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Baroness Wharton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, in pursuit of Health and Safety requirements and fire safety regulations,
- slaughterhouse owners or operators can lawfully prevent any persons entering their premises until such time as those persons have registered their presence with a nominated person on those premises; and whether owners or operators can lawfully require any persons who have entered the premises to notify the nominated person on their departure.[HL2877]
Lord Donoughue: In extreme cases, such as those applicable in coal mines, nuclear installations and similar dangerous working environments, owners and operators may, in order to meet their legal obligations under fire, and health and safety legislation, require visiting personnel to notify a nominated person of their entry to, and departure from the premises.
It is doubtful however, that slaughterhouses fall into this limited category of dangerous working environment. It would therefore be considered wholly disproportionate to the level of risk involved if owners or operators of such premises were to require MHS personnel to register their entry on to, and departure from, their premises.
Lord Willoughby de Broke asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What assessment is made of veterinary surgeons during the conversion course for Official Veterinary Surgeons as to post-mortem meat inspection skills; by whom that assessment is made; and what criteria are applied.[HL2882]
Lord Donoughue: No formal assessment of post-mortem inspection skills is carried out during the course for Official Veterinary Surgeons (OVSs), although the course does contain an element of refresher training.
Lord Willoughby de Broke asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the standards of personal hygiene and hygienic operation which apply to slaughtermen in licensed premises apply with equal effect to staff employed by the Meat Hygiene Service. [HL2964]
Lord Donoughue: Yes they do. The standards of personal hygiene and hygienic operation required of staff employed by the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) are set out in detail in the MHS Operations Manual.
Earl Alexander of Tunis asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether Official Veterinary Surgeons who demonstrate a consistent inability to distinguish between statutory requirements in respect of slaughterhouse operations, and non-statutory requirements are subject to re-training.[HL3127]
Lord Donoughue: Yes they are. The Meat Hygiene Service aims to utilise the services of fully competent officials and requires them to be re-trained if they fail in this respect.
Lord Glentoran asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many Improvement Notices were served by Official Veterinary Surgeons, employed by the Meat Hygiene Service, in the financial years 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99.[HL3118]
Lord Donoughue: This information is not readily available for the financial years 1995-96 and 1996-97. However, the total number of Improvement Notices served by Official Veterinary Surgeons employed by the Meat Hygiene Service during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 financial years is as follows:
| Financial Year | Improvement Notices served: |
| 1997-98 | 301 |
| 1998-99 | 350 |
Lord Glentoran asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether Hygiene Assessment Scheme reports supplied to slaughterhouse owners and others may be handwritten by Official Veterinary Surgeons; and whether standards of legibility apply to such reports.[HL3120]
Lord Donoughue: Yes, but the writing should be legible.
Lord Glentoran asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What action is taken by Meat Hygiene Service supervisory officials when they detect defective Improvement Notices which have been served by Official Veterinary Surgeons.[HL3122]
Lord Donoughue: The defective Improvement Notices are withdrawn and correct ones served. The circumstances behind the serving of the defective notices are also investigated.
Viscount Torrington asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether, given the complexity of the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995, they consider it advisable that the full text of the regulations and of the Meat Hygiene Service's operating manual should be displayed within slaughterhalls for the guidance of slaughterhouse employees.[HL3124]
Lord Donoughue: This is a matter for individual owners.
Lord Rowallan asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they are completely satisfied with the performance of the Meat Hygiene Service.[HL3107]
Lord Donoughue: The MHS has met all the performance targets set by Ministers since its inception (subject to NAO audit of 1998-99 financial targets).
Lord Rowallan asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether meat produced from a slaughterhouse, in which there is a full compliance with the Fresh Meat
- (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations, is necessarily hygienic and safe.[HL3111]
Lord Donoughue: Meat produced in full compliance with the Fresh Meat Regulations is as hygienic and safe as is reasonably possible under the current legislation.
Viscount Exmouth asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What advice they offer to slaughterhouse owners and operators on the cleaning of high density polyethylene chopping blocks when conventional cleaning techniques fail to secure the adequate cleanliness of these blocks.[HL3095]
Lord Donoughue: Should the cleaning techniques available to a slaughterhouse owner or operator fail to ensure the adequate cleanliness of their chopping blocks, then those blocks will need to be replaced.
Viscount Exmouth asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What studies they have carried out to demonstrate that high density polyethylene chopping blocks deliver better microbiological standards than wooden blocks, when each type is cleaned in a similar manner, after prolonged use in slaughterhouse or cutting plant environments.[HL3096]
Lord Donoughue: None. In any event the use of wooden chopping blocks in licensed slaughterhouses and cutting plants is prohibited by the Fresh Meat Directive (64/433/EEC, as amended).
Viscount Exmouth asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What action a slaughterhouse owner or operator is entitled or required to take when he becomes aware that a member of the Meat Hygiene Service staff is committing or is about to commit an offence under the Meat Hygiene or specified Risk Material Regulations.[HL3098]
Lord Donoughue: Both the Fresh Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) Regulations 1995 and the Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997 seek to ensure that those operating slaughterhouses do so safely and hygienically. The role of the Meat Hygiene Service is to supervise and enforce those regulations. Any complaints about the activities of members of MHS staff should be referred to their senior managers in the normal way.
Viscount Exmouth asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether a slaughterhouse owner or operator is entitled to make representations to a veterinary meat hygiene officer of the Joint Food Safety and Standards Group who is carrying out a performance audit of Meat Hygiene Service on his premises as to the performance of those staff; and whether the officer is required to take note of any such representations and to have regard to them in formulating this report.[HL3099]
Lord Donoughue: Yes, but representations about the performance of MHS staff are most usefully made to MHS management. A Veterinary Meat Hygiene Adviser receiving such representations would be expected to note them.
Viscount Long asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether Official Veterinary Surgeons are entitled to threaten slaughterhouse owners or operators with closure or revocation of licences when there are no grounds for so doing.[HL3037]
Lord Donoughue: No, they are not.
Viscount Long asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many slaughterhouse owners have been prosecuted for breaches of Specified Risk Material Regulations; and how many have been formally cautioned.[HL3038]
Lord Donughue: For breaches of the Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997, which came into force on 1 January 1998, there have been 14 completed prosecutions of licensed slaughterhouse operators in England and Wales. A system of formal cautioning is not used by the Ministry. My noble and learned friend the Lord Advocate is responsible for the prosecution of crime in Scotland.
Lord Blyth asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether an abattoir which consistently gains high Hygiene Assessment Scheme scores under the present scoring system but gains lower scores under the revised scheme by virtue of the operator not having produced written policy statements on its operational practices, without there having been any other changes, will be regarded as less hygienic than it was previously considered to be.[HL3078]
Lord Donoughue: Written policy statements are designed to confirm the management's commitments to the standard of hygiene in its plant. Consistent attainment of high hygiene standards is more likely to be attained where management commitment is demonstrated in this way.
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