Changes afoot in England and Wales – but progress will be slow By Joanne Briggs, NSA The Red Tape Review (Macdonald Report) in England and Working Smarter Report in Wales both promised to cut red tape, but it has been so long since their publication you would be forgiven for thinking they are just sat on a Government shelf gathering dust. NSA is one of several stakeholder groups sitting on Livestock Identification Core Groups in both nations and is being told the painfully slow progress is due to Government spending cuts reducing staff and removing funding for new projects, and also the need for the electronic sheep databases to be in place before sweeping reforms can be made.
Database launch on 1st April We know the English database will launch on 1st April for farmers (see facing page), with a phased implementation for abattoirs and markets to follow, and (however painful they may be) we now understand the changes being made to tagging options. Wales is slightly behind but has now announced they will be adapting Scot EID into EIDCymru with a planned start date of 1st January 2015; we are also expecting a Welsh consultation on tagging options any day. Both nations have also promised a CPH review and extension of the fivemile sheep movement rule to 10 miles (to bring sheep in line with cattle), which will allow farming businesses to amalgamate CPHs within 10 miles and associate rented land, removing the need to report or record movements. However, this will not be completed until
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Electronic databases will change movement reporting for farmers, market and abattoirs, while the CPH review should ease reporting and recording rules for shorter movements between land parcels. 2018 at the earliest. This is completely different to the announcement made by Defra Secretary of State Owen Paterson in January, which was interpreted by many as an immediate change to the five-mile rule. NSA has taken many enquiries about this, as the change would bring benefits to so many businesses, but regrettably it was a case of poorly presented information. Defra says the timeframe is indicative of how long it has taken them to get financial sign-off from Government for implementation, only recently getting the green light to begin the project that farmers would like to have seen completed years ago.
Proposed changes delayed The CPH review has delayed proposed changes to the six-day standstill rule.
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Both England and Wales were considering separation units for incoming stock (a formally approved building or field where incoming stock could be quarantined, allowing off movements to go ahead sooner than six days) and despite considerable effort by NSA and other stakeholder groups to help Defra and the Welsh Government develop the concept, this has been put on hold until 2018. The only silver lining is that while Wales is saying it will simply pick up the concept of separation units at that time, England is promising a full-scale review of the six-day rule including an assessment of the Northern Ireland decision last year to do away with it completely until a disease outbreak is confirmed. NSA will keep members informed as and when we hear more.
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