Field delivery of animal health services in Scotland: review

Annex 1

Review of Field Delivery of Animal Health Services in Scotland

Terms of Reference:

Background

1. This project will review the field delivery of animal health and welfare services currently provided by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in Scotland.

2. Scottish Government is responsible for animal health and welfare policy. After devolution of parts of the GB the Animal Health and Welfare budgets were devolved to Scottish Government in April 2011. The "Concordat on animal health and welfare matters between (1) the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2) the Scottish Ministers and (3) the Welsh Ministers" provided an undertaking that Scottish Government would continue funding APHA for least the duration of the Spending Review period starting in April 2011 and ending in March 2015.

3. Scottish Ministers pledged to work with livestock keepers to get the best value from the devolved budgets and to continue building on the good progress made across several animal health issues in Scotland in recent years.

4. Scottish Ministers committed to carrying out a review to consider the way forward. This review will need to carefully consider the diverse nature of APHA, and the benefits Scotland receives from being part of a GB organisation.

Aim

5. The review will consider whether it would be most beneficial for Scottish Ministers to either retain some or all the existing services delivered by the APHA, or create a Scottish Veterinary Service by:

• Identifying advantages and disadvantages of each option;
• Outlining one or more alternative delivery models; and
• Identifying critical areas where further work may be required to allow Ministers to make an informed decision

6. The reviewer may also identify activities and operations by APHA (other than the Scottish APHA Field Service), or other organisations in the field of animal health and veterinary controls, that may also be considered for delivery by a potential Scottish Veterinary Service.

Objectives

7. The research objectives for this project are to:

• Assess the current cost and infrastructure of the field delivery of animal health and welfare services delivered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in Scotland.
• Review whether the existing staff numbers are adequate in order to deliver an efficient and resilient service.
• Provide recommendations for the future delivery of animal health and welfare field services delivered by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in Scotland.

Methods

8. It is anticipated that this review will comprise of a mixture of desk-based and face to face interviews.

9. It may include surveys of users and/or providers of the current services and analyses of animal health risks, environmental risks, economics, market forces and new technological solutions.

Research Outputs

10. the successful candidate will provide the Scottish Government with the following outputs:

• An oral presentation of their research findings to the Scottish Government by 27 December 2019.
• A first draft of the report, which should contain an executive summary, in a format compatible with Microsoft Word by 31 December 2019.
• A final report, which should contain an executive summary in a format compatible with Microsoft Word, by 10 January 2020.
• The final report should provide recommendations for the Scottish Government regarding the delivery of field services, in line with the aim and objectives of the project.