stephen Brown (SB) Fiona Wright (FW) (Part) Apologies Simon Rilatt Richard Stansfield Peter Stagg Ryan Scattery 1. Welcome and domestics Brian Young as outgoing Chair thanked members for their support over the last four years and introduced Jon Parker the newly appointed Chair of the committee. As there were a number of new appointees, JP invited all members to introduce themselves and the organisations they represented. 2. Minutes of the last meeting The minutes form the seventh Panel meeting held on 10 th July 2014 were accepted as an accurate record. There was one matter arising: ML confirmed that the study into glaze levels on warm water prawns has been circulated to members of the panel. He added that an anonymised copy had also been sent to Defra. Simon Rilatt was not at the meeting and ML confirmed that he had received no update from Simon on the FDF position on glaze. 3. Panel Administration MG asked that the Panel approved an amendment to the Terms of Reference suggesting the following wording be added: Members should inform Panel Secretariat of any conflict of interest with regard to their professional life and their Seafish responsibilities, and should offer to withdraw from any discussions where they may be seen to have the opportunity of personal or corporate financial gain. Page 1 of 6
The suggested wording was accepted. The Panel also agreed to change the maximum number of members from thirteen to fourteen and noted the new payment guideline for hotel accommodation in London has been increased to 175 per night. 4. Seafish Update JA confirmed that Paul Williams was leaving Seafish on Friday 23 rd October and that the process to appoint a new Chief Executive was under way. A four man recruitment panel chaired by BY with Peter Hajipieris (Seafish Board), Tania Arkle (Defra) and Christine Robinson (Lay member) will interview shortlisted candidates in the first week of November. Until the new Chief Executive is in post, JA will step up to Interim Chief Executive and she will be supported by MG and TP and the Seafish Board. JA confirmed that Seafish Chair, Elaine Hayes will be stepping down in December when her three year tenure comes to an end. The appointment of a new Chair is the responsibility of Defra and until such time as a replacement is named, Deputy Chair, BY will step in. JA drew attention to the Smith Commission report on Scottish Devolution and confirmed that Seafish has no involvement in the process. She pointed out that all four devolved administrations have signed-up to the Seafish Corporate Plan and, that Seafish will continue to work towards the delivery of the Plan. JA confirmed that to be prepared for possible outcomes from the Scottish Devolution debate, Seafish has modelled various scenarios. TP informed members that Seafish has established a new Science Advisory Group. The formation of the group had been approved by the Seafish Board to advise Seafish, staff, the Board and Panels on scientific issues. The new group will be Chaired by Professor Michel Kaiser of Bangor University and the members of the group are: Dr Grant Stentiford, Dr Walter Crozier, Dr Bryce Stewart, Dr Neil Auchterlonie, Dr Simon Jennings, Professor Mike Elliot and Professor Andrew Rowley. Biographies of the members can be found on the Seafish website at: http://www.seafish.org/aboutseafish/our-structure/science-advisory-group-sag-/science-advisory-group-members TP updated members on the Strategic Investment Fund. This is a fund of money that can be bid into. Successful applicants would then be commissioned by Seafish to deliver their work. In the first tranche, Seafish received 62 applications for such funding of which around 50% were rejected at the first sift. Those applicants who were successful at the first stage were invited to submit a more detailed proposal with timelines, milestones and outputs. The process has concluded with offers to commission fifteen pieces of work covering a wide range of projects being made. TP confirmed that there is likely to be a second call for applications to the fund in about twelve months time. SB expressed concerns over the relevance of the projects and that the Panels had not been consulted on the awarding of the commissions. TP pointed out that the fund and Page 2 of 6
the total budget had been approved by the Panels and that the successful projects all reflected the high level objectives of the Seafish Corporate Plan agreed by the Panels and signed-off by the Board. BY reminded members that the Panel had been successful in reducing the original Fund budget proposal during the discussions and negotiations that took place during the drafting of the Corporate Plan. NA asked what project management procedures have been put in place and the process for judging success. TP confirmed that the Fund Manager, Phil MacMullen was producing a statement of support that includes the outcomes and outputs expected from each supported project. JA confirmed that Seafish has a Value for Money Strategy and that as part of the strategy can ask for an external audit of any of the supported projects. It was confirmed in response to a question from DC that all unsuccessful applicants will be given feedback if requested. MG informed the Panel that Seafish had been commissioned by Defra to look at all funding streams such as EMFF in England to feed into the defra 25 year Food & Farming Plan. The timeframe is very short with a report being required by the end of the year. There will be two phases, the first being to hold an industry consultation led by three sector specialists: Nathan de Rozarieux (catching) Neil Auchterlonie (aquaculture) and Andrew Kuyk (supply chain). The second will include the establishment of a ten strong task force to represent the whole of the supply chain in England, which will meet for the first time at the end of November to review the feedback and suggest a forward strategy. The EMFF operational programme is now with the EU awaiting feedback and EMFF cannot be opened until the operational programme has been signed off. This process will give the industry an opportunity to recommend areas in which they want EMFF to be used. JW asked about other structural funds and TP confirmed that when EMFF is available Seafish will publish guidelines on what funds area available and where to find details. SN suggested that Seafish could facilitate a number of workshops and TP agreed that Seafish could do so at an appropriate time. Action: Seafish to consider facilitating EMFF/funding workshops MG updated the Panel on the progress of Seafood week which, at the time of the meeting still had two days to run. She reported that there had been excellent engagement with the retail and processing sectors and that the foodservice sector had also been involved. Outputs that will be monitored include: Media coverage Trade feedback Before and after campaign consumer attitude research The Panel agreed that Seafood Week appears to have been successful and had been delivered in a professional manner by Seafish staff. MG confirmed that Seafood Week would continue for the duration of the current Page 3 of 6
Corporate Plan. 5. Operational Delivery TP introduced the workstream dashboards that are produced on a quarterly basis and used to report delivery progress to the Board. TP and MG then went through each workstream dashboard addressing identified successes and any issues and answering questions as required. The key points raised were: The World Seafood Congress in Grimsby had been successfully concluded in September. The delivery had been involved both the Technical and the Corporate Relations Divisions. Over 200 people from 48 countries had attended the event which, though difficult to facilitate, had been a success and the lessons learnt will be used in the delivery of future Humber Seafood Summits. SB expressed disappointment with progress on resolving glaze levels and weight declarations on warm water prawns. He reported that he had had discussions with Tom Stafford at Defra and there had been no progress made with Trading Standards. It was agreed that there needs to be an industry-wide consensus on the issue and that next steps would best be addressed at the next meeting of the Importers Forum in November. MG agreed to contact Tom Stafford to encourage a response with regards to by Trading Standards prosecutions on short weights. DC suggested that Seafish could put in place a mechanism for whistle blowing. The Gear Technology booklets produced by Mike Montgomery were seen as an excellent tool. LZ had asked that a supply be sent to him for distribution to his depots. Actions: 1. The Warm Water Glaze report and follow up to be on the agenda of the November Importers Forum 2. MG to contact Tom Stafford 3. Gear Technology Booklets to be mailed to LZ. 6. Regulation Workstream Fiona Wright, Head of Regulation gave an overview of the work of the Regulation Workstream that was well received by the Panel Members. MG expressed the opinion that Seafish is critical in providing advice to the competent authorities such as the Food Standards Agency and that they work very closely with members of the Regulation Workstream. SB expressed his appreciation of Ivan Bartolo and his work with the Seafood Importers and Processors Association (SIPA). Page 4 of 6
All agreed that Brussels Office was starting to show good results in terms of forward warnings and that it was vital that the momentum be continued. FW confirmed that the work in Brussels would continue during Cristina Fernadez s maternity leave. 7. Meeting Schedule ML proposed that the 2016 Panel meetings be held in February and October. The second week in February was proposed for the next meeting as the third quarter dashboards should be available to Panel members then. October was agreed as a suitable time for the second meeting. DC asked whether London was the best location for the meetings and there was some discussion about the suitability of York as an alternative venue. It was agreed that ML would conduct a poll of members about the next venue: York or London? Action: ML to conduct a poll on meeting venue preference, London or York? It had been proposed by another Panel that there should be a cross-panel meeting at which Horizon Scanning would be the focus. There was however no enthusiasm for this proposal from the members of the Importers & Processing Panel. JP suggested that if the Panel were interested in Horizon Scanning, that Angus Garrett be invited to a future meeting. 8. Any Other Business DC raised the issue of ethics in the seafood industry and in particular in the Far East. TP confirmed that the issue of ethics was being looked with a risk assessment being made on fifteen countries and that a working party has been set up. It was agreed that this could be the subject of an in-depth discussion and that Michaela Archer, Head of Insight who leads in this area be invited to the next meeting to update on progress. MG confirmed that a delegation from China to look at the cadmium issues in brown crab had been rescheduled and that a new date for the visit was still TBC. This work was being delivered through SAGB. TP confirmed that the GSSI benchmark for seafood eco-labels was now available for standards holders to use to benchmark their standards against the FAO code. This is a voluntary scheme. Action: Michaela Archer to be invited to the next Panel meeting to lead a discussion on seafood ethics Page 5 of 6
Page 6 of 6