The Scottish Government

SCOTTISH ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE ADVISORY GROUP MEETING 18 JANUARY 2006 MINUTES

Agenda

1. Minutes of Meeting of 14th October 2005

2. Matters Arising

3. Welfare and Scottish priorities

4. Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Conference - next steps

5. Biosecurity

6. Round-up of activities

7. AOB and future agenda items

Paper 1.1 Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Conference - next steps

Paper 1.2 Biosecurity

Attendees

Members

Charles Milne - Chief Veterinary Officer (Scotland) (chair)

Ian Anderson - Head of Animal Health and Welfare Division, SEERAD

Kay Driver - Chief Executive, Scottish SPCA

Bill McKelvey - Chief Executive, SAC

Andy Robertson - Chief Executive, NFU Scotland

Mike Robson - President, Scottish Branch British Veterinary Association

Invitees

Nick Ambrose - SEERAD, Science and Research Group

Donald Biggar - Interim Chairman, QMS

Alistair Lawrence - Head of Animal Welfare, SAC

Secretariat

Neil Ritchie - Animal Health and Welfare Division, SEERAD

Alex Young - Animal Health and Welfare Division, SEERAD

Apologies

Julie Fitzpatrick - Chief Executive, Moredun Research Institute

Stuart Reid - Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow

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1. Members were welcomed to this meeting of the Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Advisory Group and agreed the minutes of the previous meeting.

2. The Chair thanked members for their contributions to the Scottish Conference, which all agreed was a successful event.

3. It was agreed that all other action points from the previous meeting had been covered.

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4. The Group had agreed at previous meetings to give further, more focussed consideration to welfare issues and the chair introduced two presentations on the subject (for which the slides are available from the secretariat on request) given by Kay Driver and Alistair Lawrence

5. Kay talked about the structure of the SSPCA and the work they do, focussing in particular on specific welfare cases, while Alistair discussed welfare research - concentrating on the animal's perspective and the importance of being able to reliably measure welfare. Some interesting discussion points emerged from these presentations, including:

· The importance of maintaining farms in good condition to encourage high levels of biosecurity.

· Welfare issues are best considered as part of an overall welfare improvement strategy e.g. in the European "Welfare Quality" project [1].

· Socio economics of welfare are important, especially where they can give us a better idea of costs and benefits.

· Work to achieve the health-related Scottish targets should have a positive impact on welfare standards

· Where welfare standards are applied there is a need to educate the industry in order to maximise buy-in to improving these.

· We should encourage training and development of both stockmen and welfare inspectors (and this in itself is a possible Scottish welfare priority)

6. Ian Anderson gave a brief summary of the Minister's meeting with the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). FAWC have offered to produce reports for this group on the measurement of welfare and will be happy to be invited to group meetings as and when appropriate.

ACTION: Group members to consider welfare issues and potential Scottish welfare priorities for discussion at the next meeting

ACTION: SEERAD to provide figures for welfare prosecutions relating to farm livestock and the number of welfare visits made by the SVS.

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7. A brief summary was given of the Scottish priorities, which were broadly endorsed by the Conference, in particular the position with regard to setting baselines. These were agreed subject to minor amendments; particularly highlighting that eradication of BVD should be aimed for on an area by area basis.

8. The Chair suggested that the Group should now consider how the priorities could be implemented via a Scottish Programme of work. There were a number of suggestions relating to this, in particular the need to support animal keepers by providing targeted and relevant information. We should also communicate best practice for the achievement of the targets directly to farmers (possibly via a DVD). Other comments focussed on the need to determine how and in what order we should tackle the priorities via an action plan.

ACTION: SEERAD to obtain further information on baseline setting.

ACTION: SEERAD to liaise with NFUS on a Sheep Scab Survey.

ACTION: SEERAD to produce a paper outlining a potential framework for a Scottish Programme to address the priorities. To be circulated prior to the next meeting along with a table indicating the costs associated with each disease/priority on the list.

ACTION: SEERAD, SAC and QMS to liaise over content of the Animal Health and Welfare Management Programmes DVD, potentially to include links to the Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Priorities.

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9. The Chair emphasised that the Minister had expressed concern at the current levels of biosecurity and had asked for the Group's views on this.

10. The general view was that biosecurity is not as high as it could be, and indeed some have said that it has fallen to pre 2001 levels. It was felt that continuing to specifically target biosecurity issues may not be the best way forward. Rather, the Group considered it may be best to approach these issues as part of other work e.g. the Animal Health and Welfare Management Programmes DVD or the new Cattle Health Declaration.

11. It was also suggested that it may be useful to facilitate industry led knowledge transfer between farmers on biosecurity. This could be done in a similar way to David Austin's presentation at the Scottish Conference - explaining how bad practice can lead, in some cases, to poor animal health and subsequent financial losses, as well as affecting other farm businesses.

ACTION: NFUS and SEERAD to liaise over the launch of the Cattle Health Declaration.

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12. The chair offered members the opportunity to share with the Group any recent or upcoming work from within their organisations. This included:

· A round up of upcoming SAC activities including new jointly funded footrot research, the publication of a SEERAD sponsored SAC surveillance newsletter and technical notes relating to contagious notifiable diseases and biosecurity

· The BVA are concerned that changes to the OTMS scheme may compromise animal welfare, and asked about trailer standards

· QMS are concerned about issues relating to cattle clipping, loading and unloading and how this compromises food safety, quality and animal welfare, as well as the Health and Safety of producers and their staff. They are looking to discuss this with the Meat Hygiene Service

· SEERAD offered a summary of progress on the AHW Bill, a consideration of future tier 3 AHWMP measures and biosecurity advisory activity. In addition a draft agenda for the 2006 GB AHW Conference was provided to members.

ACTION: SEERAD to provide Mike Robson with contact details at the Meat Hygiene Service.

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13. SEERAD are organising a seminar to discuss the draft Best Practice Abroad report. This seminar will offer people the chance to contribute to the report before it is finalised, and is likely to be held in early March.

14. The Group was informed that SAC have approached SEERAD about the possibility of jointly staging the 2006 Scottish Animal Health and Welfare Conference, which could help further develop links with the SEERAD Science Strategy. Members agreed to this in principal, possibly over two days, and thought that a meeting should be held to discuss it.

15. The AHW Division have recently received requests from a number of organisations asking to be considered for membership of this Group, and this has been discussed with the Minister. The Group agreed with the Minister's view that any change to the current membership may inhibit the effectiveness with which they are currently working. It was agreed that in future organisations should be invited to contribute to the group if required for specific subjects.

16. The following topics were suggested for the next meeting:

· Research - SAC and Moredun to collaborate on a paper.

· Scottish Programme of Priorities and Targets (may become a standing item)

17. It was also suggested that surveillance is something we should cover at a future meeting.

ACTION: SEERAD to canvass availability for the Best Practice Abroad seminar in late February/early March

ACTION: SAC and SEERAD to liaise on the 2006 Animal Health and Welfare Conference.

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Purpose

1. To seek the Group's agreement to the baselines for the Scottish priorities and to discuss the actions required in any Scottish Programme of work.

Background

2. At the last meeting the group discussed the list of priorities which had been drawn up at the previous meeting and had been commented on in correspondence. This discussion was fed into the table of targets, a version of which was distributed to attendees at the Scottish Conference.

3. The breakout groups in the afternoon gave attendees the opportunity to discuss the priorities and the Conference Report summarises these comments. There was broad agreement to these, and some of the additional comments made are included in the revised table attached at Annex A. There were some useful suggestions, particularly with regard to the action we will need to take to help achieve the targets.

Finalising baselines

4. What we need to consider now are the next steps that will be required, and the table sets out the current position - in particular highlighting those areas where we need to obtain data or where further research is required. For some areas we will be able to put the target in place quickly, for others the immediate task will be to set baselines, some of which will be achieved by specific surveys.

5. We can then begin to develop a Scottish Programme and will need to consider the actions required for this. At the Conference the industry accepted the challenge provided by the targets, and will now need to be clearly signposted through the Programme. This could involve elements such as a consideration of further research and the communication of good biosecurity measures. Key themes for implementing this Scottish Programme are attached at Annex B.

Conclusion

6. The Group's views on implementation of the priorities are invited, in particular on the action we need to take to monitor progress and communicate the targets to the industry through a Scottish Programme.

ANNEX A - PRIORITIES AND TARGETS: NEXT STEPS

One priority which was initially highlighted for further research, but could now be considered as an addition to the above list:

ANNEX B - OVERVIEW OF A SCOTTISH PROGRAMME

The Scottish Programme will involve targets for the achievement of the priorities over the ten year period of the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy - by July 2014. This programme will involve key themes and activities such as:

· Monitoring - A consistent long term monitoring programme will need to be set up to measure progress towards achievement of the targets. It has been recognised, and is therefore important to note that incidence could rise with increased monitoring.

· Knowledge Transfer - The importance of some of the priorities on the list is not widely recognised. All must be as widely recognised as possible if the targets are to be achieved. To this end we will need to ensure effective transfer of research and knowledge and other relevant data e.g. abattoir information, to animal keepers on the ground.

· Costs and Benefits - It will be important for farmers to appreciate that the costs associated with the improvements needed to achieve the targets, will be offset by the potential benefits that they may accrue in future.

· Links to the SEERAD Science Strategy - In order to set some of the baselines we will need to commission some research. It is important that throughout the process we maintain links with the research going on under the umbrella of the SEERAD Science Strategy.

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Purpose

7. To seek the Group's views on the current levels of biosecurity in Scotland and to identify what could be done to help raise this further.

Background

8. Concern has been expressed from a number sources about the existing level of biosecurity, particularly the perception that they have fallen back to pre-2001 levels. Mr Finnie has asked for the Group's views on the current situation and what can be done. It is recognised that some of this falls into the more general debate of how the Scottish priorities will be met but the Group's reactions will be useful at this stage to assess the current level of attention to bio security and opportunities to raise it further.

9. Biosecurity was a key pillar of the Executive's response to the Foot and Mouth Disease inquiries as one of the pillars in minimising the risk of future disease outbreaks (the others were minimising the risk of disease being imported into the country and maximising our preparedness to respond where it does). It is recognised that there is a lack of clarity among some individuals on the meaning of the term Biosecurity. For our purposes we have defined it as:

Biosecurity is about taking action to reduce the risk of disease occurring or spreading to other animals.

10. In some quarters Biosecurity is often regarded in terms of providing disinfectant at the farm gate. There are two problems with this - it is about much more than having disinfection facilities, but even when that is all a farmer has, it is not used sufficiently. In recent years we have undertaken a number of initiatives to raise the level of biosecurity and these are identified at Annex A. However, concern has been expressed that practices are not as good as they could be - eg greater care in considering health status when buying in stock.

Conclusion

11. The Group's views on the current level of biosecurity in Scotland is invited. In particular do all sectors have biosecurity measures/practices in place and, if so, how can they be effectively tightened up?

ANNEX - BIOSECURITY KEY AREAS

Farm level

Biosecurity Code of Practice

Development of SVQ training module in biosecurity (for inclusion in entry level and/ or targeted training)

Practical support through Biosecurity Advisory Activity

Specific guidance on sourcing of stock

Markets

Market biosecurity guidance

Hauliers

Best practice included within Market Biosecurity guidance

[1] For further details see http://www.welfarequality.net/everyone

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