GENERAL SECRETARY’S REPORT
Chief Executive’s Appointment
The Association was pleased to see the appointment of Mr Chris Lawson as the
Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service.
Since standing in as Acting Chief Executive Mr Lawson has made great
strides to improve the relationships both inside and outside of the organisation
and as an Association we should congratulate Mr Lawson on turning round the
culture of the MHS Management system in such a short space of time.
Paper by P Hewson
You will find in this copy of the Meat Hygienist a paper by Mr Hewson who is
Head of Meat Science and Strategy, The Foods Standards Agency.
This paper was presented to National Council in order to update us on the
changes which have taken place recently in Brussels.
Taken at face value we would say that these changes which indicate,
certainly a dramatic change of stance since last September when the Chief
Executive of the Foods Standards Agency and the Chief Executive of the Meat
Hygiene Service both declared that Meat Inspectors would be moved across to
industry. This paper represents a
substantial change in thinking. We
have to be clear however that Mr Hewson’s comment at the end of his summary,
that no proposals for change have yet been finalised or even published, tells us
clearly that this is an account which indicates some of the thinking which is
going on in Brussels but does not indicate any substantial change of plan to put
Meat Inspection into industry. Until
this is put in writing and published we feel as a National Council that we
should welcome the paper but reserve our overall comments until we see these
ideas being put into practise.
Privatisation Campaign
The campaign being mounted by the Association Unison and others against the
privatisation of Meat Inspection has made great inroads over the past few
months. Perhaps one of the most
important areas where we have seen progress has been that the Consumer
Organisation has written to the Foods Standards Agency clearly saying that
although they support the modernisation of Meat Inspection they will not support
the removal of the independent control seen within in the industry.
As there is a view, those who were at the Annual General Meeting will know we
received an address by a member of the Scottish Parliament who showed solidarity
with our campaign and wished us well for the future.
Since the election we have received several offers from MPs, both old and
new, to attend the House of Commons to bring them up to date on the information
as to where the campaign is going. Press
coverage of the campaign is increasing with the distribution of the leaflet put
out by the Association as well as the material provided by Unison.
Recent articles produced by the Association includes one which will go
out across Sustain the Consumer Organisation in their publication for the Food
Commission. We have also been able
to contribute a small item to the Country File Programme which goes out on
Sunday. Although the items was only
six and a half minutes it did raise awareness which I am sure will result in
even greater support for our campaign.
Meeting with the Deputy Chairman – Foods Standards Agency
A meeting was held in Bridgwater on 19th June between the General
Secretary and Ms Suzie Leather the Deputy Chair of the Food Standards Agency who
is charged with responsibility for the group who have an over view of the meat
industry. I have set out agreed
notes for that very useful exchange of views in a separate article, Ms Leather
seems to have a good grasp of the problems facing the industry & meat
inspection at the present time.
CPD
With the launch of the CPD/Skills Maintenance Modules there has been a very
large uptake from Inspectors right across the county.
However with such a large uptake the Meat Hygiene Service is struggling
to get out the number of modules. This
is mainly due to the lack of mentors coming forward who are qualified and are
able to assist other Meat Inspectors in completing the modules.
We are hoping that work currently undertaken by the Meat Hygiene Service
will open up this bottleneck and Inspectors will not have to wait for an
inordinate amount of time. Please
see the letter written by the Chairman of the CPD Board, Mr Bob Huey.
On Continuing Professional Development the Association has had talks with the
Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) who have a CPD scheme
for non-Environmental Health officers. REHIS
has kindly offered the use of this scheme for our members which will compliment
the proposals written down in the MHS/AMI scheme and will also provide a record
book of training and CPD work for each Meat Inspector which will clearly
indicate the total work carried out on continuing Professional Development by
Inspectors.
Seminar 2001
As ever this years seminar looks set to break records, I am pleased to report
that the MHS have agreed to sponsor 70 meat inspector delegates, to get
one of these places you must apply to your regional director.
Any inspector who fails to obtain sponsorship from the MHS can apply to
the Association via your divisional secretary who will assess the application
and pass it to the Executive committee for decision.
Yet more good news is that those travelling together in a car (4 persons) and
attending the Unison fringe meeting will have a contribution to travelling costs
met.
With a good platform of speakers, an informal dinner on the Saturday evening, a
chance to meet fellow professionals and colleagues, and a opportunity to find
out the latest information on the changes coming out of Europe & the UK, it
must be too good to miss.
I hope to see you all in September at Harper Adams.