§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many extra staff
502W(a) his Department and (b) the agencies for which he is responsible, have employed since 20 March; and what extra staff have been (i) recruited and (ii) deployed from his Department in London to assist regional and local offices in providing information and assistance. [28216]
§ Mr. BoswellCore MAFF, ADAS and the Pesticides safety directorate have employed 31 extra staff since 20 March as follows:
- Casual Administrative Assistants: 15
- Permanent Administrative Assistants: 1
- Casual Administrative Officers: 6
- Permanent Administrative Officers: 1
- Personal Secretaries: 1
- Recruitment Agency Staff: 7
Of these, 30 members of staff were recruited by regional or local offices.
Eight members of staff have been deployed from London to our offices in Tolworth as follows:
- Grade 7s: 2
- Higher Executive Officers: 2
- Executive Officers: 4
Chief executives of other agencies will reply separately.
503WLetter from P. I. Stanley to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 15 May 1966:
STAFF EMPLOYED SINCE 20 MARCH
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to your question about staff employed since 20 March in respect of his Central Science Laboratory (CSL) Agency, as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible. (28216)
Since the date in question CSL has taken on some 54 staff. This includes 15 casual or fixed-term appointees and 33 Regional Bee Inspectors who are employed on short-term contracts to carry out work of a seasonal nature.
Letter from Dr. J. M. Rutter to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 15 May 1996:
The Minister has asked me to reply to your question about extra staff employed since 20 March as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible. (28216)
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has employed 6 extra staff since 20 March. Of these 2 were recruited, 1 transferred from core-MAFF, 2 transferred from the Central Science Laboratory and 1 is on loan from the Department of Health.
Letter from George Trevelyan to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 15 May 1996:
I am replying to your Question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food about the number of additional staff employed by this Agency since 20 March 1996 as this is a matter that falls within my administrative responsibility. (28216)
Since 20 March this year, this Agency has recruited and appointed 54 new staff, ranging from the Higher Executive Officer grade to Clerical and Support Grade staff. Of these, 33 of the new staff have been deployed to help other existing staff working on BSE schemes or additional work arising from the recent announcements about BSE. Some of the other new recruits have been posted to other parts of the Agency in order that a further 10 more experienced permanent staff can be re-deployed to BSE related duties.
The Agency is based in Reading and Newcastle and as the majority of our new staff requirements have been in the non-mobile clerical grades, no additional staff have been deployed from London or from other locations.
Letter from T W. A. Little to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 15 May 1996:
The Minister has asked me to reply to your question on staff recruited since 20 March in the Veterinary Laboratories Agency since 20 March 1996.
13 staff have been recruited and have filled existing vacancies in the Agency.
Letter from Johnston O'Neill to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 15 May 1996:
As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service, your question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food concerning the employment of extra staff since 20 March has been passed for me for reply with respect to this Executive Agency. (28216)
The Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) was launched on 1 April 1996 as an Executive Agency of MAFF. It took over from some 300 local authorities responsibility for enforcement of the hygiene and welfare at slaughter legislation in licensed fresh meat premises in England, Scotland and Wales.
The MHS is responsible for enforcing the enhanced specified bovine offal (SBO), now termed specified bovine material (SBM) controls recommended by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee. These controls are central to the protection of public health from any risk of BSE. They require the removal of all those tissues known to potentially harbour BSE infectivity from all cattle at slaughter. Compliance with these controls is of paramount importance
504WTo ensure the rigorous enforcement of SBM controls the MHS has recruited 47 additional Meat Inspectors (Mls) and 1 Official Veterinary Surgeon (OVS). The MHS has also developed a new concept of "meat technician" to provide back up support to MIs and OVSs and to give additional public assurance that SBM controls are comprehensively enforced. These individuals are required to hold appropriate relevant qualifications, e.g. from the Institute of Meat or have extensive practical experience in the meat trade. 52 meat technicians have now been recruited, 32 of whom are currently on a training course developed by the MHS in conjunction with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, University College Salford, the Royal Society of Health.
The working hours of existing MHS staff have also been increased to ensure the strict enforcement of the controls. 31 casual Meat Inspectors have so far been upgraded to full time inspectors. In addition other staff continue to be redeployed to SBM control functions.
Training on SBM controls is also being provided to all meat inspection staff. To assist in this exercise, the MHS has drawn up a guidance pack and a comprehensive set of slides on SBM controls.