Good evening everyone, and thank you for joining us for tonight's BCVA webinar. My name is Sarah and I'll be chairing the webinar tonight. So it's my pleasure tonight to introduce Jonathan Sta as our main speaker.

John is a partner and cattle vet in practise at Bishopton Veterinary Group and chief executive of RAF Solutions Limited. He's delivered a range of industry roles, including the BCBA board and the past president, and he's also joined the Animal Wealth Health and Welfare Board of England as a non-executive director at the end of 2017. On this board, John delivers the role to engage with health and welfare, including sustainability in cattle and sheep sectors, and also to liaison with the veterinary veterinary profession.

He's also on the steering group of the Animal Health and Welfare pathway, and tonight he will be giving us a background behind the formation of the animal health and welfare pathway and how you can get involved in shaping its future. Following John's presentation, we'll be joined by Colin Mason. Colin works as a veterinary investigation officer for the SRUC Veterinary Services and has a specific interest in livestock disease investigation and control.

He is also a BCVA board member and has been involved in the UK Cattle Health and Welfare Group, through which he's had an input into discussions on the animal health and welfare pathway. Connor will be discussing the pathway from BCVA's perspective and how going forward, you can have your say through BCVA into the direction it takes. Following both John and Colin's presentations, we will have plenty of time for questions, so please remember to enter them into the Q&A box as we go through.

So that's enough for me. So to hand over to John to introduce the new animal health and welfare pathway. Thank you, Sara, and good evening everybody.

Thank you very much, BCVA for the invitation to, to basically put this webinar together. It's a really important time, and I think it's a great opportunity to really introduce some of the concepts and some of the opportunities that, that are kind of coming up and perhaps put them into context a little bit. So, so the animal health and welfare pathway.

Well, just to kind of really set the sort of scene for this, there's two main questions that I'm going to try and sort of outline in this webinar. And as Sara said, you know, very keen to take some questions, of course, at the end, because, this is a time of quite major change and very happy to kind of look at that Q&A obviously with Colin at the end. So the two key questions, first of all, is perhaps to start with what is the Animal Health and Welfare Board of England.

So we'll look at a bit of background to what the, AWBE has been doing and really how it's connected to the Animal Health and Welfare pathway. And the second part of this is, therefore to really look at what's being developed, what the proposals are at the moment and how critically, BCVA and cattle vets can shape what's going to go forward. So two key questions, context of what the board is all about, and then secondly, the specifics for actually the animal health and welfare pathway itself.

Well, so to start off with, so what is the our Health and Welfare Board of England? Well, the first thing is, is that it's a body that does sit inside the civil service. It's role really is positioned between the sector councils, and Sara talked about, you know, BCVA seats and Colin's role on the cattle health and welfare group.

So, our Health and Welfare Board sits between those wide industry groups and the Secretary of State and the ministerial team. So therefore, the board's got the opportunity to challenge government policy, to bring industry perspectives and bring questions therefore to policy development within DEFRA. But it also has the opportunity, sitting between those industry sector councils and essentially government, to propose policy and therefore bring ideas and bring the needs and really the kind of messages that are coming from industry and therefore the veterinary profession into that policy discussion.

The board is able to offer expert advice and therefore to input and shape policy by being given the direct opportunity to consult on on certain aspects as they've been developed. And therefore, the our Health and Welfare Board works alongside different teams within the civil service. And very, very kind of different opportunities within what can often be quite silo-driven parts of the civil service.

And ultimately that means opportunity to report directly to ministers and have quite a a direct and therefore kind of rapid opportunity to really interact with the decision making process. So who are the people on the Animal Health and Welfare board and what really is the shape of the board? Well, unlike those sector councils which are quite large organisations, with many, many industry representatives quite often, the our health and welfare board is quite small.

It's chaired by Michael Seals, who has a background as chair of the National Fall and Stock Company. He's a Derbyshire farmer, and he's a background therefore in the industry for a long time, and he's been around 8 years now as the chair of the board. Then with Michael, there are 7 non-executive directors, of which I'm one of them.

And these non-executive director roles, essentially divided up with species portfolios. So we've got people representing the poultry sector, equine sector, companion animals, but also crucially, you know, aquaculture, as well as obviously pigs and ruminants, including cattle and sheep. Then, around that board table, there's also the chief area officer of the UK and the deputy CVO as well.

And then alongside the CVO and the deputy CVO with the director of the Animal Health and Welfare Directorate. And then finally, we've got the chief executive of Animal and Plant Health Agency. So that's the kind of permanent sort of team of the board, which is that shape between the executive members and between the non-executive members representing their kind of species sectors of the industry.

So my role in this as therefore as a non-executive. Is that portfolio, as Sara said, of kind of cattle and sheep, and I've inputted to the cattle health and welfare group, over the years and currently I now also input to the sheep Health and Welfare group, but I'm also a kind of part of the linking, sort of mechanism to the veterinary profession. And there are other vets on the board, as well as the CVO.

There are also two other vets involved in the, the, the board representation, but there are also farmers and other industry people too. So it's a mixture of vets, farmers, and other kind of industry representatives. So my wider roles are still, I'm very much a cattle vet.

I'm still in practise, I'm still involved obviously in management as a partner of Bishops and Veterinary Group, and also in looking at kind of innovation and looking at that sustainable sort of food agenda as part of my role in RAF. And of course I don't forget my my links with BCVA and therefore the central importance that BCVA's got really in how the board is transmitting the ideas from industry and vets actually to government. So kind of what, what is it like working in the Animal Health and Welfare board?

Well, I mean, the remit is wide, a large part of the board's remit was in terms of advising on, on Brexit and advising on what the potential impacts and opportunities would be that came out of exit from the EU and that remains a key part of the day to day business. But those policy areas are critically about animal health across all species and of course animal welfare. Big themes like antimicrobial resistance and also the environmental agenda with sustainability are becoming more and more important, in, in the way that they link all these different themes together.

One thing that's been really apparent in the last couple of years that I've been involved in the board is, is how much change there is. DEFRA as a government department, has expanded again rapidly, but people move around, people move positions and continuity can be challenging. And that's one of the roles of Animal Health and Welfare Board is to actually provide continuity within a changing situation.

And therefore to provide continuity when there's an awful lot of change going on within the department. In fact, since Michael Seals has been chair of the board, there've been 9 heads of animal health and welfare, you know, during that time. So the continuity role is pretty important in what in what we do.

Other key factors are really the, the continuing sort of presence of budget cuts. You know, new money is not something which is, you know, readily available, and therefore, that's been an ongoing theme of kind of budgetary pressures on, on what, on what kind of government spends on the, you know, on, on food and animal health and welfare. There's quite a big difference to the, the previous kind of roles that I've had when I've been outside and lobbying, sat on one side of the table in discussions.

It has been an interesting experience the last two years to be to some degree on the inside, really stepping across these two aspects from industry to government, . And I think one of the advantages of that has been the opportunity to, to be heard, perhaps a bit more consistently. And that's really why, you know, in this webinar, what we want to set out is how BCVA and members of BCVA can see as an opportunity to have their views heard and to shape the future through this route with Animal Health and Welfare Board.

OK, so, so the, the, the views for, you know, decades of government has been about what are the public good functions? What should taxpayers pay for and what should industry pay for? And public good functions have been really quite clearly set out.

As public health issues, so zoonotic disease and all the aspects that are involved with challenges to public health are acknowledged that they're part of government's responsibility and taxpayers' money spent on that. Surveillance for disease is also being part of that public good package. And of course, exotic disease readiness, whether it's foot and mouth disease, or it's African swine fever, or it's avian flu, all of these exotic disease, preparations again have been part of that public good function.

And we shouldn't forget that welfare has always been in that list, and also, particularly now with Brexit, the importance of trade is even more prominent than it was, but it's always been a really kind of important and consistent feature in the department. So these, these areas were recognised as public good and were government kind of linked. But this is changing, and Brexit has given an opportunity for change, and it has really provided quite major disruption in what was a settled pattern for decades of what was seen as government's role in animal health and welfare.

And there's been a number of consultations and a number of different, you know, proposals that have been in discussion. And many publications which are available on, on gov.uk website.

In particular, looking at how future farming and environment are linking together. So, if we just look at some of the things that have led to the pathway being proposed, then in particular, a major government consultation that was called Health and Harmony, the Future for Food, Farming and the Environment in a green Brexit, has been an enormous vehicle for change. And this consultation, which was out between 27th of February and the 8th of May in 2018.

Was a wide ranging piece, particularly while Michael Gove was a Secretary of State, that, that has Really kind of challenge what those previous kind of priorities were, and in particular recognise the benefits of improving animal health and addressing endemic disease. So in that health and harmony consultation, there were key questions asked about animal health. And in the consultation.

Questions along the lines of, you know, what type of action did people that were engaged in the consultation feel were most likely to have the biggest impact on improving animal health on farms. The question was also asked about how could government best support industry to develop ambitious plans to tackle endemic disease and to drive up animal health standards. And for example, Yoni's disease is a great example of how industry has taken action and has looked at showing leadership in moving on the overall kind of management and the strategy on farms and connecting vets with industry, and of course BCVA has a key role in leading on that education piece.

So what that consultation kind of leads to is the opportunity for new legislation. And the agriculture bill that was introduced in September has just recently had its 2nd reading. And the whole discussion about how Brexit could lead to change is really very closely wrapped up in, in new legislation.

And, and what the agriculture bill is really offering is, A new framework for domestic agriculture policy. So, after decades of close connection with the Common Agricultural Policy in the rest of Europe. This is really a new framework for domestic policy.

And one of the really important changes that I'm gonna come back to. That has opened the opportunity up for the animal health and welfare pathway concept, is that the agriculture bill includes a power to make payments to protect or improve the health or welfare of animals. And that is a significant change.

It also enables the collection and sharing of data from those in the agrifood supply chain. Including data to support animal health. And of course, this also has to ensure that any data shared is done so in full compliance with existing data privacy legislation.

But that is a significant piece as well, which looks at how the data is gonna be a central part of achieving these changes. And I think significantly, the introduction of the bill was accompanied with a policy statement. Along with the summary of those consultation, those health and harmony consultation responses.

And what the statement, you know, is, is that, you know, government has said that it wants to work with representatives of industry and the veterinary profession to determine how we can work more closely together to significantly reduce the impact of endemic disease and health conditions, as well as establish the range of tools required. So There's a really kind of positive. Reaching out there in terms of government looking to work in a different way with industry and the private vetter profession.

So there have been opportunities to input in the run up, you know, to, the kind of the reading of the bill. And of course, there will be further review as it goes through the kind of House of Lords as well. But just to kind of again, to highlight, you know, some of the things that are in the bill.

And the data collection piece is really significant because again, I'm just going to kind of read the actual detail here where it looks at, you know, wide powers that do extend to Wales and Northern Ireland as well to collect and share data from those involved with or having an impact on matters linked to certain activities in the agrifood supply chain. So although household consumers are excluded, then there are powers in the bill for actually sharing and collecting data from all in the agrifood supply chain. OK, so what, so what really do Brexit changes mean?

What do they mean for moving away from the Common Agricultural Policy? What do they mean therefore, for really our farmers and for farming in the UK? Well, as I kind of mentioned earlier on, essentially, the budget is similar and unlikely to be hugely increased.

But there is lots of discussion about very different ways of paying that budget out. Two of the major themes, therefore are environmental land management, so the EMS schemes that are being obviously discussed in detail. And that isn't the main subject of this webinar, but certainly will be of major interest to, our farmers.

But the other major change is the subject to the rest of this webinar, which is the animal health and welfare pathway. So Section 2 is the pathway and what perhaps the originally was called the animal health pathway is now very much animal health and welfare pathway. And the background to this was after that health and harmony consultation.

Government set out its intention to work with industry to reduce endemic disease and therefore improve health conditions on farm. And the objectives were to work in partnership to deliver improved health, as well as well evidenced and consistently high standards of welfare in livestock. And of course that has major implications for some of the trade discussions that are going on that we are able to evidence those standards.

Secondly, increased productivity. And competitiveness for our industry as a result of reduced inputs, or and or increased outputs. So productivity and looking at economic benefits are a key part of this as well in terms of creating win-wins.

Then thirdly, and not surprisingly. Controlling endemic disease offers opportunities for reduction and refinement in how we use antimicrobials. So Still as much antimicrobial use as is needed, but looking at ways to reduce that need by addressing those root causes that lead to disease and therefore lead to a need for antimicrobial use.

And then fourthly, finally, but definitely not the least, is looking at the opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, but not confined to that, also looking at the other aspects of environmental impact that farming can exert from biodiversity. To land use and land change, as well as to water quality as well. So those initial ideas are now the subject, and have been of really significant co-design.

So what the pathway, therefore is about is putting together a series of measures that are currently being co-designed by industry and government, but also the view is that they would carry on being co-designed by industry and government. Those key aims are therefore to improve animal health and welfare in livestock and reduce those diseases. And the partnership has already started with key industry representatives, including BCVA and the BVA NFU, but also farmers and private vets that have been input in to start to co-design what the priorities are for this pathway.

So These actions and these measures are not set in stone, and they're not government policy yet. The opportunity is still there very much to shape them. And I'll talk a little bit about the time scale of this.

But possible actions therefore would be. Designing and then implementing animal health improvement schemes across a broad range of endemic diseases. Possible actions could include payment by resort schemes for animal welfare, where evidenced enhanced welfare could lead to actually public good payments.

And there are pilot schemes we proposed about this. And then a third possible action could be animal health and welfare grants, where access to government grants that would greatly subsidise investment in both facilities, equipment, but also in training and in expertise. So, so why, why would government want to do this and why would industry want to do this?

Well, the, the benefits are multiple, and the basis of this is to find win-wins for taxpayer that consumers understand, but also benefit our farmers and therefore give a partnership opportunity to vets. For example, slowing the rise of antimicrobial resistance and being seen to be taking strong action to do that is really important. Reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and being perceived to take strong action to do that as well.

Improving animal welfare and being able to evidence that animal welfare is improved. With major opportunities, of course there to impact on trade. But also absolutely not forgetting the need to boost productivity and therefore create important economic benefits and an opportunity for farmers to appreciate the value of, of these kind of these changes.

And really underpinning all of those is improved use of data. And livestock improvement programme, livestock improvement services are a really kind of key underpinning data mechanism which government is also investing in to support these changes. So just to kind of, you know, a look at the pathway again, just step back a little bit, you know, these are some proposed sort of thoughts on what a journey might look like.

And if we look at some of those kind of key points, then the journey is, is a long term one. It's not about quick fixes. This is about making long term sustainable changes.

In our livestock food industries. So therefore they might be, you know, rolling, you know, 345 year kind of health programmes. There may be welfare grants that come in.

And as I mentioned, there could be therefore opportunities to recognise improvement. Making sure that livestock owners are registered so that actually, We understand as an industry, as well as government, where the animals are. Making sure that that data is used for surveillance purposes so that we can understand emerging diseases and spot changes early.

And that of course applies to endemic disease, but of course exotic disease readiness and therefore biosecurity. There's been a lot of consultation about enforcement changes to try and perhaps look at a wider range of ways to enforce change rather than extremes and prosecutions or nothing has been. Often the way that enforcement has been seen.

So perhaps a wider range of measures to help enforce change, with, therefore greater flexibility to, to do that. And of course, productivity and competitiveness are key parts of the UK's opportunity to, to prosper in our livestock food industry. And that therefore is crucial for our international reputation and trading opportunities.

So the idea really is, is for this animal health and welfare pathway to achieve, You're really cross-cutting delivery of world leading standards where we're not let down by parts of the industry which therefore damage our reputation with consumers internationally. So, looking at that in a little bit more detail, so that means improving health and improving welfare. And even some quite basic statistics just about current losses within the ruminant sector.

You know, just looking at animals that are, you know, dying on the farm at the moment is an area of potentially huge improvement where we can reduce waste. And of course, all these improvements in, in, in health and welfare offer that opportunity to deliver those antibiotic use reductions, which is part again of major government strategy, but also industries recognising the need to make the big changes. Reduced environmental impact fits in again with major, you know, government kind of policy needs, but also we've only got to look at the way that the media is so engaged with the environmental risks and environmental threats to appreciate that there's a win-win there for, for the, the livestock food industry to demonstrate how it's addressing environmental impact.

Some of the changes from, from previous projects and previous proposals is the ambition for this to be a really widespread uptake. You know, countrywide, and although this is an England initiative to start off with because agriculture and food are devolved policies, there is very good discussion and liaison going on with the devolved administrations and therefore the opportunity to join things up in a consensual way. But that bottom up approach is really the key is to really try to engage with the parts of the industry which can lead to reputational damage at the moment.

So part of this would be, therefore, enabling farm to fork audits, being able to demonstrate that health and welfare for the whole productive life of an animal, you know, is of the standard that consumers are expecting. It is about being industry led. It is about industry articulating what the priorities are.

But it is also being supported by government and in endemic disease, that is a change. It forms part of a comprehensive post Brexit strategy. So this has to engage with lots of other parts of policy.

And for example, the National Food strategy, which is a massive cross-cutting government review being led by Henry Dimbleby that will report later this year, the Animal Health pathways engaged in that national food strategy team to make sure that animal health and welfare. And the environmental opportunities of good health are part of that conversation. So let's just pick out a few of those key themes.

Welfare is something that I've mentioned a few times and, and it is a prominent part of the animal health and welfare pathway. There are some proposals that, that might see welfare grants, being available from 2022. And those grants might be along the lines of building improvements.

They may be about animal handling facilities, they may be access to equipment, they may facilitate access to sensors, to diagnostics. But crucially, they will also have a requirement for training being included with them. So, rather than just investment in capital equipment, this pathway with welfare being part of it, will likely require training in actually how those investments are going to make a difference.

And of course, therefore, vets have a big opportunity in delivering training to make those things happen on farm. There are potential ideas for payment on results, meaning that farmers might have the opportunity to be paid if they can demonstrate enhanced welfare on their farms. Antimicrobial resistance and one health is, of course, a massive priority for cattle vets and for, you know, our industry.

You know, dairy, beef, whichever sector we're in, the opportunity to demonstrate that we are not relying on antimicrobials is really important, and we've engaged in that as a profession and as an industry. And that therefore is gonna be an important part of the pathway to demonstrate that we are addressing the need for antimicrobials by actually dealing with those root causes of endemic disease. But perhaps, you know, one of the things that have been less obvious, are actually the win-wins that come from.

Improve an endemic disease, therefore demonstrating how that reduces negative impacts on the environment. And there is increasingly work being done that demonstrates how good health in dairy and beef sectors will positively influence how the industry is impacting on the environment. Better reproductive performance leads to lower greenhouse gas intensity.

Better health in single agent infectious disease like BVD leads to reduced impact on the environment. And better health with other endemic diseases such as lameness or mastitis also. Can be demonstrated to reduce the impact on the environment.

And it's an important opportunity because in 2020, the UK is hosting the COP 26, the conference of the parties, climate change conference for the UN. It's gonna be in Glasgow, at the end of this year. And agriculture will be on the negotiating agenda for the climate change conference.

So as the UK hosts that, we are going to be visible, and there's an opportunity to demonstrate how actually livestock food production is part of the solution, and ruminants are part of the solution and not part of the problem. So, just looking at how this has developed so far and looking ahead to what's coming next, before I hand over to Colin, is that. There's been a steering group working for just over 12 months on this animal health pathway idea.

And of course there are similar models in Animal Health Ireland, Animal Health Australia, and there are ideas that therefore have come from discussions with those organisations and many others. The steering groups included the, the chairs of those sector councils. So the key food species sector councils, so poultry, pigs, the sheep sector, and small ruminants, and cattle.

It's included a number of the Animal Health and Welfare board, including myself, er, Michael Seals as chair, and it's also included HDB and BVA and DFRA to date. Now, that steering group's been working closely to determine how to work in partnership and actually ensure that that both industry and the government ambitions for animal health and also welfare are gonna be delivered. So the idea really was that the partnerships would be able to drive action on animal health and on welfare.

And therefore the questions are what would industry see as priorities? And the discussion to date has been along those lines. And there's a key opportunity for.

What's been a small steering group is now reaching out into wider sector groups, and BCVA's involvement is key in the cattle sector, and there will be consultation meetings in June this year, that will be wider and kind of even more inclusive. So engagement to date, BCVA has been very important and has been involved since 2019 with sessions on the pathway and where focus might be. And during the summer last year, there was a template actually looking for views on what priorities would be for the cattle sector.

And they were completed, and as initial discussion points, therefore some suggestions have been made on disease priorities and of course obvious from lameness to BVD mastitis, but also on the role of vets in those possible health schemes. So these are by no means finalised, they're just the initial discussions. And therefore, where are we now is crucially, and this webinar is part of this, is to really emphasise and explore what the role of the vet is.

In the animal health and welfare pathway. And the sort of questions and discussions that key members of the animal health teams in government, but also why the industry ask. Is How is the role of the vet as trusted adviser going forward?

Is the vet Trust to advised only on clinical issues, or are there opportunities for wider business management? Is the vet the figurehead of the vet led team or more widely engaged in an operational sense, and with which parts of that veterinary led team on farms. How will the vet be a provider of data to the farmer, but also to be a role in filtering data, in prioritising data, in actually adding value to data that's available, and therefore, what might the role of the vet be in providing data in an appropriate way to the pathway?

And of course social science is a key part of these discussions. Because if we're going to actually enable change to take place, then how is the vet role in actually helping and sometimes convincing, but certainly working with farmers to take actions to achieve positive change. So therefore, what are the next steps?

Well, you know, they really are about heading into this period now of detailed policy design on cattle health schemes. So, nothing is set in stone at this stage, and further input from the sectors, and that includes vets, and Colin is input and the rest of the BCVA team, obviously with Nicky as president, are very clearly inputting into, into these questions. And there are questions to answer still, even at a fundamental level of, you know, how do we address beef versus dairy, and how do we address the different needs of different disease and health and welfare priorities within our profession and our industry.

So I think I'm, I'm gonna wrap up kind of my my sort of section there and, and therefore with that sort of BCVA discussion, hand over to Colin, who will actually talk obviously from BCVA or perspective about some of those next steps and BCVA. So Colin, I'll hand over to you. Thank you very much, Jonathan, that's much appreciated.

I, I just want to add a few comments in at the end, on what BCVA has been doing about this, and, and what we're planning to do over the coming weeks and months, just so that we can try and translate this into what practitioners might be required to do and and how practitioners can also input into it. So. BCVA has been involved, as Jonathan has said, with the AHP since, and through 2019, and it will continue to be, some of the initial discussions .

I, I suppose was slightly scary in that it literally was a blank sheet of paper, and, and some of the questions that were being put to, to BCVA in Italy were, well, what, what, what do you want to do? What do cattle vets want to do? And, and literally there was, you know, no, no limitations to, to what you might want to do or, or, or choose to do.

And that, that presents a tremendous opportunity, but it also presents quite a bit of challenges, as well. So, we've obviously, in a, in a political sense, been a few hiatuses through 2019 with a general election towards the end of last year, and, and that's maybe caused slight delays in the whole process, but the feeling now is, is now we've moved into a 2020 that this is now picking up speed, hence, The reason for us engaging with members tonight and going forward so that we can really try and seek the views of of BCVA members. So, clearly, as Jonathan has said, this, this programme of work is going to have a significant impact on the future of cattle practise in England, and certainly has the potential to do that.

it could make a big difference to, to what vets do, and how they're funded to do it to some degree, and therefore really critically, . BCTVA wants to give practitioners the opportunity to get as much buy into this as possible, to get involved in shaping the, the future of the pathway, and we really want to seek practitioner views on this. We don't want it to be something that is seen to be imposed on vets, and indeed we don't want this to be seen as something that's imposed on farmers either.

So, as Jonathan has said, the consultation is really important. Both with vets, so vets can be seen as, as people that are, are leading this, but also that we get as good a farmer buy into this as possible so that the farmers feel that there's real value in it as well. So, those are, those are some of the, the, the things that are, are, are lying in the background of all of this.

What we've done so far, there are obviously some areas where you could instantly think, well, these could be included in the pathway. and as Jonathan says, none of these are fixed in stone. So as examples, you could already say on, on the dairy side, the pathway could build on some of the already existing initiatives that are out there.

So, There are clearly initiatives on lameness, masti control, BVD and yoni, and Youngstock health, and you could see those as, as priorities for the dairy sector, and areas where there is already work being done and, and things that could be built on. Similarly, on the, the beef side and the suckler side, BVD and the only fit into that as well, and potentially further, opportunities around health planning, pneumonia control. These are are just examples of, of ideas that, that could be incorporated into the pathway, but nothing is currently cast in stone.

So, what are we doing about this going forward, what should pop into BTBA members' inboxes later on this week is a, a member survey where we're really asking for as much. Veterinary practitioner feedback as we can on the, the pathway on how you could see that working in the context of your practise and your job, and what you see as the priorities for it. And we want to get as wide a consultation on this as possible.

So, we would really strongly encourage, vets in practise in England to give us, as much feedback on this as they can. The way we've structured the survey is to have a few specific questions, and very much leave, some open text boxes in there to try and encourage as much, feedback as possible on, on the full range of ideas that might be out there. So we want to consult as widely as possible.

And the opportunity to do that will be, be starting this week. That consultation will stay open for a number of weeks, and probably the next deadline for us is, a meeting in the middle of March, where we hope we can feed back some of the, the veterinary profession's views on the pathway and, and how we might see that going forward in the cattle sector. So, really it's over to, to practitioners and, and hopefully we can get as, as much feedback as possible, .

Our understanding, I think, is, is that, you know, we're going to need to move on this fairly quickly, and John has, has, has suggested that that there is this, you know, June deadline to try and get things a little bit more firmed up, but we still feel that there is time to consult on this with, with members and consult as widely as possible, and by doing that, we'll get as good a a, a, a pathway as we can get from all of this. So really that's all I wanted to say. It was just to, to sort of highlight what BCA is doing, what BCVA is planning to do, and, and any feedback that we can get either through the questionnaire or, or directly to the BCVA office will be very welcome.

All views will be taken into account, and we'll try and and represent our, veterinary members as well as we can. Thank you very much. OK, thank you very much, both John and Colin for, for bringing us up to date there on, on current developments regarding the animal health and welfare pathway and how BCVA can have an input into its future development.

We have now got just over 10 minutes for questions, so I really would, we've got loads of questions coming in already. Put them directly back to John and to Colin, so please keep on inserting them into the Q&A box at the bottom of your screen. Before we go to questions, could I just ask that everybody watching could spare 30 seconds at the end.

That have popped up in your new tab browser. Depending on which device you're using to watch the webinar, the survey doesn't always present itself. So if that's the case, please just feel free to email any feedback you've got into the office, office at webinarett.com.

If you're listening to the recording of this webinar, you can add comments on the website underneath all the recording or email us at webinaretts as well. So, just over 10 minutes for questions, keep those questions coming in, even if we don't have time to address all of them, during the next sort of 10 or 15 minutes, we will ask, Colin and John if they can answer them afterwards, so please keep, keep them coming in. So.

Mm. There's a question here regarding funding, and maybe this is one for John. Model of the animal health pathway is a certainty to go ahead.

Have actual government funds being secured for this, or are they yet to be secured? That's a good question. I, I, I might have predicted that one, I think, but so I'll try, I'll try and answer kind of all the questions as best I can, and I think it's a really good question because I think we'll all, you know, acknowledge that there have been things that have been lined up before and then funding hasn't happened or funding's been reduced.

And I think the reality is that in every political or government situation, things can change. So. There is, there is definitely risks that things could, change and they could therefore be either less funding allocated to things or things that happen in the way that we hope.

So that is a risk, . But what I would say is that this is, this is beyond a decision point in terms of, you know, there are teams within government that are working up, you know, the, the kind of internal business plans for this in terms of, you know, the key economic kind of case for the treasury in terms of funding. So this is not like, it's an initial chat point now, this is about, you know, securing the detailed bits of where the money's going.

So, the exact details are of course being worked out because we're at that stage. But is this something that has got fully allocated to it? Yes.

Could it change, yes. Is it being worked up in terms of the detail with, essentially the kind of business unit? Yes, it is.

So. It, it looks at, you know, at the moment that it is, you know, going forward and has been working up for quite a considerable time now, and there is a significant, you know, infrastructure behind it. So I think that's kind of all I can say at this stage.

There are risks that it could change, but actually there is quite significant kind of infrastructure now and momentum behind it. Brilliant, thank you very much. Another one for you, John, .

Do we have any idea how much of the funding will be allocated towards improving health, or is a significant proportion going to be towards environmental schemes? How have any decisions been made there just yet? So I think .

The first part of this is that the environmental land management schemes, which are, you know, the whole kind of elms idea is, is looked at in a, in a sort of separate way. So the animal health, you know, pathway idea is going to be about ring fencing money for health and welfare, and really what our challenge is, is to make the case for how much. Money and also to make the case how some of those improvements in health, in fact, most of those improvements in health are about a win-win for environmental impact.

So actually, you know, the real case for the pathway is about saying the things that we want to do in improving health and welfare are in themselves, actually reducing the environmental impact. So there is money ring-fenced in that way. OK, so the offset the, so it won't be a case that they're just focusing on environmental improvements.

It's. Improved health and welfare. Yes, it's, it's about, and that's one of the cha it's about making the connection and that's a really important bit leading up to that climate change conference at the end of the year.

It's making the case that better health is actually better in terms of environmental change. Less waste, better reproduction, less disease is better for the environment. Brilliant, thank you.

So another question here regarding the importance of the vets going forward. Didn't seem to prioritise the importance of the veterinary surgeon going forwards. So how important do you feel that the private veterinary surgeon is going to be both in the development, of the pathway, but also in its delivery?

So I think, I think this is the absolute heart of the animal health and welfare pathway. In that it's about the partnership between the farm vet and the farmer is central to this. It is based around how effectively vets and farmers can work together to deliver this change.

So, yes, the consultation stage is broad and it's vital that vets are collaborative and we listen really well and make sure that we do get good engagement in how we put the proposals forward. But in terms of what it really means, this is very different from rural development programmes. This is different from how the European money was being allocated for RDPE.

This is about putting vets and farmers together at the centre of these programmes. So. As it's set out, vets are absolutely central to it, but we need to be team players and we need to listen and collaborate really well.

Right, because that leads on to another question that we have here. So obviously the current proposals really do heavily involve the vet and, and, and being vet led, etc. But is there a role for consultants here?

You just talked about, us being open-minded, involving others. Even if consultants are involved, how would they be chosen or regulated? So I think that's a really good question as well, because if this is going to deliver what, you know, it, it promises that it could, it's a long term project and it's about teamwork.

So I think it's really important that we're inclusive in making sure that on merit, the farm team is, is broad, it's multidisciplined, it brings in talent and skills where there are gaps, and that means that advisors, of course, I think, are a valuable part of that. I think that there's a message about that vet led team, which is, therefore making sure that vets are skilled up, that vets are engaged, and therefore able to coordinate different areas of expertise with their farms. And we don't, therefore need to be the only experts on farms, but we need to be a key coordinating piece.

So the first part of of the question is, is there a role for advisor, I think the answer is yes, and how they fit in as part of that veterinary led team. And in terms of regulation, that is, is a key point of discussion, and I would suggest that would be a real opportunity in the survey that BCVA are are running to express what the opportunities are for working within teams with advisors, but also potentially what some threats or risks might be. So, regulation and being selective is gonna be important, but being inclusive and making sure that we don't exclude expertise is gonna be part of that.

So what does everyone think? I think it's a chance to, to input. Yes, as John mentioned, Oh, Colin, do you want to come in?

Yeah, Sara, if I could just come in there as well, one of the, the points that BCRA have made quite strongly is . The, the potential need for, for training in certain areas, and BCVA will be quite keen to be involved with, any necessary training of, either vets or if other advisors or consultants were involved, ensuring that the appropriate standards were there. And there was already, you know, some precedents to that, like that, that have been set with regards to, you know, BBD training or Yoni's training to Be involved with those schemes, which have been organised through BCVA.

So we would very much see a role in that going forward. You know, there's, there's no point in, in having these schemes without having the necessary support, to lie behind it. So, at the moment, we see it as a really important role of BCVA is, is to be involved in, in, in training and, and, and providing the support to, you know, vets that are required to be able to deliver it going forward.

I think you raised a really good point there, Colin, because, there is another question here as to whether we see BCVA as being the most appropriate organisation to take this forward, and maybe that's something that to, to put back to members and say, how do we, how do we see BCVA in a role potentially as driving this and, and what maybe do we need to do to reach out, to others that would be involved in, in getting this pathway off the ground and running successfully. Just going back to the point that you mentioned, John, about, engagement, with vets, and we need to engage vets and, and push, push, these schemes and the advice down to farmer level. What happens in a situation where a farmer won't engage with the pathway rules?

What does that mean then they're not able to access any baseline funding, or how has anything been discussed yet around that? So I think again that's a really, you know, really kind of key question because the, the, the concerns being that, you know, industry is compromised in terms of consumer perception and in terms of international trade with sometimes a small minority, and. You know, the, the leaders within kind of the the the cattle industry, you know, are, are genuinely world leading and therefore are moving things, you know, on and achieving really fantastic progress.

It's how we do reach out and, and, and support in every opportunity we can to raise up and therefore give these opportunities with veterinary support, with access to to grants, and to clear structures to move things up. But There also is an element that if that support isn't taken, then. That means that part of the new way of spending that government budget is about.

Rewarding those changes. So there's again an opportunity for input, I think here, an opportunity for consultation, but there is certainly, you can see mechanisms here that could potentially be used, that could support the willing that want to improve, but actually could make it more difficult to trade for farmers that won't engage and, and won't actually try and . You know, address issues that are on their, on their units.

I'm going to finish up here now with just 11 final question before we. Anything is on the table, in terms of endemic disease. So we have a question here.

Do we see a role for TB control and prevention as forming part of the animal health and welfare pathway model, or is that anticipated to remain separate? Well, I think, I think the great opportunity with this whole concept of the pathway is about joining things together. And I think, you know, it's breaking down some of the barriers between what we're seeing as industry's concern and government's concern in terms of co-design and kind of co-delivery of what's going forward.

So actually, that means that progress on biosecurity, progress on an investment in R&D, investment in diagnostics, they're all part of that pathway. So I think everything actually is, is on the table, everything is there for discussion. But perhaps the biggest opportunity here is to take things out of silos on, on both sides of this to say how can we make progress in, in all those key areas.

Brilliant. And that leads us, really to the, the crux, of this webinar that literally everything is on the table. It's a fantastic opportunity for all of our members to feed in and help develop this pathway, going forward.

So, we're just past 9 o'clock, so I'm going to have to, to bring it to a close there, but I really want to thank you both again, and both John and Colin, for your time tonight. And also to everybody who's contributed to tonight's webinar, we, there are some remaining questions which we will endeavour, to ask Colin and and John after this webinar, and we'll circulate . Those answers in due course.

Just a reminder, both, as both, John and Colin have mentioned that there will be a BCVA circulated, a BCVA survey circulated later on this week, which will, give you further opportunity to feedback your thoughts about the development of the animal health and welfare pathway and really about BCVA's, role in this going forward. And finally, we would also just like to, to say that we'd look forward to you joining us for the next BCVA webinar, which will be on Tuesday, the 14th of April. Welfare in the sucklerhood.

So thanks again, both to our speakers and to everybody who has parti participated tonight, and goodnight.