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Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain:
The Evidence Base
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.1.1 This paper is published at the same time as the
main Animal Health and Welfare Strategy (AHWS) document.
Its purpose is to provide analysis of the context in which
the Strategy resides. The contents of the paper is wide
ranging reflecting the diverse agenda of the Strategy
itself.
1.2 Scope
1.2.1 The paper is in two parts. The first part covers
the background to the AHWS drawing on both official and
privately collected statistics. We have sought to establish
a link between the figures we have published and the animal
health and welfare agenda. We have not overlooked companion
animals, animals kept for sport and recreation though
clearly the majority of this part of the paper focuses on
animals kept for food. The second part of the paper covers
the Indicators being developed to help measure the progress
of the strategy towards its aims.
1.3 Status
1.3.1 This is published as an annex to the main strategy
document. This paper has been prepared for the Animal
Health and Welfare Strategy unit by Defra's Economics and
Statistics Directorate. Many of the statistics are drawn
from official sources but some have been extracted from
other publications including figures from the Royal College
of Veterinary Surgeons, British Horse Society, Livestock
Auctioneers Association, RSPCA, Pet Food Manufacturers
Association, Weatherby's Stud Book and the Jockey Club and
data from various farm assurance schemes such as Little Red
Tractor and Quality Meat Scotland. Many of the figures are
published regularly in Defra Statistical notices
http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/statnot/agri.asp
Defra's Animal Health and Welfare website
http://defraweb/animalh/animindx.htm
the Scottish Executive website
http://www.scotland.gov.uk and on
the Welsh Assembly Government website
http://www.wales.gov.uk.
However there may be a demand to bring together the
statistics contained herein into a single publication on a
regular basis.
1.4 Contents
1.4.1 Chapter 2 covers the statistics associated with
the livestock farming industry; the populations of the main
livestock species at farm level, stocking densities and
information on various farm assurance schemes.
1.4.2 Chapter 3 covers the economics of livestock farms.
As well as patterns of income over recent years we also
publish the latest forecasts on the likely economic
consequences of CAP reform. The section also contains a
summary of recent commodity price trends and information on
veterinary expenditure by farms on fees and medicines.
1.4.3 Chapter 4 describes the meat and livestock
industry beyond the farm gate; animal movements between
farm, market, abattoir etc international trade, quantities
of meat production consumption and trends in household
consumption of meat and meat products.
1.4.4 Chapter 5 provides information on animal disease
statistics collected by state veterinarians and others with
information drawn from administrative sources in Defra and
the Devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales.
1.4.5 Chapter 6 provides information on public and
private veterinarians and government research expenditure
on animal health and welfare.
1.4.6 Chapter 7 covers information available on animal
welfare including research activity, the results of
statutory inspections undertaken by the State Veterinary
Service and information on prosecutions initiated by the
RSPCA and parallel activity in Scotland.
1.4.7 Chapter 8 summarises the data available on horses,
companion animals and aquaculture.
1.4.8 Chapter 9 provides a list of the contacts and data
sources used in the compilation of the statistics contained
in this document.
1.4.9 Chapter 10 summarises the work undertaken so far
to develop indicators to measure progress towards the
strategy's objectives.
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