important announcement from DEFRA re passports

[Maesfen]

I have not read the whole thread, but surely there is only one company who would have the expenditure and manpower to do the job - Weatherbys?
IMO, if they took over the whole shebang the only way would be up.

Have to agree and remember, they were the ones running the British Horse Database so that's either a good or a bad thing. I'd support them all the way if it happens but if something stupid like the Horse Passport Agency get it, it'll be enough to make me give up horses altogether.

 

[oldforge]

Seem to remember it was Weatherbys who took on the old British Horse Database, subsequently couldn't make it work and then pulled the plug. Correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Maesfen]

Seem to remember it was Weatherbys who took on the old British Horse Database, subsequently couldn't make it work and then pulled the plug. Correct me if I'm wrong

I wonder if that was because they were competing with breed societies and the HIS for customers even though all the disciplines needed a BHD number, whether overstamped or a passport for you to compete with them.. Might be different if it's compulsory to register with them alone.

 

[magic104]

I have not read through all the posts either, but I do feel NED let the taxpayer down. For us to understand how we were let down we would need to know what the process is/was. NED always, always, blame the passport issuing society. As another poster as already said their offspring are not always linked correctly to the dam. I had to contact the IDUK & get it corrected.

The KC may not be perfect but it manages to keep records for 1000's of dogs & 100's of breeds including issuing full pedigrees. The DVLA manage to do exactly the same thing, i.e. keep accurate records for 1000's of vehicles, including details of insurance/tax etc. Therefore NED should not have had such a problem as it came after 2 organisations doing similar jobs & therefore had the knowledge in place to advise the best way forward. I dont believe NED was very pro-active anyway. It was quiet obvious from the duplications that no one was doing any checking from their end anyway! I might be unfair in that assumption, but can only go by my experience with them. Weatherbys I believe are an excellent organisation to deal with so hope they have an input into any changes.

 

[firm]

Old Forge - NED is needed, yes it is too expensive & inaccurate but PIO and breed societies and Defra, whoever, need to get it to work.
I say this as someone who owns horses registered with 10 UK PIOs and who likely will be a member of three PIOS this year.
It is not easy to find out info on UK stallions. If I was wanting to use a UK stallion where can I go easily to compare them? If there is a UK based ID or a Hano stallion for example, out there who has had only ten foals but four are doing really well in eventing and would be a great match for my TB mare where can I find that info?
I think stallion owners who pay to put their horses through breed society gradings & then pay every year, deserve that info to be freely available in one place. The members who use those stallions also need that info to help them sell their UK foals.
As a mare owner it is so much easier just to choose a stallion standing abroad where the info is readily available so if I need to sell the foal I can use that info to sell it.
Breed societies and PIOs need to move forward which means more information to promote their horses which is surely the whole point of a Breed Society.
There are loads of people out there who do great jobs for nothing and I really do appreciate that.

 

[stolensilver]

One of my biggest issues with NED is how expensive it is to get any information out of it. To look up the progeny of one stallion costs £5!!! If I remember correctly NED was supposed to generate income. The problem it has is twofold. Firstly the information it contains is far too frequently inaccurate and secondly access to that information is far too expensive.

If DEFRA does steamroller this through and ignore the horse community yet again (remember the Countryside Alliance? 500,000 marched on London and were completely ignored) then I don't expect the information that OUR money is paying for via our passports to suddenly become free. It is far more likely that it will become even more expensive as that will be seen as a revenue stream for whichever profit making company takes this on.

The passport for my foal this year cost close to £180 if you include membership fees to the studbook which are compulsory if you want full papers for any foals you breed. The thought of that fee going even higher in such a weak market for young horses is frightening and could result in even more quality british bred horses being registered as identity document only because of the financial savings this brings. (£25 v £180) This would be a big retrograde step for British Breeding and devalue our stock even further.

What I would like to see is for British Dressage and British Showjumping to follow the lead of British Eventing and publish league tables of the breeding of the top young horses and top international horses for free. If we had access to that sort of information we could find out which stallions were producing the best sports horses and reward those stallions owners by sending our mares to them. The breed societies could help too by putting up stallion statistics on their webpages. At present there is a wealth of information that is freely available to European breeders about the best lines to use but which is kept secret from breeders in the UK.

 

[Fleur100]

The word on the ground is that Petplan will succedd in the tender to issue passports.

Some of the societies with their main stud book abroad are already making plans for registration to be done in France/Germany/Holland. However, this doesn't help the UK breeds....

Utter madness from DEFRA

 

[Yorketown]

I don't understand a). Why the decision was made without any input from the equine industry and b). Why the PIOs are only being given 8 working days notice to attend the meeting, all be it just to give their opinions on a decision that has already been made. I would have thought that the breed societies/PIOs would have wanted a meeting of their representatives/board members before giving their views on a decision that will seriously affect them and in some cases could leave them in an extremely vulnerable financial position.

I find both a) and b) unacceptable but feel DEFRA really don’t give a s**t, although I have to admit I sent them a ranting email none the less.

I know that the system for issuing passports needed to be reviewed (we all know certain PIOs will issue passports to adult horses who clearly already have a passport) and I do feel that a central database could be a benefit, but surely it is logical to ask the industry for their views on the way forward - not act on a knee jerk decision made to save the Government money. Why don't these idiots learn that short term financial gains always cost more in the long term.

 

[Thornesian]

This is a typical 'open mouth without engaging brain' approach by Defra.
It made me laugh reading the letter suggesting how they could streamline the passporting process and save money at the same time!!
Easy when all they have to do is steal the money out of the mouths of breed societies.
Trouble is they will try to ride rough shod over us all and then it will be 'who'd have thought it' when it doesn't work
Unfortunately that will be too late for some of the smaller breed societies who will go to the wall without the income from their registrations and transfer processes.
So what if NED hasn't worked. Tough! but for gods sake don't penalise our long standing and hard working breed societies for the failures of others
I suggest everyone bombards Defra with emails. Stand up for our rights and let them know we won't go down without a fight !

 

[firm]

Petplan? the insurance company? I bet their tender will be cheap afterall they will be getting a lovely database of horse owners to mailshot. That is me off the fence!

 

[JanetGeorge]

I suggest everyone bombards Defra with emails. Stand up for our rights and let them know we won't go down without a fight !

No - not Defra! THAT would be a waste of effort! What we want is a concerted campaign of e-mails to our own MPs - so THEY will ask questions of the relevent Ministers!

The Government is not particularly concerned about HOW Defra/other departments cut their budgets - but they DON'T want a major backlash from the public for the tiny saving this exercise will generate!

This is the letter I have sent to my MP.

"Hi Philip

A rather major issue has just arisen for the horse world - most of them
don't know about it yet as Defra is NOT renowned for 'communication' -
particularly on issues that will be deeply unpopular! (And I assure you
that it WILL be deeply unpopular!!) A so-called 'consultation period' of
less than 3 weeks makes it pretty apparent that Defra doesn't WANT
meaningful consultation!!

As I'm sure you are aware, the horse passport situation is something of a
bad joke - primarily due to Defra's initial incompetence in introducing
passports. There are currently about 80 Passport Issuing Organisations
(PIO's) which include most Breed Societies and some commercial
organisations.

Then there is the National Equine Database (NED) set up a couple of years
ago to bring all the horse data from all the PIO's into one place - that's
a mess too!

Last summer, your colleague, Daniel Kawczynski, asked a question of the
Minister - as follows:

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the percentage of
accessible National Equine Database records of pedigrees which are
accurate; and what assessment he has made of the effect on that level of
accuracy of the (a) absence and (b) lack of public availability of data on
semen imports and artificial insemination.

Mr Paice: As of 8 July 2010, National Equine Database Ltd has reported
that there are 1,389,192 active horse records in the National Equine
Database. Of these, some 56% (774,575 records) have had sire or dam data
supplied by independent breed societies.

Pedigree records are held on the commercial section of the National Equine
Database, which is owned and managed by National Equine Database Ltd on
behalf of the equine sector. The Government do not mandate the collection
of pedigree data, which is provided on a voluntarily basis by breed
societies.

No assessment has been made of the impact of semen imports and artificial
insemination on the number of accurate pedigree records in the National
Equine Database. Such data are not held on the Database. The Government do not maintain statistics on the artificial insemination of horses."

Putting aside the interesting grammar, the answer would appear to have
made it clear that the Government has no mandate to collect pedigree data
(and presumably therefore cannot GIVE a mandate to a 3rd Party.)

But - on 12th January 2011 - with no hint or whisper of any changes
reaching the PIO's a letter surfaced - copy attached. It did NOT
reach the IDHS (GB) of which I am a Trustee - I obtained it via the equestrian media!!

It informs us of Defra's intention to effectively 'dump' NED, and to put
out to tender the entire passport operation - presumably to a commercial
organisation as none of the Breed Societies would be placed to take on the
whole thing! It announces a meeting in London on 24th January (less than
2 weeks notice given) and the opportunity to give feedback in writing by
the end of January. As consultation periods go, this is obscenely short -
particularly as there is NO detail at ALL in Defra's 'proposal'.

Obviously this proposal is of greatest concern to Breed Societies,
particularly those whose 'mother' studbook is in another country, and who
have to follow rules set down by their 'mother' studbook. There is a
useful revenue stream attached to the role of PIO, which helps Breed
Societies cover the costs of maintaining their pedigree databases - all of
which vary enormously in the various studbook sections.

There are several immediate questions the horse world - and in particular
the Breed Societies - need answers to:

1. Is the Government planning to mandate the collection of pedigree data
by an as yet unidentified PIO - and by what 'authority'?

2. How is the Government planning to enforce a requirement that Breed
Societies provide pedigree data to a new 'universal' PIO - and at whose
cost would this provision be?

3. What effect is all this going to have on the cost of passports? In
the last few years, breeders have had to face the extra costs of
micro-chipping all foals - in addition to the costs of having a passport
issued, DNA testing etc. Most breeders are struggling with the recession
anyway - extra costs will see many breeders going out of business and even
the risk of horses being 'dumped' - as currently happening in Ireland!

Heavens - this has gone on a bit and barely scratched the surface of our
concerns! But I think you'll get the picture. It would APPEAR that Defra
has come up with this great idea to avoid providing future funding for NED
- but it appears that little or NO thought has been given to the
complications and the costs!

I would be very grateful indeed if you could take this matter up with Jim
Paice. This IS going to be a very hot potato - and any small saving that
Defra MIGHT be able to make on its budget will exact a heavy price in
terms of Government PR with the Equestrian world!

with kind regards"

If anyone wants to borrow parts of it to send to their MP, please feel free! It only takes half a dozen MPs getting half a dozen e-mails on the same topic to create a 'topic' in the Members' Tea Room!

 

[Maesfen]

Janet, thank you for that, it's very good and to the point.
I will use and abuse it for my MP if you don't mind, Stephen o'Brian will wonder what's hit him if most of Cheshire get writing! I'll also send it to a Cabinet Minister who happens to live in our hunt country; where better to get it mentioned than Downing Street!

 

[Thornesian]

Well written Janet and I completely agree with you on directing our grievances to our MPs.
Mine is Ed Miliband (for my sins)who I have written to before on other issues which he managed to sideswipe on to Defra to avoid responding to me directly and I got a bog standard appeasement from them so I don't hold much hope with him on this one.......
Paula

 

[Thornesian]

Has anyone else heard that this may only relate to 'ENGLAND'
Apparently Wales have not been included in the Defra letter distribution (ie WPCS etc)Not sure of Scottish societies at this stage

 

[Old Timer]

I have read the DEFRA letter fully as it is published on another forum in full and I have noted the following passage –

"Breed Societies will continue to be recognized by Government to fulfill their important studbook governance and breed preservation roles. They will also be responsible for the verification of pedigree information and will therefore continue to play a key role in the production of horse passports. Government will continue to share the passport data with industry for the purpose of the public equine website".

DEFRA are offering nothing new as under EU Law a Member State must recognize a bone fida studbook organization and therefore whatever changes may happen they must continue to do.

It seems to me DEFRA are being awfully cheeky in effectively requiring Breed Organizations to supply free of charge vital information to this new QUANGO (thought these were being faced out not new ones created) in order for it to issue passports which they and not the Breed Society will received payment for.

I doubt if Breed Societies will be able to refuse to supply information, as I would imagine that any final legislation would have legally enforceable compulsory element attached to it.

It seems to me that in this proposal DEFRA are hijacking the Breed Societies income from registrations/passports to pay for this failing and ineffective organization NED.

 

[Old Timer]

Has anyone else heard that this may only relate to 'ENGLAND'
Apparently Wales have not been included in the Defra letter distribution (ie WPCS etc)Not sure of Scottish societies at this stage

I thinks you are right this applies currently to only England the reason I say this I have been in contact with an organisation which operates under the Welsh Assmbly and they have not recieved a similar letter from their W/A.

Perhaps I am cynical but if I were DEFRA tactically I would not want the most powerfull and influential organisation in the UK the WPCS up against me from the outset and because of devolution they don't have to.

 

[Maesfen]

Just to let you know that Emma on The Horse Exchange has put a bit up about it and pointing the way to this thread so it might get a few more responses to the MPs..
http://www.thehorseexchange.com/news-desk/?p=000882

Old Timer, that's interesting about only being the English being affected. I can see everyone clamouring for a WPCS passport if it happens!

 

[sywell]

DEFRA has always been very coy about its responsibility to the EU for the Horse Passport Regulation but it is responsible for Wales and Scotland to the EU but it is only responsible for passports in England.
DEFRA has not said what it wants to achieve from the new proposals and it would help to know. The pledge that it would be zero cost to the tax payer bodes ill for a cheaper passport. The cost of running a database of the size DEFRA has to run to comply with EU requirements would be in excess £100000.They have to appoint a new provider and get the SI approved and the new provider has to set up his administrative structure to get all that done for the breeding season starting January 1st 2012 seems a very tall order.
There is no suggestion that any compensation might be paid to the investment everyone had to make to comply with the DEFRA business plan that the PIOs had to comply with.
As had been said DEFRA has no done very well so far so what if the new provider crashes as Momenta did and the BHD who will pick up the pieces. What if nobody bids?

 

[no_no_nanette]

Is it worth getting a FB page up about this? I have no idea how you go about this, but its another very clear gauge of public concern that seems to get the government paying attention if enough people sign up to it

 

[KarynK]

There is also the fact that all the PIO's had to become limited companies in order to issue the passports and all the expenses that go with that, plus the fact they will all have stock for the production of passports.

Anyone who thinks that passports are going to remain the same price or be cheaper for this wonderful dream of standardisation and efficiency had better wake up it's time to go to work!

There will be commercial companies who will bid for this because of the commercial value of issuing the passports, charging people to use the database and the valuable commercial list of people owning horses, but as above what happens when they get fed up with it!!!

The Gov't are paying more attention to petitions so one of those would be very useful, but only one because if loads of people start one then the numbers on the petition loose their value, over 500 signatures on a subject and they have to at least respond.

It would be useful to see the letter DEFRA have sent and quote from it when sending letters to MP's does anyone have a full copy or can someone post a link?

 

[Aredis]

It would be useful to see the letter DEFRA have sent and quote from it when sending letters to MP's does anyone have a full copy or can someone post a link?[/QUOTE]

If you go back to the original post there is a link posted.

 

[JanetGeorge]

The Gov't are paying more attention to petitions so one of those would be very useful, but only one because if loads of people start one then the numbers on the petition loose their value, over 500 signatures on a subject and they have to at least respond.

It would be useful to see the letter DEFRA have sent and quote from it when sending letters to MP's does anyone have a full copy or can someone post a link?

Unfortunately, the Government has closed down the previous mechanism for on-line petitions - will be opening it up again on DirectGov - but probably not until later this year.

Full text of the letter below:

Area 5E Millbank
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR
Telephone: 020 7238 3000
Web: www.defra.gov.uk
Your ref:
Our ref:
Date: 12 Jan 2011
Dear Sir / Madam
Re: HORSE PASSPORT AND CENTRAL DATABASE SERVICE - IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCING THE COST

As you may know the current Government NED contract expires later this year and must be retendered for state aid purposes in 2011 should the Government decide to implement comparable or similar successor arrangements. As there is no legal requirement for the UK to maintain a central horse database, we must consider whether Government should continue to fund such a service in the current economic climate; we do however recognise that a central database offers important benefits both to Government and the equine industry. We are therefore looking to develop a new contract which will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the current system of passport data collection whilst at the same time reducing costs.

Passports are currently issued by almost 80 different delivery bodies (PIOs) and therefore investment is required to collate and process the passport data to form a central database. We intend therefore to move to a single equine identification organisation.

The new arrangements are intended to deliver a number of benefits, including the simplification of the process for customers; standardised quality and improved recognition of passports; the provision of a central database at zero cost to the taxpayer; standardised database records; and potential cost reductions due to economies of scale.

Breed Societies will continue to be recognised by Government to fulfil their important studbook governance and breed preservation roles. They will also be responsible for the verification of pedigree information and will therefore continue to play a key role in the production of horse passports. Government will continue to share the passport data with industry for the purpose of the public equine website.

The retendering exercise will be advertised through Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) and is likely to require interested parties to complete a set of pre-qualification questions before being considered for inclusion on a shortlist of organisations whose tenders will be considered for award of the contract.

In the meantime, the current contract with NED has been extended until October 2011 to allow for the procurement of the proposed new service.
The work is being managed by a project Board which includes Government officials (including the Devolved Administrations and Local Government Regulators) and two industry representatives, Mark Shaw and Tim Morris.

We would like to seek your views on this exercise before commencing the procurement process and therefore Defra will be holding a meeting for PIOs at 2pm on 24th January at the Royal Horticultural Halls, Westminster. I would be grateful if you could let us know whether you are able to attend, by emailing horse.passports@defra.gsi.gov.uk, by 5pm on Thursday 20th January. In addition to the meeting, you are welcome to provide responses in writing by the end of January.

Yours faithfully
Donna Yates
Head of Equine ID, NED and Zootechnics
Livestock Hub
Direct line: 020 7238 5903
Email: horse.passports@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Web: www.defra.gov.uk

 

[oldforge]

Quote from Firm: - NED is needed, yes it is too expensive & inaccurate but PIO and
breed societies and Defra, whoever, need to get it to work.

Sadly Firm - That first sentence shot you in the foot. Too expensive and inaccurate. Why promote something where the data is inaccurate and will never be accurate unless huge expenditure is undertaken. Will now wait for stats on the uptake on NED thus far.

BTW There is no overseas horse on NED database shown if there is no British Passport given in the last few years, therefore some of the pedigrees are without value. Many people now are using stallions domiciled abroad with imported semen and there are many imported stallions standing at stud in the UK. So when researching stallions it is absolutely meaningless to breeders who are looking for accurate pedigrees and bloodlines which they can get from Breed Societies or even from free online pedigreee databases which are being built up.

Finding performance data these days is easy either through the disciplines who have all this data to hand or trawling the web. Without NED, the disciplines can put their info up on their own websites and either charge for it or give it away free. Stallion owners have always advertised their horses and a good horse with good offspring promote themselves. However, nothing beats getting in the car having done your research and going on a round robin of discovery to look for the stallion of your dreams.

 

[firm]

Old Forge what I am saying is that NED needs to become more accurate and less expensive.
Because:
There are loads of horse owners out there who want to know more about their horses and do not know where to start. They come on this forum quite often asking. If there was somewhere central to go it would encourage more poeple to be interested in their horse's breeding. People are so chuffed if they find out their horse is related to a HOYS winner or a national SJ, even distant cousins.

There needs to be database to link passport and microchips for help with stolen horses etc.

Seriously you want someone to go to each discipline and then try and hunt down how successful the stallion or the mare's offspring and Uncle and Aunts have been. There is not even that faciilty for pedigree linking and with BS you have to pay for each one unless you are a member even if you own the horse. The stats are skewed in BE league tables if they do not tell you how many offspring the horse had, to get to his number one position.
I wanted to grade my mare recently and I wanted her BS record for her grading and I had to pay for it. I wanted to find the foals she had before I owned her again for her grading, in case any of them are doing well. I don't know their names, which could be different from their passports anyhow or who they were registered with - what a lot of legwork I will have to do to find that out & pay through the nose.
If anyone with an interest in British breeding and on PIO commitees thinks that is an okay situation then really as a small breeder I give up :-(
It is too disjointed.

 

[Rollin]

It would be useful to see the letter DEFRA have sent and quote from it when sending letters to MP's does anyone have a full copy or can someone post a link?

If you go back to the original post there is a link posted.[/QUOTE]

Also Lynne posted it in Horse Breeders Magazine

 

[dianchi]

GUYS!

Rather than moan about it we need to DO something.
Write to your MP's THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR!!!!!

Janet George Wrote the following to her MP (and i have used it and sent it to mine as well) Use it as a template if you want but lets do something rather than stand on the side and complain! (well done Janet Fab letter!)

Hi XXXXX

A rather major issue has just arisen for the horse world - most of them
don't know about it yet as Defra is NOT renowned for 'communication' -
particularly on issues that will be deeply unpopular! (And I assure you
that it WILL be deeply unpopular!!) A so-called 'consultation period' of
less than 3 weeks makes it pretty apparent that Defra doesn't WANT
meaningful consultation!!

As I'm sure you are aware, the horse passport situation is something of a
bad joke - primarily due to Defra's initial incompetence in introducing
passports. There are currently about 80 Passport Issuing Organisations
(PIO's) which include most Breed Societies and some commercial
organisations.

Then there is the National Equine Database (NED) set up a couple of years
ago to bring all the horse data from all the PIO's into one place - that's
a mess too!

Last summer, your colleague, Daniel Kawczynski, asked a question of the
Minister - as follows:

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the percentage of
accessible National Equine Database records of pedigrees which are
accurate; and what assessment he has made of the effect on that level of
accuracy of the (a) absence and (b) lack of public availability of data on
semen imports and artificial insemination.

Mr Paice: As of 8 July 2010, National Equine Database Ltd has reported
that there are 1,389,192 active horse records in the National Equine
Database. Of these, some 56% (774,575 records) have had sire or dam data
supplied by independent breed societies.

Pedigree records are held on the commercial section of the National Equine
Database, which is owned and managed by National Equine Database Ltd on
behalf of the equine sector. The Government do not mandate the collection
of pedigree data, which is provided on a voluntarily basis by breed
societies.

No assessment has been made of the impact of semen imports and artificial
insemination on the number of accurate pedigree records in the National
Equine Database. Such data are not held on the Database. The Government do
not maintain statistics on the artificial insemination of horses."

Putting aside the interesting grammar, the answer would appear to have
made it clear that the Government has no mandate to collect pedigree data
(and presumably therefore cannot GIVE a mandate to a 3rd Party.)

But - on 12th January 2011 - with no hint or whisper of any changes
reaching the PIO's - a letter surfaced - copy attached.

It informs us of Defra's intention to effectively 'dump' NED, and to put
out to tender the entire passport operation - presumably to a commercial
organisation as none of the Breed Societies would be placed to take on the
whole thing! It announces a meeting in London on 24th January (less than
2 weeks notice given) and the opportunity to give feedback in writing by
the end of January. As consultation periods go, this is obscenely short -
particularly as there is NO detail at ALL in Defra's 'proposal'.

Obviously this proposal is of greatest concern to Breed Societies,
particularly those whose 'mother' studbook is in another country, and who
have to follow rules set down by their 'mother' studbook. There is a
useful revenue stream attached to the role of PIO, which helps Breed
Societies cover the costs of maintaining their pedigree databases - all of
which vary enormously in the various studbook sections.

There are several immediate questions the horse world - and in particular
the Breed Societies - need answers to:

1. Is the Government planning to mandate the collection of pedigree data
by an as yet unidentified PIO - and by what 'authority'?

2. How is the Government planning to enforce a requirement that Breed
Societies provide pedigree data to a new 'universal' PIO - and at whose
cost would this provision be?

3. What effect is all this going to have on the cost of passports? In
the last few years, breeders have had to face the extra costs of
micro-chipping all foals - in addition to the costs of having a passport
issued, DNA testing etc. Most breeders are struggling with the recession
anyway - extra costs will see many breeders going out of business and even
the risk of horses being 'dumped' - as currently happening in Ireland!

Heavens - this has gone on a bit and barely scratched the surface of our
concerns! But I think you'll get the picture. It would APPEAR that Defra
has come up with this great idea to avoid providing future funding for NED
- but it appears that little or NO thought has been given to the
complications and the costs!

I would be very grateful indeed if you could take this matter up with Jim
Paice. This IS going to be a very hot potato - and any small saving that
Defra MIGHT be able to make on its budget will exact a heavy price in
terms of Government PR with the Equestrian world!

with kind regards

Come on lets do something about this!

 

[KarynK]

Thank you Janet just what I needed and i must say just what I expected, my MP will be getting his letter tomorrow, will complain to DEFRA anyway just because I can!

But from that their argument is completely blown out of the water. It's because of diversity in data from the PIO's that NED has failed (ha ha ha), but in the new version the PIO's will still have to provide that data! What a load of carp!! Any modern computer system with that much money spent on it can accept data in a mulititude of formats, so what it is really down to is a human failure in those that purchased/built the system and are administering it and without so much as a why did you fail and what are you going to do about it (refund!), horse owners and breeders are going to have to pay for that and more!!

To be honest you can find out more about a horse on FREE to use NO COST TO THE TAXPAYER online pedigree databases than you ever could or will on NED!!

As for stolen equines the first port of call is the Stolen Horse Database never NED as the data on stolen horses on NED is horribly inaccurate and not verrified by Police and Horsewatch like it is on SHD (also free of charge).


Sorry rant over!

 

[dianchi]

Worth a shot also-
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_175041262537967

Sometimes the joys of facebook do get things heard about so i thought it was worth a shot!
Please join up lets get this issue heard!

 

[Maesfen]

GUYS!

Rather than moan about it we need to DO something.
Write to your MP's THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR!!!!!



Come on lets do something about this!

Smugly I sent mine an hour after Janet posted her letter to both my MP and to a Cabinet Minister who lives nearby (it helps that he rides too!) I also emailed SHBGB and Weatherbys to say I hoped they would be sending representatives to the meeting as I was a customer of theirs and wanted to know they had got it covered. More that know the better I think and have also had some feedback from The Horse Exchange who put up the Defra letter too so it is getting out there, slowly.

But I agree, get writing people please.

 

[dianchi]

Well glass of wine for you maesfen!

Come on guys!