Farriers (Registration) Bill

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Thursday 6th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, for tabling the Bill, and for so ably taking the baton from his colleague, Byron Davies, who sponsored the Bill in the Commons. I now realise I should also be thankful to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for his initiative, which led to the Bill in the first place. I think we will discover during the debate that that initiative was well worthwhile.

I make it clear at the outset that we intend to support the Bill without amendment and we very much hope that it can clear the remaining hurdles to become law, although I had some sympathy with the points that the noble Lord was raising, particularly about the definition of a farrier. I certainly had to look up that term before I came into this debate in order to understand completely what it meant. However, I do not want to encourage anything that might mean the Bill does not become law, so I do not know what the logistics of that would be. I am sure the Minister will explain all.

As the noble Earl rightly recognised, regulation in many professional services and welfare sectors has moved on since the introduction of the original Act in 1975. I have personal knowledge of the standards now expected in the regulated sectors, because I sat for many years as a doctors’ fitness to practise panellist, as well as chairing part of the regulatory oversight for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Those regulated areas have moved on and are constantly reconsidering and improving their standards of oversight, and it is right that we should do so in this area.

I recognise the importance of modernising the regulation of farriers to ensure that the public can have continued confidence in the quality of the service being provided and have recourse to an independent judgment when things go wrong. That is why we support the proposal to separate the powers of the farriers’ registration committee from those of the investigating committee and the disciplinary committee. It is now common practice in regulatory bodies that those who set the standards are different from those who adjudicate on them, so the changes come into line with good practice elsewhere.

We also support the changed membership of the Farriers Registration Council to increase the number of practising farriers, along with two veterinary surgeons, as well as broadening the involvement of the organisations which have already been mentioned. This should indeed help to strengthen the council’s knowledge of up-to-date, professional, technical and training issues, so that it is better able to set achievable standards and deliver them. We also support the time limits on office and the arrangements for the election of the chair. Again, all these seem to coincide with good practice elsewhere.

These proposals are a sensible balance between the majority of working farriers and those involved in the Worshipful Company of Farriers. Both have a role to play, but our ultimate aim has to be to provide a modern and professional regulator that commands public confidence and operates transparently. The Bill achieves that aim and we are very happy to support it.