Consultation on responsibility and cost sharing for animal Health and welfare: next steps - your views matter
Defra RCS Programme
Area 310
1a Page Street
London SW1P 4PQ
Email: RCSharing@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Web: www.defra.gov.uk
11 December 2007
Dear Consultee
Consultation on responsibility and cost sharing for animal Health and welfare: next steps – your views matter
I am pleased to invite your views on plans to share responsibilities and costs for animal health and welfare with livestock keepers and the wider industry.
The aim of responsibility and cost sharing is to achieve a new relationship which delivers improvement in the health and welfare of farmed animals whilst protecting the general public, the economy and the environment from the effects of animal disease.
I enclose a copy of the Defra document “Responsibility and cost sharing for animal health and welfare: next steps – your views matter“. This is available at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/ahws/sharing/index.htm and follows our December 2006 consultation on the principles of responsibility and cost sharing. This latest document builds on the earlier exercise. Part 1 of the document sets out a range of options for establishing a new framework. Part 2 contains specific proposals on sharing responsibilities and costs for seven TSE measures of direct relevance to the cattle and sheep industries, the animal by-products industry, abattoirs, and laboratories interested in TSE and genotype testing.
In addition to the main document we are publishing a ‘Discussion Guide’. The Guide summarises the main proposals in the document and seeks your views on how to progress responsibility and cost sharing (including specific proposals on BSE and Scrapie). It also offers a framework for discussing the issues, and formulating a response. It can be used either:
- To help you or your organisations arrange discussions to inform your response to the main document; or
- For a shorter response to the key areas of the consultation
We welcome all comments and views from anyone with an interest in this area, even if you feel that only a limited number of the questions in the main document are of direct relevance.
The following documents may be found on Defra’s website:
- Letter to Consultees
- List of Consultees
- Response form
- Discussion Guide and response form
This document is issued for England only.
Responses
Please send responses to either:
Mike Weavers
Defra RCS Programme
Area 310
1a Page Street
London SW1P 4PQ
Email: RCSharing@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Defra is specifically inviting the organisations listed on our website to respond to this consultation, but we would like to hear from anyone who feels they have something to contribute. If you know of others who would be interested in receiving this consultation document, please feel free to pass it on. If you do so, please send their details to the address above so that we can include them in relevant future consultations.
Please ensure your response reaches us by 15 April 2008.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has produced a list of consultation criteria for Government departments, available at http://bre.berr.gov.uk/regulation/consultation/code/criteria.asp They are:
- Consult widely throughout the process, allowing a minimum of 12 weeks for written consultation at least once during the development of the policy;
- Be clear about what your proposals are, who may be affected, what questions are being asked and the timescale for responses;
- Ensure that your consultation is clear, concise and widely accessible;
- Give feedback regarding the responses received and how the consultation process influenced the policy;
- Monitor your department's effectiveness at consultation, including through the use of a designated consultation co-ordinator;
- Ensure your consultation follows better regulation best practice, including carrying out a Regulatory Impact Assessment if appropriate.
In line with Defra´s policy of openness, at the end of the consultation period copies of the responses we have received will be made publicly available through the:
Defra Information Resource Centre
Lower Ground Floor
Ergon House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
The information they contain will also be published in a summary of responses.
If you do not consent to this, you must clearly request that your response be treated confidentially. Any confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system in email responses will not be treated as such a request. You should also be aware that there may be circumstances in which Defra will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations.
The library will supply copies of consultation responses to personal callers or in response to telephone or e-mail requests (telephone 020 7238 6575, email defra.library@defra.gsi.gov.uk). Wherever possible, personal callers should give the library at least 24 hours notice of their requirements. An administrative charge will be made to cover photocopying and postage costs.
If you have any comments or complaints about the consultation process, as opposed to about the issues in the consultation paper, please address them to:
Ms Marjorie Addo
Defra Consultation Co-ordinator
Area 7C Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Email consultation.coordinator@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
Thank you for your help in this matter. If you have any queries please contact us at the address at the head of this letter.
Yours faithfully
Gavin Ross
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Page published: 11 December 2007