The meat levy bodies of England, Scotland and Wales have announced a £2 million programme of joint activity. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) have agreed to collaborate to deliver on five priority areas;
- International shows and export events
- Market Access
- Brexit preparation
- Meat and health, animal health and environment
- Research
The AHDB will ring fence £2 million to support the programme. The announcement comes after a year of discussions between the levy boards, and is an interim arrangement whilst a long term solution is found regarding the ‘repatriation’ of levies collected at the place of slaughter. Both Wales and Scotland, for many years now, have argued that they do not receive their fair share of the levies, as animals which have been reared in Wales and Scotland are often slaughtered in England and as the levy is collected at the point of slaughter, this remains in England.
