As a consequence of the agencies review, as well as other external influences, we took the opportunity to scrutinise our business during the year with a view to setting a clear direction for the next five years.
We consulted widely - involved our main customers as well as our staff - and drew up a new mission statement, key aims and a vision for our science. These are the foundation stones for our five-year strategy, which builds on the achievements of previous years, and includes a new development programme for our science. I am personally leading this development programme and I have asked each of my directors to lead one of four projects:

1. Developing our Science

• look in detail at the science carried out in-house, with
  collaborating partners and contracted out to external companies
• establish centres in biomics, and in epidemiology and risk research
• look at the development requirements for our whole animal sciences

2. Delivering our Science

• look at how we build on our extensive collaborative network
• include a plan for achieving ISO9001 right across the agency
• further develop and embed our project and programme management

3. Knowledge Management

• establish an integrated long-term knowledge management strategy for the agency
• deliver important pilot projects in the short term

4. Organisational Design

• review the structure of the organisation, both in science and support services
• deliver the best possible services to our customers

I look forward to updating you on progress of these projects in future annual reviews.

Diagram The complex inter-relationships of VLA activities. Click here to open

Once again we have achieved all of the targets set by our
Defra Ministers.
As in previous years we balanced our books as well as delivering efficiency improvements. We established a baseline for customer satisfaction and look forward to bettering this in future years. We maintained all of our third party quality accreditations - a notable achievement was gaining ISO9001 certification for the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) tissue archive unit. This was a tremendous effort. We also made excellent progress toward achieving our own internal measures and targets, which we manage using a balanced scorecard. In parallel with this we have developed a corporate risk register, which helps us to identify, manage and mitigate those risks that could potentially affect our business.

Science is our core business and as ever we achieved a lot during the year. All of our staff should be congratulated. The TSE programme continues to be our largest area of work. The sheep scrapie survey conducted in 2002 was a massive undertaking, a considerable challenge and also a great success story. This project exemplified the importance of our regional laboratory network as well as our strong links with industry. Our long-term research programme continued to yield results - some unexpected! There have been a number of staff changes during the year, and we welcome a number of new colleagues to the team.

Tuberculosis (TB) related work still felt the impact of the 2001 foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak when many routine surveillance activities were suspended. Resumption of TB skin testing resulted in above average numbers of infected herds being identified. The resultant increase in samples for testing exceeded our normal capacity but again the value of our regional network of laboratories paid real dividends as we were able to upgrade additional facilities to meet the demand.

Initiating the first phase of building the new containment laboratories at VLA Weybridge

Emergency response to animal disease emergencies is a key priority for VLA.
We were involved in a wide range of headline grabbing stories. Our rabies team detected a rabies-related virus in a Daubenton’s bat in Lancashire and later the same year detected the same virus in a bat conservationist in Scotland. The first confirmation of Brucella abortus in cattle in Great Britain since 1993 highlighted the importance of continued surveillance for the disease. As a reference laboratory for a wide range of diseases we also get involved in disease outbreaks in other countries - such as outbreaks of avian influenza in Chile and more recently in the Netherlands; and Newcastle Disease in Denmark. A national survey was started in January 2003 to determine the prevalence of a range of food-borne pathogens and the level of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from cattle, sheep and pigs.

Working on the sheep scrapie survey

Next year and beyond - again we face exciting times.
Our parent department itself is undergoing many changes, which will continue to impact on us. The new Defra Science and Innovation Strategy sets out the broad canvas within which we operate. We are working with Defra in the development of their animal health and welfare strategy as well as a new veterinary surveillance strategy. As key players in these areas, we in VLA look forward to working with them to help implement the strategies.
We will no doubt face many scientific challenges along the way as well. Some we will have been able to predict and some maybe not so.

Whatever the challenge - be it scientific or otherwise - I am confident that VLA can meet it head on and make a success of it -
it has done for over 100 years!

Professor Steve Edwards Chief Executive