§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the range of hourly rates; and what is the overall average hourly rate charged to abattoirs for the services of official veterinary surgeons. [11892]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe range of official veterinary surgeon hourly rates provided by the Meat Hygiene Service is from £17.50 to £140 before the application of capping for the 1995–96 financial year, which keeps the normal time rate to a maximum of £35 per hour. Overtime rates are not capped.
The overall average hourly rate charged to abattoirs for OVS services is £32.42.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many local veterinary inspectors there are currently; and how they are(a) selected and (b) paid. [11692]
695W
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 25 January 1996]: At 1 January 1995 there were 5,722 local veterinary inspectors. Data for 1 January 1996 have not yet been collated.
Before an LVI is appointed, he/she must be a member of an established veterinary practice. For an initial appointment they must have spent at least three months in the practice. They will be subject to interview and procedural training carried out by MAFF. The initial LVI appointment is provisional for a period of six months during which time a field assessment may be carried out by the divisional veterinary manager or one of his or her veterinary officers. If duties have been carried out satisfactorily, full appointment will be granted at the end of the six months period, otherwise further training must be undertaken.
Where LVIs carry out services directly for the Minister, they are paid in accordance with the scale of fees agreed between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the British Veterinary Association. Where an LVI carries out work directly for his/her client, the fee is a private matter between the client and the LVI.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the certification procedures operated by the local veterinary inspectors. [11693]
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 25 January 1996]: A working party was set up by senior managers of the state veterinary service in September 1993. This working party was chaired by Mr. Hugh Morris, a divisional veterinary officer.
The terms of reference were to examine existing export procedures in both animal health offices and the field; to make recommendations to policy divisions and senior managers to ensure that high standards of veterinary health certification would be maintained and that there were mechanisms in place to monitor those standards.
The report of the working party, which has become known as the Morris report, was written for internal management purposes and was not intended for publication. It confirmed that the necessary information and instructions were already available. However, some deficiencies were identified both in the administrative procedures in some animal health offices and in the standards of identification and examination of animals by local veterinary inspectors. The report made more than 80 recommendations to correct these deficiencies, including the re-writing of existing instructions to make them more user friendly.
All necessary action has been taken on the major recommendations of the report to ensure that high standards of veterinary export certification are maintained.