Hampton Principle

Regulators, and the regulatory system as a whole, should use comprehensive risk assessment to concentrate resources in the areas that need them most.

Regulators' Compliance Code

• To ensure that the allocation of their regulatory efforts and resources are targeted by assess the risks to their regulatory outcomes. Ensuring that risk assessment precedes and informs all aspects of their approaches to regulatory activity.
• Risk assessment should be based on all available relevant and good quality data.
• All relevant factors should be given consideration when evaluating the likelihood of non- compliance.
• To consult and involve regulated entities and interested parties when designing risk methodologies and publish details of the methodologies.
• To regularly review and where appropriate, improve their risk methodologies taking into account feedback and other information from regulated entities and interested parties

Enforcement Policy

Animal Health, along with Defra and other members of the Defra network, is responsible for enforcing a wide range of legal obligations. Animal Health is currently included in Defra’s Enforcement Policy statement which sets out the general principles we follow in relation to regulation and its enforcement options when legal obligations are breached. In these cases a proportionate and risk-based approach is deployed.

Evidence of changes made to programmes, programmes delivered or ways in which activities are run that reflects the code:

The larger part of Animal Health work is classed as surveillance rather than inspections. For the main part this surveillance is risk based such as the TB testing regime where a testing pattern for individual herds or groups of herds in a geographical area is designed based on a number of factors including disease incidence in the area. Where true inspections are required e.g. Animal By Product Plants, a risk based regime has been developed and employed but now needs developing to widen the risk factors involved.

Circumstances where the Code’s provisions are either not relevant or are outweighed by other relevant considerations

In some areas of Animal Health work, inspection regimes are laid down in European legislation for instance an annual random welfare survey is required in the relevant Directive.

Future work and long term ambitions that will reflect the code

We are working with policy customers in Defra to develop further the current risk based regimes and to ensure that implementation plans for any future or planned policies are risk based.