Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what veterinary and animal welfare qualifications and training are a criteria of becoming an inspector at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.

Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) employs Veterinarians and Animal Health Officers who both are inspectors. Veterinarians employed by AHVLA must have a veterinary degree and be members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS). AHVLA supports these veterinarians to achieve the annual number of days continued development required to maintain their MRCVS.

Animal Health Officers are not qualified veterinarians and have no requirement for any veterinary qualifications. They are trained in a variety of aspects relevant to their function and that are essential to their duties, including animal welfare, animal health, enforcement and evidence gathering. Furthermore, and in order to fulfil this function, Animal Health Officers are appointed as Inspectors under the Animal Health Act 1981. A senior veterinarian in the organisation ensures that appointed Inspectors only use the powers to act as an Inspector when they are deemed competent to do so.

AHVLA has an annual programme of training for its veterinary staff and Animal Health Officers to ensure that they maintain and develop knowledge in their particular areas of expertise.