DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (92/07) issued by
The Government News Network on 26 March 2007
From 1 April the
State Veterinary Service (SVS), an executive agency of the
Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will
change its name to Animal Health.
The move brings together, under a single agency, all the
expertise previously offered by SVS, the Dairy Hygiene and Egg
Marketing Inspectorates and the Wildlife Licensing and
Registration Service. The formation of this new single body is in
line with recommendations made by the Hampton Review, which
considered more efficient approaches to regulation and looked at
how to cut the time businesses have to spend on paperwork and
other regulatory activities.
Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive of Animal Health, said:
"We plan to become one organisation in every sense. Already,
Dairy Hygiene and Egg Marketing staff share premises with us or
will do so after our merger and we will continue with this theme.
"The conservation work done by our Wildlife Licensing and
Registration colleagues brings a new type of work to the
organisation and again we welcome the opportunity it gives us to
work more widely in animal health and welfare.
"We all welcome this merger; together we can deliver more
comprehensively and with the customer in mind."
The re-naming of the enlarged agency under a single banner,
Animal Health, will also ensure a single coherent identity that
will be easily recognisable and apparent to the industry, other
customers and the public.
Further information on the organisations is available at: http://www.svs.gov.uk up until 1
April, or http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalhealth
from 2 April.
Notes to editors:
1. SVS became an executive agency of Defra on April 1, 2005. The
Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate joined SVS in 2006, and the Egg
Marketing Inspectorate and Wildlife Licensing and Registration
Service will be joining from 1 April 2007.
2. The Hampton Review considered more efficient approaches to
regulation and looked at how to cut the time businesses have to
spend on paperwork and other regulatory activities. It suggested
the consolidation of inspection and regulatory functions into
seven thematic regulators, with SVS being the core of an animal
health thematic, better able to develop and operate risk-based
inspection models and ensure inspections are joined-up
3. The former State Veterinary Service: An executive agency of
Defra, SVS has a central role in preventing, identifying and
responding to animal disease in the UK. The agency seeks to
protect the health and welfare of animals and minimise the impact
of animal health issues on public health. Most recently, the
agency led the field response to the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak
at a Suffolk poultry farm in February.
4. Dairy Hygiene Inspectors: In England and Wales, dairy hygiene
inspectors protect the nation's raw milk supply from the risk
of contamination by bacteria and other substances. Inspectors aim
to ensure a satisfactory standard of hygiene is maintained on
farms in England and Wales, benefiting both the farmer and the public.
5. Egg Marketing Inspectorate: Inspectors ensure high standards
of egg production are maintained and that imported eggs for human
consumption adhere to the same strict standards in England and
Wales. They are responsible for the enforcement of the EC Egg
Marketing Regulations and EC Hatching Eggs and Chick Regulations
at all marketing stages below retail level.
6. Wildlife Licensing and Registration Service (WLRS): The WLRS
is responsible for monitoring the UK's protection of animals
and plants under the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES). It mainly processes applications for
the import/export and the sale of animals and plants protected by
CITES and is also responsible for the registration of certain
species of birds kept in captivity and protected under the
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
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