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Listen to this siteMonday 11 December 2006
Meeting held at Hilton Hotel, York
Attendees
Chair
Chrissie Dunn
MHS Board Members
Valerie Howarth
Celia Bennett
Maureen Edmondson
John Harwood
Deryk Mead
Alick Simmons
MHS Board Adviser
Fred Landeg, Defra (representing the Chief Veterinary Officer)
Secretariat
David Bramley, MHS
Officials
Chris Lawson, MHS
Participating
Jane Downes, MHS
Mike Greaves, MHS
Kathryn Davies, MHS
Kevin Goddard, MHS
Officials Attending
Elspeth MacDonald, FSA Scotland
Mike Pender, FSA Wales
Jim Ross, FSA Northern Ireland
Kevin Waggott, MHS
Observer
Steve McGrath, MHS Chief Executive designate
Introduction and apologies
1. The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting and Steve McGrath, who was observing the meeting and who would be appointed as the new MHS Chief Executive in January 2007 when Chris Lawson, the current MHS Chief Executive retired. The Chair reported that Steve would join the FSA as MHS Chief Executive designate from 1 November 2006 to begin a familiarisation programme. Apologies had been received from David Hart, FSA.
2. The Chair reminded MHS Board members and adviser of their obligation to declare any relevant interests before agenda items were discussed (see also para 39).
Back to top3. Board members agreed the minutes as an accurate record of the MHS Board meeting held on 4 May 2006
Item 3: Actions Arising
4.All actions arising from the May meeting were recorded as complete except the actions at:
Progress on these three actions would be covered in the Chief Executive's report
5. An MHS Board member requested that a copy of the presentation that Alick Simmons would give to the British Veterinary Association Congress (para 28, May minutes) be circulated to members.
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
6. An MHS Board member thanked the FSA Chief Executive and MHS Chief Executive for agreeing to invite Cecil Mathers of the Northern Ireland Meat Exporters Association to attend future meeting of the MHS Industry Forum as an observer (para 29, May minutes).
Back to top7. The Chair reported that:
Death of an official veterinarian
8. The MHS Chief Executive reported that he had passed on the condolences of the MHS Board through the veterinary contractor to the family of the official veterinarian.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the accident was continuing and there was no firm indication of when it would be completed.
Patent blue dye
9. Following a Coroner's Inquest, an article in the Meat Trades Journal had reported a possible link between the use of patent blue dye and the death of a retired meat hygiene inspector about two years ago.
The MHS Chief Executive reported that he had written to the Journal to correct inaccuracies in the article.
Patent blue is a food grade dye and the HSE had investigated the safety of the dye in 2002 and concluded that it did not pose a hazard to health.
Nevertheless, MHS staff are instructed to use protective equipment and take precautions when using the dye to minimise any risk.
There had been no concerns reported by staff, and UNISON has been kept informed of the situation.
Charging
10. The MHS Chief Executive reported that the FSA was consulting on changes to MHS charges. These included:
11. A further consultation was planned for November in relation to FSA/DEFRA's cost-sharing initiative including specified risk material (SRM) charges. This would be the subject of a paper to the October FSA Board meeting.
12. The MHS Chief Executive reported that the MHS had been invited by DEFRA to join a project board to examine the introduction of charges for work carried out by the MHS on behalf of DEFRA. The MHS Chief Executive said that the MHS would struggle to find resources to engage fully with both FSA and DEFRA charging reviews but would provide as much help as possible.
13. The MHS Chief Executive said that the MHS was anxious for the FSA to make progress on service delivery cost reduction measures, as this was a vital part of moving towards full cost recovery and achieving the level of savings required. Service delivery requirements needed to be reviewed to ensure they were proportionate and risk based. A progress report from the FSA would be submitted to the October FSA Board meeting.
14. In response, MHS Board members expressed concern that measures to reduce MHS costs were being considered after measures that would increase MHS charges. The MHS Board considered that cost-reduction work needed to be encouraged and progressed swiftly.
Benchmarking
15. The MHS Chief Executive reported that, due to higher priority work including finalising MHS accounts and work on charging, there had not been as much progress as he would have liked.
Some scoping working had been carried out, and the MHS Chief Executive would discuss this with the FSA Chief Executive shortly.
Action: MHS Chief Executive
Service Level Agreement (SLA) with DEFRA
16. The MHS Chief Executive reported that he and DEFRA's Chief Veterinary Officer had signed the overarching part of the SLA with DEFRA setting out the general principles of MHS work on behalf of DEFRA.
Discussions continue about the content of the annexes detailing the specific work carried out on behalf of DEFRA.
17. In response to questions from Board members, the MHS Chief Executive said that the annexes contained information on performance and targets.
The MHS Veterinary and Technical Director explained there were 13 annexes and different divisions in Defra were responsible for different annexes.
The MHS needed clear priorities and appropriate key performance indicators that were linked to specific outcomes rather than tasks.
In response, John Harwood, MHS Board member and FSA Chief Executive, asked the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer if he could help to ensure that the annexes were agreed as soon as possible.
Action: Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer
18. Board members asked for an update on the MHS-Defra SLA to be added as an agenda item for the next MHS Board meeting.
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
Vertebral column removal
19. In response to a request from the FSA, the MHS had carried out a survey of all cutting plants in August.
This followed the discovery that SRM (category 1 animal by product) was incorrectly sent to a processing plant licensed only for category 3 material.
The MHS has moved to an audit role only in cutting plants and no longer has a daily presence, and this exercise therefore tied up significant resources.
The MHS Chief Executive said that FSA is considering revisions to existing legislation to allow carcases to move more than once before requiring vertebral column removal. A letter had been received from DEFRA recognising the 'magnificent effort' of MHS staff in carrying out the survey and this would be shared with the staff involved.
20. In discussion:
Accommodation
21. The MHS Chief Executive said that the temporary relocation of the MHS headquarters had been delayed due to BT recently discovering that an additional cable needed to be physically installed.
The relocation was likely to take place in late October or early November. However, no new target date had been set due to uncertainty of when the work by BT would be completed.
22. In response to a question from a Board member, the MHS Chief Executive confirmed that delaying the move would not affect MHS operations but could affect staff morale.
Financial Position
23. The MHS Chief Executive reported that as at 31 August the MHS had a
0.3m saving on its net cost of operations.
This was made up of increased staff costs of
0.7m balanced against a decrease in non-pay costs of
0.4m and an increase in income of
0.6m.
The increase in staff costs and income was largely due to SRM work carried out on behalf of Defra.
Visits / Meetings
24. The MHS Chief Executive reported that induction visits to MHS Headquarters and North Regional Office had been undertaken by Terrence Collis (FSA Director of Communications), Vivienne Collett (FSA Director of Legal Services) and John Harwood (FSA Chief Executive and MHS Board member) who had visited MHS HQ and the North Regional Office.
Planned visits included:
The MHS Chief Executive had had his annual meeting with a DEFRA minister (Lord Rooker) in September, who had indicated that he wanted to visit an over-thirty month plant.
Sickness Absence
25. The MHS Chief Executive reported that the Cabinet Office had released the sickness absence statistics for 2005.
The MHS showed the highest sickness absence across the Civil Service in 2005.
The introduction of the new MHS managing attendance policy at the end of 2005 has had a positive impact on sickness absence in 2006 and particularly on long-term sickness absence.
In addition, a different approach had been taken by Cabinet Office in calculating the sickness absence statistics for 2005 than in previous years, which had affected the MHS negatively as a significant proportion of MHS operational staff do not work a standard five day working week.
It was also recognised that MHS operational staff often work in a difficult and potentially dangerous environment.
26. In discussion:
Veterinary supervision
27. The MHS Chief Executive said that veterinary supervision would be covered in more detail under a later agenda item (see Item 8, paras 39 to 41). However, he wanted to report that the MHS had responded to an article about proposals to reform meat inspection that had been published in the
Meat Trades Journal
on 15 September 2006.
The MHS had issued a statement to staff on the MHS portal along with a supplementary note explaining the various reviews to put the article in context and note some inaccuracies.
A further article was expected in the
Meat Trades Journal
on 29 September 2006.
Reviews
28. The MHS Chief Executive said that the MHS was currently involved in at least nine reviews.
While the MHS wanted to be fully involved in all the reviews, it did not have the capacity to do this while delivering official controls effectively.
The MHS may have to make some hard choices on where its priorities lay.
29. The Chair invited Celia Bennett to provide an update on the IRG's work. Celia reported that no ineligible animals had entered the food chain although ineligible animals continued to be presented at abattoirs including multiple cases from single holdings.
30. Celia updated the MHS Board on the GB position regarding the slaughter of OTM animals for human consumption as at the end of August 2006:
In discussion, it was noted that prosecution by local authorities would always be considered when producers presented ineligible animals for slaughter but would be unlikely for a first offence. Where producers had presented ineligible animals more than once, then the MHS Board's firm view was that a prosecution should be taken against the producer.
31. Celia said that of the three BSE positives reported under OTM slaughter, two were from animals sent for slaughter at the same abattoir. However, the animals were from geographically distant separate holdings. One positive result was from a young animal: this was not unexpected. More positives were expected.
32. The MHS Chief Executive confirmed that there had been no change to the procedure for BSE testing of samples. He said that the first test carried out was a rapid screening test, which provided a quick indication of whether a sample was positive. If this test produced a positive result then the MHS would be alerted of this overnight and would then take the appropriate action to deal with the carcases concerned. The sample would then be sent for further confirmatory tests, which would take two to three weeks. If these further tests produced a positive result then this would be announced as a confirmed BSE positive. To date, screening positives had always been confirmed. It appeared to be down to chance that two positive tests had occurred in animals slaughtered at the same plant.
33. An independent inquiry was investigating an alleged breach relating to the authenticity of brain stems for two OTM cattle in Northern Ireland. Samples from the two cattle raised suspicions at the lab carrying out the testing and subsequent DNA testing showed that the two suspect brain samples did not match the two carcasses detained at the plant. DARDNI immediately suspended the plant's approval to process OTM cattle and an investigation was launched. This continues. The IRG had considered the issue and agreed that general DNA sampling would not be proportionate but should be considered where there is a corroborated claim that sample substitution may have taken place. Food Business Operators (FBOs) will be required to notify MHS or DARDNI staff when brain stem samples are being taken for training purposes and these must be disposed of under supervision. Tamper evident pots were also to be introduced.
34. The MHS Chief Executive said that allegations that sample substitution had been carried out had also been made through UNISON. UNISON would not provide details of the plant that the allegation originated from, as it could have identified the MHS staff who had made the allegation. The MHS had made it clear that it considered this highly irresponsible and UNISON had agreed to go back to the individual who had made the allegation to see if they would agree to identify the plant. Mike Greaves, the MHS Director of Operations, said that in light of the allegations an MHS investigation had been undertaken to check if there were any suspicious samples or changes in arrangements at any approved OTM plant. The investigation had uncovered no evidence that the sampling system was being abused.
35. The MHS Board discussed three areas where significant further work was needed to allow the IRG to deliver against its terms of reference. These were:
36. In discussion, it was noted that the IRG were due to report to the December FSA Board and this may include a recommendation for the IRG to continue for a further period.
The MHS Board agreed that the concerns that they had discussed should be brought to the attention of the FSA Board.
Action: MHS Board Chair
37. Kevin Goddard, Head of the Business Development Unit, introduced this paper. In discussion:
38. The MHS Board noted and was content with MHS performance to date.
Back to top39. The Chair notified the Board that Alick Simmons had alerted her prior to the meeting to a perceived potential conflict of interest in relation to this item. She had discussed the matter with Valerie Howarth and with the FSA Director of Legal Services. As a result, it had been concluded that there was no actual conflict of interest and he could fully participate in the discussion of this item.
40. The Chair invited Jane Downes, MHS Veterinary and Technical Director, to introduce the paper. In discussion:
Action: Jane Downes
41. The MHS Board
42. Kevin Goddard, Head of the Business Development Unit, introduced this paper. He said that before the final record of the stakeholder meeting (Annex 2 of Paper (06) 51) was published, stakeholders would be contacted to ensure they were content with the comments attributed to them. In addition, two minor amendments would be made to the follow-up answers provided to questions that were not able to be addressed at the stakeholder meeting.
43. The MHS Board:
44. An MHS Board member asked that consideration be given to altering the date of the 2007 MHS Board awaydays to allow them to attend both days.
Action: MHS Board Secretariat
Date of next meeting
45. The next formal MHS Board meeting will be held on 21 November 2006 in York.
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