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MHS Board Minutes: 26 September 2007
Friday 21 December 2007
Meeting Held at at Monks Cross, York
Chair
Ian Reynolds
MHS Board Members
Celia Bennett
Tim Bennett
Chrissie Dunn
Maureen Edmondson
John Harwood
Deryk Mead
Alick Simmons
Officials participating
Steve McGrath, MHS
Kathryn Davies, MHS
Jane Downes, MHS
Mike Greaves, MHS
Kevin Goddard, MHS (Item 8)
Secretariat
David Bramley, MHS
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The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting.
Apologies had been received from the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) and observers from FSA including representatives of FSA Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Conflicts of interest
The Chair of the MHS Board noted previous declarations of interests:
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Tim Bennett, as a cattle farmer
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the Chair of the MHS Board, as his brother-in-law is a sheep farmer
The MHS Board agreed that these were not material conflict of interests and that they would only need to be re-declared if there was a change to them or prior to discussion of an agenda item where there could be a potential conflict of interest.
No other interests were declared.
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MHS Board members agreed the minutes as an accurate record of the MHS Board meetings held on 25 April and 30 August 2007.
With regard to the discussion in August on FSA work to change EU legislation so that it was more proportionate and risk based:
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John Harwood, FSA Chief Executive and MHS Board member, said that he had taken a recent opportunity to advise the UK ambassador designate to Germany of the importance of the issue and the role that Germany could play to help make positive changes in EU legislation
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the FSA needed to identify the evidence it wanted MHS to collect to support the case to change EU legislation.
A paper was being produced for the October FSA Board meeting, which could help identify how this work would be taken forward
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the FSA would send out a letter to stakeholders seeking their views on proposals for the establishment of an Advisory Body for the Delivery of Official Controls.
The Advisory Body would not have decision making powers but would be able to give advice to the FSA and MHS Boards.
John Harwood agreed to circulate the letter to MHS Board members
Action: John Harwood
The MHS was setting up a forum with industry stakeholders to help transform the MHS and to build better working relationships with industry.
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All Actions arising from 30 August 2007 and 25 April 2007 Meetings, and outstanding actions from the 26 July 2007 Meeting were completed or in progress.
In discussion:
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with regard to the action at para 12 of the 30 August 2007 minutes, two MHS Board members said that they had not received copies of correspondence between the Chair of the MHS Board and the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers.
Copies of this correspondence would be re-circulated
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
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with regard to the action at para 13 of the July minutes, Alick Simmons, MHS Board member and FSA Veterinary Director, reported that there was no legal impediment to reducing the subsidy to the poultry sector more quickly than other sectors of the meat industry, as long as charges remained within levels set by the EU.
Alick Simmons agreed to consider how this could be taken forward including the delivery of training for PIAs
Action: Alick Simmons
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with regard to the action at para 23 of the April minutes, Alick Simmons confirmed that, at present, ten catering butchers had been identified as handling raw and cooked meat products and were therefore categorised as ‘high risk’ premises.
His team at the FSA were continuing the approval of catering butchers.
Until approved , Local Authorities retained responsibility for delivering official controls in these premises
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The Chair said that there was nothing that he wished to raise under his report as items of interest would be covered elsewhere on the meeting agenda.
MHS Chief Executive's Report (Paper 07/37)
Operational Overview
In discussion:
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with regard to para 2.2 of the Chief Executive’s report, it would be helpful to provide a breakdown of the formal enforcement action (written advice, hygiene improvement notices, remedial action notices, and recommendations for prosecution) that had been taken in 85 premises and identify whether any of these were repeat occurrences.
It would also be helpful to include data on prosecutions taken forward by Defra or the FSA
Action: Mike Greaves
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it was important that prosecutions were taken forward across GB on a consistent and proportionate basis.
Strong action needed to be taken against FBOs consistently failing to comply with official controls or that were potentially putting public health and animal health at risk.
Less stringent action should be taken where FBOs committed minor or one-off offences
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prosecutions, which are taken forward by FSA and Defra lawyers, need to be based on consistent criteria and the public interest.
Lessons could be learnt by FSA and Defra lawyers working together
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)
The MHS Chief Executive said further farms had been infected since the last MHS Board meeting on 30 August.
The additional infected premises had a stop-start effect on the work of the MHS.
The MHS continued to work proactively with Defra to support a pragmatic approach and allow slaughtering to recommence as soon as possible where there were no risks to disease control but were benefits to industry.
The MHS continued to work positively with industry through regular and open communication.
The additional duties carried out by the MHS on behalf of Defra would result in additional charges to Defra.
Currently, these charges were around £700k and the financial impact of FMD on the MHS was around £300k.
In discussion:
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the change in costs to the MHS following the further infected farms was not clear.
It was important that the cost to the MHS up to a clear date was presented precisely and clearly to the MHS Board in the future
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FMD restrictions had also reduced the number of pre-August 1996 cattle that could be processed through the OCDS.
Consequently, there could be an increase in the rate of animal processed through the OCDS, prior to the schemes closure in December 2008
Bluetongue Disease
Positive test results for Bluetongue disease had been confirmed on a fourth animal on a third premises near Ipswich.
At this stage, there was not sufficient evidence to confirm an active outbreak of Bluetongue as it could not yet be demonstrated that the disease was circulating.
Defra were taking forward epidemiological investigations to establish whether the disease was circulating and had established a temporary control area.
In discussion:
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the MHS were involved in Defra’s contingency planning to tackle a potential outbreak of Bluetongue disease
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the reduction in MHS staffing would affect the MHS’s future capacity to respond to incidents such as disease outbreaks and this would be discussed with Defra
Breaches
There were no reported breaches of TSE regulations during August.
SRM Changes
The MHS are working closely with the FSA’s TSE Division to introduce changes to allow a move to a risk-based audit and inspection regime for SRM supervision including the removal of the requirement for MHS staff to use a personal stamp from November.
Appointment of MHS Human Resources Director
Lynne Bywater had been appointed as the new MHS HR Director and would begin work with the MHS from 17 December 2007.
The selection panel for the post had comprised the MHS Chief Executive, MHS Director of Corporate Service and the FSA Head of Personnel Operations.
Kill it, Cook it, Eat it
Filming for the second series of Kill it, Cook it, Eat it had taken place in early September and concentrated on young animals.
MHS participation had been limited to ensuring the production of safe meat and animal welfare.
The MHS had intervened on several occasions to ensure that official controls were followed.
The broadcast dates would be confirmed to MHS Board members when known.
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
MHS Financial Position as at end August 2007
The MHS Board agreed that it would be helpful to be provided with more financial information to provide a clearer understanding of how the MHS was performing compared to budget and CPLU and the effects of different factors such as the decrease in red meat throughput due to FMD.
The MHS would put together a template which would be circulated to MHS Board members for comment.
Subject to comments, this template would form the basis for financial reporting at future MHS Board meetings.
Action: Kathryn Davies
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Jane Downes, MHS Veterinary and Technical Director and Programme Director for the Transformation Programme, introduced this paper.
In discussion:
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the FSA had agreed to provide the MHS with £1.8m to allow the SVT redundancy programme to be implemented
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the FSA expected a favourable response from HM Treasury to their bid for additional funding, necessary for MHS transformation
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future transformation programme updates would separate progress on activities to deliver efficiencies this financial year from longer-term activities
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the MHS and FSA were developing a joint communication strategy to help identify key messages and keep all stakeholders informed of progress
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the MHS stakeholder engagement project was led by Kevin Goddard.
Weekly briefings were provided to MHS staff to keep them informed of progress
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it was important to have a clear vision for change.
This would be considered at the MHS Board awayday in November and would be informed by stakeholder views gathered by the MHS and FSA
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in response to a question from a Board member, Jane Downes said that she would like MHS Board members to support and challenge the MHS to transform, as well as share any experience they had of organisational change programmes
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The Chair introduced this paper.
In discussion:
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non-executives always need to be in the majority on the MHS Board to ensure that executives would be held to account for their decision-making.
The FSA Chief Executive and Defra's CVO would act in an ex-officio capacity but would still count as executives.
The Veterinary Director of the FSA was not proposed as a member of the new MHS Board but would be invited to attend MHS Board meetings and continue to provide the interface between the MHS Board, meat hygiene policy and consumers
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as Defra was a key customer of the MHS, it was appropriate that the CVO be a full member of the MHS Board.
If the CVO was not able to attend a meeting, then it was important that an appropriate official from Defra participated in the meeting to represent Defra’s interests
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the MHS and Defra had worked together to build a good working relationship.
Defra and MHS had frequent communication through their SLA contacts, and the MHS Chief Executive and Veterinary and Technical Director attended Defra’s delivery partner forum held every two months
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the Chair of the MHS Board said that he would build on the work carried out by the previous Chair to develop the Board-level relationship with Defra
The MHS Board proposed:
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inserting ‘FSA Board’ in the title of annex B
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standardising the description of the role of the MHS Board in Annex B and Annex C
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specifying the use of teleconference or videoconference facilities in para 4.3 of Annex C to keep the costs of additional meetings to a minimum
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changing ‘FSA and Defra’ to ‘industry and consumers’ in annex B, para 2, penultimate bullet point, to read: ‘The board will set the MHS’s values and standards and ensure that its obligations to the industry and consumers are understood and met’
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further clarifying the roles, responsibilities and relationship between the FSA Board and the subsidiary MHS Board
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whilst it was important to consider efficiencies and the costs of the MHS, the core purpose of the MHS was to protect public health and animal health and welfare. Alick Simmons offered to provide a form of words to include in the proposal for a new MHS Board
Action: Alick Simmons
The Chair asked MHS Board members to send any additional comments to him by 3 October 2007
Action: MHS Board members
The Chair said that the proposal for the new MHS Board would be revised in line with comments from the MHS Board and submitted to the October meeting of the FSA Board.
The updated version of the paper, with amendments highlighted, would be circulated to MHS Board members.
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
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The Chair of the MHS Board welcomed Kevin Goddard, Head of the MHS Business Development Unit, to present this paper.
Kevin said that this was the first report the MHS Board had received on MHS performance this financial year.
MHS performance was assessed against the performance objectives agreed by the MHS Board.
All Corporate Indicators had been assessed as green except for indicator 18 on equality and diversity, which was amber.
Whilst indicator 1 on BSE controls is green at present, a further breach would result in this indicator becoming amber.
In discussion:
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the MHS Board agreed that it was appropriate to continue to take a pragmatic approach to assessing MHS performance
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with regard to Indicator 17 on Investors in People (IIP), the MHS had just undergone a review against the new and more demanding IIP standard.
Whilst the MHS had not achieved accreditation at the new standard it had achieved ‘retained recognition’.
This indicator had remained green as the MHS believed that it would retain IIP recognition and meet the target to ‘maintain accreditation’ even though it had not achieved the new standard.
The Board asked for this to be reviewed going forward
Action: Kevin Goddard
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with regard to Indicator 16 to set and monitor performance standards for OVs, the deadline had been extended to allow this to be integrated within the transformation programme.
Consideration should be given to whether this indicator should be judged against the original deadline for completion and therefore be assessed as amber.
In response, it was noted that the MHS Board had agreed objectives for the MHS in March, which was prior to the FSA Board decision on the future of official controls in July
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the Chair of the MHS Board asked the MHS executive to consider whether the corporate objectives and performance indicators needed to be updated in line with the MHS transformation programme and resubmitted to the MHS Board for approval.
This could be particularly relevant to customer satisfaction and the financial targets for transformation that were set by the FSA Board
Action: MHS Chief Executive
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The Chair of the MHS Board invited Deryk Mead, Chair of the MHS Audit Committee, to report on the work of the Audit Committee.
In discussion:
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this written report completed an action from the April MHS Board meeting.
Future reports would be verbal, supported by the draft minutes of the previous MHS Audit Committee meeting
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To minimise costs and travel time, Audit Committee meetings would be held by videoconference except for the meeting to consider the draft MHS Annual Report and Accounts
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The Audit Committee should examine the MHS’s annual accounts prior to the MHS Board so that they can recommend any areas or issues for MHS Board consideration
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There should be regular communication between the Chairs of the MHS and FSA Audit Committees;
Audit
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The Chair of the Audit Committee reported that he was satisfied that MHS internal audit had identified appropriate action to address the issue of £1.4m in potential overtime payments
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The MHS, MHS Audit Committee and NAO had reservations about the level of audit of the MHS.
The Audit Committee had asked the MHS to find appropriate organisations to benchmark the level of audit.
This would include other EU countries, noting that costs associated with official controls in other EU countries might not be as transparent as those in GB
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MHS internal audit supports governance of the MHS and the delivery of official controls.
It may be useful to separate out the costs of different types of audit activity such as quality assurance to provide greater transparency
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The audit functions of the MHS and FSA would be considered under the joint review of FSA/MHS corporate services
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Defra had asked to use MHS Internal Audit to audit the application of the contingency plan for FMD.
This would be an additional service to Defra and would be chargeable
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The MHS Board agreed to hold the MHS Board awayday on 19 November 2007.
The venue would be decided based on convenience and cost, bearing in mind the significant financial pressures on the MHS.
The vision for the MHS and the MHS Corporate Business Plan for 2008/09 would be considered.
The Chair of the MHS Board asked MHS Board members to email him with any suggestions for the awayday and agreed to circulate a draft programme.
Action: MHS Chair and Board members
Any Other Business
Information Paper on MHS 2007/08 Budget (Paper (07/42)
The Chair of the MHS Board explained that this information paper on the MHS Budget for 2007 had been included to allow the MHS board to understand how the MHS agrees its budget.
In future, MHS and FSA budgets would be approved by the MHS and FSA Boards respectively.
In discussion, an MHS Board member said they were struck by the difficulty faced by the MHS to achieve its budget following the decision by the FSA to provide the MHS with £13m rather than the £14m programme cost for SRM that had originally been agreed.
Information Paper on MHS Corporate Risk Register (Paper 07/44)
In discussion:
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the risk register is reviewed by the MHS senior management team every month
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consideration should be given to whether risks are too generic, which could cause risks to remain static
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the audit committee is responsible for ensuring that appropriate processes are in place to manage risk in the MHS
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there were mixed views on whether it was appropriate for the MHS Board to own the corporate risk register, rather than the MHS executive. The MHS Board and executive would have different perspectives which could effect the management of risks.
The Chair and MHS Chief Executive agreed to discuss this further
Action: MHS Chair and MHS Chief Executive
Date of next meetings
The MHS Board awayday and MHS Board meeting will be held on 19 and 20 November 2007.
An MHS Board Transformation Programme Update meeting would be held by videoconference on 30 October 2007
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