Farmers with concerns over the number and frequency of livestock inspections and statutory visits to which their businesses are exposed are being asked to join a series of “red tape” seminars organised by the National Farmers Union (NFU).
The union was recently selected, along with the Fresh Produce Consortium, to lead a government-backed investigation into “enforcement red tape”. Â As a result, NFU officials have been collecting evidence from an industry perspective on livestock inspections, examining the potential for duplication and overlap between national regulation and local authorities.
Now, as the final part of the evidence gathering process, a series of workshops is to be held across NFU regions. Each workshop will enable groups of eight to 12 farmers to share their experience of inspections and probe the frequency of inspections and the impacts on their business.
“This is an important stage of our evidence gathering and is our chance to present evidence from an industry perspective directly to ministers,” said the NFU. “We would therefore encourage livestock farmers to attend to have their say on how regulatory visits impact on their businesses, to try and influence government policy in this area.
“We are especially interested in hearing from livestock farmers who have experienced a local authority visit in the past five years and are concerned about the number and frequency of inspections and statutory visits to the business.”
Workshop dates and locations, all attached to NFU regional offices, are as follows:
- 18 Sept – North East
- 22 Sept – North West
- 30 Sept – South West
- 1 Oct – South East Thame
- 2 Oct – East Midlands
- 3 Oct- West Midlands