PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Slaughterhouses: Animal Welfare (7 October 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) meat hygiene inspectors and (b) independent vets have been employed to report to the FSA on animal welfare standards in slaughterhouses in each of the last six years.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Food Standards Agency (FSA) official veterinarians and meat hygiene inspectors, either employed by the FSA, or supplied through an approved contractor, are present during processing of animals. They carry out a wide range of duties, including ante- and post mortem checks (checks on live animals and carcases and offal) and checks on the health and welfare of animals presented for slaughter. These official control duties ensure that food businesses operators have produced meat in accordance with regulatory requirements, with a health mark applied to show that meat is safe to enter the food chain.

Table 1 below states the number of Meat Hygiene Inspectors employed or supplied through contractors, carrying out official control duties in FSA approved meat establishments in the last six financial years.

Table 1:

Year End 2010-11	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	665	150	815
Year End 2011-12	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	644	166	810
Year End 2012-13	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	607	176	783
Year End 2013-14	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	543	208	751
Year End 2014-15	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	522	230	752
Year End 2015-16	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Meat Hygiene Inspector	439	232	671

¹ Combined [headcount] employed Permanent/Casual/Temporary MHIs

² Full Time Equivalent Contract MHIs

Table 2 below states the number of Official Veterinarians, employed or supplied through contractors, carrying out official control duties in FSA approved meat establishments in the last six financial years.

Table 2:

Year End 2010-11	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2		Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	7	267		274
Year End 2011-12	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	5	265	269
Year End 2012-13	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	5	275	281
Year End 2013-14	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	5	263	267
Year End 2014-15	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	4	259	262
Year End 2015-16	Type
Position	Employed 1	Contractor 2	Grand Total
Official Veterinarian	3	229	232

¹ Combined [headcount] employed Permanent/Casual/Temporary Meat Hygiene Inspectors

² Full Time Equivalent Contract Meat Hygiene Inspectors

The reduction in the number of Meat Hygiene Inspectors and Official Veterinarians between 2014-15 and 2015-16 was primarily due to the establishment on 1 April 2015 of Food Standards Scotland which assumed responsibility from the FSA for the delivery of official controls in approved meat establishments located in Scotland. All figures exclude Northern Ireland.

Answered by:
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Conservative)
17 October 2016