Transparency data

Business Committee Report – 8 June 2026

Published 25 June 2026

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

The Business Committee met on 8 June 2026 to consider the following items.

1. Chief Executive’s Report (FSA BC 26/06/03)

Katie Pettifer provided an update covering incidents, organisational resilience, and financial matters.  The Committee noted recent animal welfare allegations and subsequent demonstrations at the Hartshead abattoir, which had generated a high volume of correspondence and public interest.  The situation remained under close review, including consideration of staff welfare and security.

The Committee welcomed confirmation of additional Treasury funding of £4.7m to support delivery of the SPS programme.  The provision of sufficient resource for SPS meant that the Agency no longer had to divert resource away from other critical priorities, so it would now be possible to properly fund some other high priority activities, including work on reforms to incidents management and improvements to the charging system.

Members discussed workforce and pay risks  Pay negotiations for the coming year remained ongoing.  The Committee also noted ongoing issues with civil service pension administration and the steps taken by the Agency to support affected staff.

2. Performance Report Q4 2025–26 (FSA BC 26/06/04)

Market Authorisations

The Committee noted a reduction in the Market Authorisation caseload during the quarter, with progress made on a number of applications including authorisations, invalidations and withdrawals.  There was discussion around the authorisation pipeline, including the application of the Board’s prioritisation principles and the potential SPS agreement, and associated risks.  It was recognised that the external context remained fluid and may necessitate further adjustments to delivery plans.

Trade

The Committee heard there had been an increase in border notification volumes, primarily driven by improved reporting of documentary and administrative non-compliance by port health authorities.  While this had resulted in a higher number of reported failures, the Committee was assured that risks to public health remained limited and that improved data was supporting more effective risk management.  Recent audit activity had not identified any significant new concerns.

People

The Committee discussed workforce metrics, including ethnic minority representation.  While application rates from ethnic minority candidates had increased, conversion into appointments remained static.  Actions were being taken to improve recruitment outcomes, including enhancements to candidate materials and interviewer training.  Further benchmarking against other government departments would be provided.

Finance

The Committee noted the year-end financial position, which reported an overall underspend across all budget limits.  An underspend was inevitable, given that overspends were not permitted, but last year’s underspend was the second smallest for Westminster this decade.  Members welcomed the strengthened focus on in-year financial management, forecasting and risk control.  Ongoing uncertainties, including potential VAT liabilities, continued to be monitored.

Communications

There had been an increase in media and communications activity during the quarter, driven partly by extensive coverage of the infant formula incident.  This had generated substantial media reach and high levels of public awareness, particularly among affected groups.  Members welcomed the impact of this work and noted evidence that communications activity had supported consumer understanding and behaviour.

Members welcomed the more proactive and targeted approach to media engagement and the effectiveness and timeliness of social media activity in responding to emerging public concerns.

Incidents

The Committee noted that incident volumes remained high, reflecting both increased reporting and revised thresholds.  Members were reassured that this did not indicate a deterioration in food safety outcomes, but improved visibility of incidents.  Pressures on operational capacity and the timeliness of root cause analysis were discussed, noting work to strengthen incident management processes and improve consistency.

Local Authority Performance

Local authority performance remained under pressure, with sustained “amber” and “red” ratings driven primarily by workforce constraints.  The Committee discussed the continued impact of recruitment and retention challenges, noting that increased funding had not yet translated into numbers of qualified staff.  Members acknowledged that these constraints limited the pace of performance improvement.

3. Any Other Business

No additional items were raised.  The next meeting will take place at 14:00hrs on 2 September 2026.