My Lords, I raise this amendment to probe the Government on the intention behind Clause 32.
Some 27 years ago, as a Member of the Commons, I moved an amendment from the Opposition Front Bench for the establishment of a cattle identification and traceability service. I did so having been prompted by the British Cattle Breeders Club. In 1998, the scheme was set up in Workington, in my former constituency, in the form of the BCMS—the British Cattle Movement
Service. At its peak it employed over 1,000 people, although with efficiency savings and the application of new technology, it now employs some 400 people and is one of the largest employers in west Cumbria. It was with some surprise that we noticed reference in the Bill to
“Identification and traceability of animals”
under Clause 32. The Bill having cleared its Commons stages, I was asked to seek some assurances in the Lords.
The Explanatory Notes, in describing the proposed amendments to the legislation for identification and traceability, state:
“The purpose of the clause is to prepare for the introduction of a new digital and multi-species traceability service, the Livestock Information Service (LIS), based on a database of animal identification, health and movement data. Subsection (1) … will allow the Secretary of State to assign to a board … functions related to collecting, managing and sharing certain information in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. This information is identification, movement or health data of animals. It will also allow the assignment of functions relating to the means of identifying animals such as issuing individual identification numbers to animals … These amendments enable the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) to be assigned the function of managing the new Livestock Identification Service.”
First, what is the driver behind the introduction of a new digital and multi-species traceability service, now to be called the livestock information service? Secondly, what is the construct and day-to-day role of the board in the new
“data collecting and sharing functions”?
In what sense would it be able to
“enable the assignment of functions relating to the means of identifying animals”,
and
“disapply … EU legislation on the identification and traceability of cattle, sheep and goats”?
What are the implications of that disapplication here in the United Kingdom? Thirdly, where it states that the board will be able to assign
“functions relating to the means of identifying animals”,
does that have implications for the management of the current service in Workington? On that matter, we are told that the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board will
“be assigned the function of managing the … Livestock Identification Service”.
What is the thinking behind that?
Why am I asking these questions and probing Ministers for answers? I am simply trying to establish, for the benefit of the people in west Cumbria, what stands behind these proposals. At the same time, I seek an assurance that the high-quality service currently provided in Workington will be retained in the long term and will perhaps be further developed with additional services now that we are leaving the European Union.