DEFRA meeting today at Stourport

[JanetGeorge]

It was the last in the series of regional 'consultation' meetings regarding the proposed 'Independent Body for Animal Health" (from whence cometh the proposed compulsory horse registration 'tax'.)

It was very ably chaired by Helen Browning, a leading Wiltshire organic farmer, with Defra attendance. Well attended by local horse people - Helen Browning had chaired 3 of these meetings and said ours had the biggest turnout of horse people!

My basic impressions regarding the proposed independent body:

1. A great way of divorcing Ministers from responsibility for future outbreaks of 'exotic' diseases and a way of making farmers and others pay for a good chunk of it.

2. It's just a hive-off of Defra employees responsible for animal health (the ones who made such a GREAT job of handling the big F&M outbreak) who will have a top layer of 'independent' management added.

3. It's ill-thpught out on all fronts. On the horse side, they have NO idea how they're goinjg to get all horse owners to register; they didn't know whether they'd be able to access PIO data; they had no idea that passports weren't working (horses being sold without them, no compliance anywhere, most people not bothering to update ownership details with PIO's when horse changes hands, etc. etc. etc.)

Having made these points quite strongly

I was asked how I would sort it out. I'm afraid my reply was along the lines of: "I wouldn't have made such a bloody mess of it in the first place!"

While most horse owners appeared worried by the registration cost (MIGHT be £10.50 per horse, but they haven't really got a clue as they've just pulled numbers out of a hat) the REAL cost seems likely to be the cost of compulsory insurance against exotic diseases. They have apparently had a chat with one or two insurers - but have NO idea what this is likely to cost!!

It is not set in stone that horses (and other more exotic species) WILL be included (a representative from the Safari Park was there too!) A very strong message was sent back to DEFRA - from this meeting - that including horses would give them more grief than they anticipate!!

But they did give us a VERY nice afternoon tea (at long last I got something back from my taxes!)

 

[Weezy]

Thanks for the update Janet, glad you were there to voice our concerns!

 

[Maesfen]

I was planning to go to the one yesterday but with vet visits and collecting a horse had to knock that on the head so thank you for the report.

Having seen you in action I would have loved to have been there; they'd have been terrified, lol!

Sounds a typical DEFRA cock up which we are meant to pay for!

 

[sywell]

The DEFRA consultation meeting on the new Cost sharing initiative was very revealing from the livestock producers of pigs,cattle,chickens ect who were very critical of the DEFRA performance at the last outbreak caused by DEFRA and did not think employing another 3500 civil servants in a new body was the answer. The levy figures for the industries concerned were quite clear but the insurance cost to the industry was undefined even if anyone would attempt to underwrite it from the insurance industry. The control of wildlife would still be a political decision made by the Secretary of State and if it was politically unpopular he would not do it. The case of the recently retired Chief Veterinary Officers advice on TB which was overruled by Hilary Benn was quoted by a pig farmer concerned about wild boar near his holding. In the case of chickens because small numbers of 50 were exempt from the levy it ignored the fact that they can catch and spread the disease more easily that large flocks inside buildings. The additional on cost to the producer would also make his product marginally more expensive and it is impossible to pass this on to the large retailers who can buy the product from anywhere.
The representatives from the BSJA,BEVA,BHS and BHHS listened to the DEFRA representative explain how it would affect our industry but it was quite clear they had drawn up the legislation to cover live stock and had not taken into consideration the large amounts of Tax already paid by the Equine Industry in Betting Levy and Rates on Indoor Schools,Livery Yards and other commercial Equine operations. It is a very expensive way of raising the £8 million that DEFRA expect to recover from the Equine Industry. The Equine industry is very worried about Exotic Disease but DEFRA did not seem to be very aware that the contaminated vectors that spread this disease are more like to come into the UK in a commercial Jet or an insulated container on a ship. They also kept referring to imports which are an E.U. responsibility and did not seem to have grasped the fact the animals coming from France are being moved to the UK and an Import is where it comes from outside the E.U.
The whole idea of keeping a register of all holdings where horses are kept and the keeper of the holding being responsible for the levy is impractical and setting up a new database structure to control this is a total waste of money and better implementation of the existing legislation would be of more use.
The observation was made that DEFRA were putting the cart before the horse and should set up the new body first and let them consult with industry to see what was the best way forward.