What changes
a year can bring!
Privatisation
Last year in my report, the vast bulk of information was
dealing with the Food Standard Agency’s attempt to privatise the meat
inspection service in the
The large amount of work that the Association, our members and Unison put into this campaign paid off, with dividends which brought on board not only people directly connected with your Association and Union, but also plant owners and veterinary colleagues. The final nail in this privatisation coffin, was administered by the Consumers Association coming on board, following the lead taken by the European Consumers Association and indeed the European Veterinary Association in declaring that this would be a disastrous idea for public health.
So congratulations must go to all those members who took time to fill in the material, contact their MPs and support the campaign. You can take pride in knowing that not only have you managed to protect your careers and ensure that in the future you will be working as Civil Servants, but also that there will be a system of public health in place for the future which will properly protect the consumer.
Although this campaign has been a
success, we need to be ever vigilant.
There is still a large amount of people industry who believe
that ultimately they will carry the responsibility for meat inspection within
the plants, and I have to say this view is shared by some in the FSA. This is totally at odds with what your
Association, your
We must, therefore, ensure that
we are represented at all the various meetings, Boards, discussion groups etc.
which are put on, and also have representation at the Food Standards Agency
open Board meetings which are held throughout the country. Please attend these meetings whenever you can
and make the point that meat inspection should remain the duty and the
responsibility of the state. We agree as
a professional organisation that it is industry’s responsibility to produce
clean, wholesome and fit products but it is also the duty of the state to
maintain and ensure the protection of public health. This should not and cannot be devolved to
industry.
We have won a tremendous battle but I don’t think we are through the war yet.
Unison, their representative Ben
Priestley, as well as our own national convenor Ron Spellman, have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Association
throughout this campaign. Indeed Unison
has to a large extent bankrolled the campaign and used its influences both in
the Houses of
Parliament and also the European Parliament to ensure there is a constant lobby
against the proposals. The thanks of the
Association must go out directly to these two people for the tremendous work
they have done on behalf of not only the membership but also the consumers in
the
We formed the alliance in the
early part of last year. The alliance
had a single aim which was to ensure an independent meat inspection system in
the
The Association is aware of how poor morale is within the Meat Hygiene Service at the present time and this is hardly surprising following the results of the last few years with meat inspectors becoming the whipping boys of the MHS and then being told they weren’t wanted at all! However, the Association is pleased that with the advent of the new Chief Executive, relationships and joint working with the Meat Hygiene Service is certainly on a better level. Chris Lawson, has made real efforts to get out and meet as many of the members in meetings as he can, to explain his point of view and I think it’s fair to say he seeks to re-assure meat inspectors that at least for the foreseeable future, meat inspection will remain within the Food Standards Agency, whilst still being non-committee as to what form that service will take.
One of our complaints last year was the lack of information that the Association received about working groups and consultation papers, believe me this has changed over the last twelve months. In fact, since Seminar in September last year, as General Secretary, I have put in 32 days on behalf of the Association in various consultations and meetings, and in all over the full year the total approaches something like 60 days.
All this, without being able to get out and meet with you at Divisional meetings. The cost of travelling to all these various venues around the country is also something which is having a marked effect on Association finances. However, we are approaching the Food Standards Agency which we understand does support charities in the form of expenses for travelling to and from meetings, as the Association is a non-profit making, mutual organisation, which supports a charitable trust, we hope that the FSA will extend this to members representing the Association at meetings.
The Divisional Secretaries have also played a large part in the consultation process throughout the year with a number of very large documents being processed and replies being sent, not just to the FSA but also back into the European Parliament. What we have tried to do is to encourage the Divisional Secretaries to set up a group of consultees within each of the Divisions, so the consultations that we receive back do not just represent the views of a minority who sit on Council but the actual views of working meat inspectors out in the field. If you have not been approached or as yet haven’t approached your Divisional Secretary, to play this important role in this part of the Association’s work, then please do so. It is not onerous and it is you, the members, who have the expertise that we need to tap into to ensure that meat inspection in the future is based on fact and not myth.
The Meat Inspection Regulations
are currently being revised by the European Union. The Association received a
consultation document at the back end of last year to which both the AMI and
Unison responded. Evidently this work on
“modernisation” has been going on in
As a result of these
consultations Union officials went to
One of the most interesting
discussions on the day with SANCO was the discussions about the PIA system in
the
The draft M.I. Regulations are due out April/May time and as with the last consultation document, will be circulated to Divisional Secretaries for comments by them and their working groups, in order that we can supply a full and comprehensive answer to the consultation.
The emphasis on education and improving standards is one that the Association has taken on some years ago and is, of course, one of our core objectives.
A part of the draft Regulations
that we were pleased to see was the requirement of training within courses
being regularised across
There is also, in conjunction with the Association, an NVQ in meat inspection being developed by the Meat Training Council. We are playing a full part in this project with input from our members on working groups playing an important role in ensuring the quality of the end product. It has been agreed with all the partners, including the MHS, that prior to anybody taking the NVQ they will be qualified first, by way of completing a certification of meat inspection course. In this way we will ensure that for the future there is no chance of unqualified people working in plants carrying out meat inspection.
Further to this aim, the AMI is
currently working with the providers of meat inspection courses to agree to put
together a single syllabus which will cover all of the
The CPD Board, assisted by John Bower, who has ably driven this project on since taking it on, has managed to a greater extent to get the modules out to all those members who have requested them. I am assured, by Monica Redmond that all those meat inspectors who have asked for a module have been sent a module.
We are aware that there were problems last year in getting this project off the ground. We hope that these problems have now been dismissed and CPD is moving forward evenly across the country. Should there be any problems with obtaining modules or the system itself, then please let your Divisional Secretaries know. They will bring that information either to me directly or through Council, we can then address the problems with the Meat Hygiene Service.
It would be wrong not make a comment about the sterling efforts of our representatives on the CPD Board, John Pratt and David Clapham, who do a good job for the AMI and have worked long and hard to ensure the quality of the CPD modules that ultimately will result in a qualification worth having, with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons amending their rules to cover the Certificate and Diploma in February this year.
David Clapham’s work on the CPD Board and also as an educational adviser to National Council was recognised at last year’s Seminar when he was given the Robin Irish Award for services to the Association. David’s knowledge and understanding of the educational aspects of the meat inspection system have proved invaluable to the Association over the past few years. Well done Dave!
The Associations Trust has asked the CPD Board to put a display on at Annual Seminar this year and hopefully members will be able to see there the full range of CPD modules available.
A further amount of interest has
been generated in
Once again we are on the run in
to Seminar and although we say it year in, year out, “we won’t be able to top
last year”, we believe the line up for this year’s Seminar is exceptional. We have been fortunate to secure two
Environmental Health Officers as speakers.
One from
Friday evening will be an open debate again, this has proved highly popular with members, so come along and ask the questions you have always wanted to ask, but didn’t dare!
The Meat Hygiene Service has agreed sponsorship of 70 places at seminar and we believe that these are becoming quickly filled, so if you haven’t already made your application, send one off as quickly as possible to your Divisional Directors.
I hope to see you all in September at annual Seminar.
Best Wishes.