§ Viscount Exmouthasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether slaughterhouse owners and operators are entitled to have access to the Meat Hygiene Service operations manual for the purpose of study and verification; and whether it will cause one copy of the manual to be supplied to each licensed premises for the exclusive use of slaughterhouse operators. [HL3100]
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)Slaughterhouse owners and operators have access to the Meat Hygiene Service Operations Manual via the official veterinary surgeon designated to their plant.218WA Additional copies and subsequent updates can be purchased from the MHS should slaughterhouse owners or operators wish to have copies of their own.
§ Lord Stanley of Alderleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many slaughterhouses and poultry processing plants they expect to close as a direct result of the increase in veterinary hours imposed on their operators; and whether this will represent, overall, an improvement in the hygiene of the meat supply. [HL3103]
§ Lord DonoughueIt is not known how many, if any, slaughterhouses and poultry processing plants will close as a direct result of the increase in veterinary hours. Plants close for a number of reasons dependent upon the circumstances pertaining at each plant. As we do not know which, if any, plants will close, it is not possible to identify whether this will represent an improvement in the hygiene of the meat supply.
§ Lord Stanley of Alderleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether slaughterhouses owners and operators are entitled to ask for verbal directions and advice given to them or their staff by official veterinary surgeons to be confirmed in writing as soon as practicable after they have been given; and whether they will instruct the Meat Hygiene Service to make arrangements to ensure that such directions and advice are so confirmed. [HL3104]
§ Lord DonoughueWhere appropriate and necessary, slaughterhouse owners and operators are entitled to ask for verbal directions and advice given to them or their staff by official veterinary surgeons to be confirmed in writing as soon as is practicable. However, it would be impractical for OVSs to confirm in writing every instruction or piece of advice that they impart during their day-to-day work in slaughterhouses.
Lord Blythasked Her Majesty's Government:
What formal system is in place for meat hygiene inspectors employed by the Meat Hygiene Service to complain about the competence and performance of official veterinary surgeons in slaughterhouses and poultry processing plants; and what measures exist to prevent inspectors who complain from being victimised; and [HL3192]
Whether they will set up a telephone help-line to enable meat hygiene inspectors to make complaints about the performance and competence of official veterinary surgeons. [HL3193]
§ Lord DonoughueMeat Hygiene Service staff have access to both a formal grievance procedure and a procedure for dealing with violence and intimidation in the workplace. These are considered to be sufficient.
§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is appropriate for an experienced meat hygiene inspector to take instructions from a junior 219WA veterinary surgeon who holds the post of official veterinary surgeon as to the judgment of meat fitness during post-mortem inspections. [HL3206]
§ Lord DonoughueYes, it is. This is because the ultimate decision and responsibility as to the fitness of a carcass for human consumption rests with the official veterinary surgeon.
§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much the meat industry has contributed to the pension fund for Meat Hygiene Service staff in the last financial year; and how much it is estimated that it will contribute in the current financial year. [HL3227]
§ Lord DonoughueThe meat industry does not make any contribution to the MHS pension fund.
The total pension fund contributions made by the Meat Hygiene Service during 1998–99 were approximately £1.9 million.
Under the Treasury Fees and Charges Guide and the legislation which sets out the costs that can be recovered through meat hygiene inspection charges, staff pension costs are included as permissible costs. Approximately £1.1 million of the MHS pension costs were recovered through industry charges in 1998–99 and a broadly equivalent figure will be recovered in 1999–2000.
§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Donoughue on 16 June (WA 28), whether a Meat Hygiene Service operations manual is issued to owners or operators of every licensed slaughterhouse and cutting plant to enable them to follow the procedures for appeals against hygiene assessment scheme scores. [HL3255]
§ Lord DonoughueSlaughterhouse owners and operators have access to the Meat Hygiene Service operations manual via the official veterinary surgeon designated to their plant. Additional copies and subsequent updates can be purchased from the MHS should slaughterhouse owners or operators wish to have copies of their own.
Lord Blythasked Her Majesty's Government:
What performance indicators are used to measure the performance of the Meat Hygiene Service. [HL3261]
§ Lord DonoughueThe Meat Hygiene Service is set performance targets each year by Ministers. These targets, and the MHS performance against them, are published in the MHS annual report and accounts, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Viscount Longasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Meat Hygiene Service requires any records to be kept as to the number of carcasses in slaughterhouses which have been recommended for condemnation by meat hygiene inspectors, 220WA following post-mortem inspections, where those recommendations have been rejected by official veterinary surgeons. [HL3321]
§ Lord DonoughueThe Meat Hygiene Service does not keep a record of the number of times official veterinary surgeons overrule meat hygiene inspectors on recommendations for carcass condemnations. However, the MHS does record the reasons for rejection of any meat that is condemned.
Viscount Longasked Her Majesty's Government:
To whom, and in what manner, a meat hygiene inspector may appeal in the event that his recommendation to condemn a carcass in a slaughterhouse, following his post-mortem inspection, is rejected by his official veterinary surgeon; and what arrangements are in force for the retention of such a carcass pending the determination of any appeal; and [HL3322]
In the event that a meat hygiene inspector determines, following a post-mortem inspection in a slaughterhouse, that a carcass should be condemned, and his recommendation is rejected by his official veterinary surgeon, whether the meat hygiene inspector is obliged to apply his personal stamp; and who takes responsibility for the condition of the carcass in the event that the meat derived from it is subsequently found to be unfit. [HL3323]
§ Lord DonoughueThe ultimate decision and responsibility as to the fitness of a carcass for human consumption rests with an official veterinary surgeon. A meat hygiene inspector can therefore be instructed by an OVS to apply a health mark to any carcass.
If a meat hygiene inspector is aggrieved with an OVS's professional judgment, those concerns can be raised through the Meat Hygiene Service's grievance procedure.
No arrangements are in force for the retention of a carcass pending the determination of any appeal.
§ Lord Palmerasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many letters to slaughterhouse owners and operators were written and signed by the chief executive of the Meat Hygiene Service in the financial years 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 and 1998–99; and how many letters sent by slaughterhouse owners and operators, addressed to the chief executive, were received by the Meat Hygiene Service in the same periods. [HL3327]
§ Lord DonoughueThe chief executive of the Meat Hygiene Service has written to slaughterhouse owners and operators on numerous occasions in the period 1995 to 1999 and has also received many letters from slaughterhouse owners and operators. Information relating to the exact number of letters sent and received is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.