The 14 civil servants are employed in the following grades.

Grade

Number of staff

Grade 6

3

Grade 7

7

Senior Executive Officer

3

Higher Executive Officer

1

The Government encourages the highest standards of welfare at slaughter. The Government would prefer all animals to be stunned before slaughter but respects the right of the Jewish and Muslim communities to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs.

Official veterinarians (OVs) from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are present in all approved slaughterhouses in England and take a prompt, proportionate and risk based approach to enforcement action when animal welfare breaches are identified.

Defra works closely with the FSA to ensure that the welfare of animals is protected in all slaughterhouses. There is a wide ranging, systemic programme of animal welfare monitoring activity including strengthened verification of compliance through the establishment of welfare assurance teams; a welfare themed audit programme; targeted unannounced inspections; additional checks for non-compliant business operators; and improved education and instruction through an animal welfare publicity campaign in slaughterhouses.

Last month, the Government published its Next Steps document which set out proposals for modernising the licensing of the breeding and selling of dogs in England. The Government proposes that anyone breeding and selling three or more litters of dogs in a twelve month period will need a licence. The majority of responses to our earlier consultation supported this proposal which strikes the right balance between being reasonable to enforce, providing a proportionate response and helping to target regulatory effort on those breeders producing dogs on a commercial basis.

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

The report on the comparison of the effect of the first two years of badger control in the first two areas is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-incidence-of-tb-in-cattle-in-licensed-badger-control-areas-in-2014-to-2015

Defra does not retain details centrally on the number of work placements in the Department and to identify the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Back in 2014, Porthleven was subjected to a series of storms that few will forget. Porthleven seemed to face the brunt of these storms that resulted in substantial damage not only to the harbour, but to the moored boats in the inner-harbour when the baulks that protected them gave-way, and allowed the seas to wreak havoc in the now unprotected inner-harbour.

In a stroke of genius, Julian Waring, who works for the Fishermen’s Mission, came up with the ideal of using the broken baulks to raise funds for the Mission. Artists and craft people both near and far turned the baulk wood into items that included paintings, drawings, benches, candle holders and other wonderful items. In total, over 160 pieces of work were made from the baulks.

The huge crowds gathered.

From this, Julian and his small committee put a plan in place to auction all this work off in one big charity auction. This auction took place this past Saturday on the harbour head. The auction was led by the excellent David Lay – David for near five-hours entertained the hundreds of people gathered in Porthleven CIC’s marquee with a bar and food by the Atlantic Inn and staging and lighting provided by Impact.

Back stage

It was amazing to be part of this auction and see how generous people were in not only having a bit of Porthleven history, but more importantly raising a staggering £40,315 from the 163 lots in the auction for the Fishermen’s Mission. The huge amount of money raised is still sinking in.

Julian and his committee have done an amazing job in pulling this off. They should be very proud of this work, as should Porthleven be proud of them. Whilst the committee deserve our praise, this fundraiser could not have been achieved without the generosity of all those artists and crafts people who turned a bit of wood in to art and gave their time for free. Thanks everyone else who was involved in doing their bit – like helping to set up the marquee and provide internet etc. Huge thanks must go to David Lay and his team for running the auction, especially the online part of it.

Saturday 18th of March 2017 will be one of those days long remembered in Porthleven for doing something great. A proud day for Porthleven, its residents and visitors.

Defra officials will be working with the Department for Exiting the EU to look at future policies for fisheries. We will continue to work closely with relevant industry and other key stakeholders to develop these new arrangements. As part of this work consideration will be given to support provided to the fisheries community.

The UK was allocated €243 million in the current programme for the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), with €45 million for enforcement, €52 million for data collection, €19 million for aquaculture and €127 million for other investments. The Government has guaranteed access to these funds up until the point we leave the EU.

The Government has guaranteed that the agricultural sector will receive the same level of funding that it would have received under Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy until the end of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework in 2020. No decisions have yet been taken about how that budget will be managed in the period between the UK leaving the EU and 2020.

The information requested on the total value of trade in fish and fish products (excluding fish oils, fish flour and meals) taken from the information collected by HM Revenue and Customs is given in the table below, for the ten years of 2006 to 2015 inclusive. Comparable data for trade in 2016 is not yet available.

Value of UK trade in fish and fish products (£million - exc. Fish oils and fish flour and meals)

Imports into the UK From:

Exports from the UK to:

EU

Non-EU

Total imports

EU

Non-EU

Total exports

2006

556.1

1365.5

1921.6

790.9

153.0

943.9

2007

621.7

1372.2

1993.9

805.8

176.3

982.0

2008

665.4

1544.6

2210.1

824.8

184.7

1009.4

2009

644.5

1532.7

2177.2

899.6

266.5

1166.1

2010

699.0

1555.7

2254.7

1010.8

335.0

1345.7

2011

802.9

1755.7

2558.6

1054.6

409.4

1463.9

2012

799.0

1771.0

2570.0

937.4

406.5

1343.9

2013

848.8

1908.2

2757.0

972.1

488.2

1460.3

2014

849.1

1888.7

2737.8

1014.2

552.0

1566.3

2015

842.6

1830.4

2673.0

921.1

416.3

1337.3

Porthleven Town Council is seeking a new town warden after Rod Barnes retired. Rod did an excellent job as Porthleven’s first town warden, but we need someone to fill those boots.

The role will undertake regular patrols of the Town in order to ensure it is a safe and clean environment. The town warden will assist visitors with information about the facilities within the Town. The warden will keep the streets litter and graffiti free, will deter anti-social behaviour and support enforcement officers as required. The warden will work with the
police to reduce crime and the fear of crime and work with the emergency services
and others to maintain a safe environment.

Main Objectives:
1. To patrol Porthleven to:
a) Ensure the Town is as clean, green and safe as possible.
b) Identify potential problems.
c) Get to know members of the community and respond to their enquiries and
problems.
d) Encourage responsible behaviour of people visiting the Porthleven.
2. To provide information to the public that will enable them to get the most from their visit to Porthleven. This will include giving directions, information about amenities, shops, food
outlets, licensed premises, car parking, public conveniences etc.
3. Assist with Town events, as directed by the Town Council.
4. To help keep the streets and roads clean and tidy through regular litter picking, weeding,
graffiti and fly posting control.
6. To carry out condition surveys of Council owned furniture, buildings and areas.
7. To undertake training to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for dog fouling / littering offences.
8. To ensure the Council Chamber / Offices are clean and presentable.
9. To complete any minor repairs / decorating as directed by Town Clerk.
10. To conduct daily checks on all public conveniences and report any issues to Town Clerk.
11. To liaise with the local Biffa Street Cleaning Team to ensure a clean and safe environment for both residents and visitors to Porthleven.
12. To liaise with the local Police Community Support Officer to report any problems within Porthleven.
13. To undertake any other duties appropriate which contribute to the general objective of the post.

The Town Warden will be expected to wear a uniform, provided by the Town Council, at all times when on duty and protective clothing when necessary and to:
a) Ensure safe working practices in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Health and Safety Executive.
b) Attend training courses and meetings when requested.
The job involves regular evening and weekend work.

The Town Council reserve the right to complete a Criminal Records Bureau check. No formal qualifications are required for this post although, good communication skills are necessary. A good geographical knowledge of Porthleven is also essential.

Any successful candidate for the role will be expected to work at least 20 hours per week and will be paid £9 per hour. It is a permanent position.

Anyone interested in the position will need to contact the Town Clerk for further details at porthleventc@tiscali.co.uk or 01326 573154 (please do not send a pm via facebook) Deadline for submission of completed applications Friday 24th March.

We will continue to work closely with the Devolved Administrations as well as stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – seeking to benefit from shared learning in order to achieve our vision of building a world leading food and farming nation.

The views of the devolved nations will play an important part in helping shape our preparations for exit and achieving arrangements that work for all parts of the UK.

We will seek to agree a UK approach to the negotiations and ensure we get the best possible deal for the whole of the UK. We have committed to carefully considering any proposals the devolved administrations put forward. The Secretary of State visited Edinburgh in February to meet with Ministers from all the Devolved Administrations to give them every opportunity to have their say as we form our negotiating strategy.

Defra is amongst those Government departments whose work is most closely linked to and impacted by EU activity, legal frameworks and funding. In terms of work arising from the UK’s vote to leave the EU, some 80% of Defra’s work is framed by EU legislation and a quarter of EU laws apply to Defra’s sectors. Many roles across the Defra group are now supporting EU exit-related work, either directly or indirectly.

As with all departments, Defra’s work programmes and recruitment plans are continually kept under review ‪to ensure we are appropriately staffed to deal with the task at hand. The resourcing of EU Exit work is a key priority of the Department and will be subject to on-going assessment. Staffing resources will be deployed flexibly across the entire Defra agenda, including work on our farming and fisheries policy.

In 2016 more than 29,000 cattle were compulsory slaughtered in England due to the discovery of bovine TB following surveillance testing. On average six reactors are found and slaughtered from testing where bovine TB is detected in a herd. As the comprehensive bovine TB testing surveillance regime ensures most bovine TB incidents are detected at an early stage, it is very rare for cattle herds to be fully slaughtered for bovine TB control reasons in England. There have been four such cases in England in the past five years.

Year of incident

Herd size

2016

60

2015

0

2014

130

2013

0

2012

122 & 25

There has been a marked increase in popularity of the Pet Travel Scheme in GB. In 2014 APHA issued 80,274 new pet passports to their official veterinarians, 119,704 in 2015 and 95,449 in 2016.

In a broadside Nelson would be proud of, Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny committee via a specially formed sub-committee have damned the Outline Business Case (OBC) of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan in Cornwall (STP).

In coming to their conclusion, the sub-committee over the past few weeks has taken evidence from more than 40 different organisations and have spoken to a wide range of people. From this, all the information has been taken into account which formed the reports findings today.

The report is as follows:

“We believe that the strategic intent of the Sustainability and Transformation plan is a positive. Very few would criticise the proposed investment in improving health and wellbeing and there is a commitment to the merger of health and social care in the Devolution Deal for Cornwall.

There are aspects of the Outline Business Case (OBC) and the engagement process we wish to comment upon and these are headed individually.  It is expected that these concerns will be addressed in the Full Business Case (FBC).

Finance

We have serious reservations about the accuracy, achievability and viability of the financial plans and these have to be addressed. There was inadequate evidence in the OBC to support the saving figures presented. There appears to be a lack of attention given to capital costs, the cost of transformation and the future proceeds of any property rationalisation.

Engagement with the Public

In our view the process of engagement with the public was inadequate and seriously flawed. There was inconsistency of information provided dependent on the facilitator and this has to be rectified. The questionnaire contained closed questions, was ill conceived and was unprofessional. Members of the public were left feeling alienated, angry and frustrated.

We are disappointed that the report from the engagement events was not available when we were considering this issue.

Engagement with Workforce and Key Stakeholders

We are extremely concerned with the lack of consultation, awareness and engagement with key stakeholders such as GPs and community pharmacists. There appears to have been an absence of any meaningful involvement or engagement with staff across all levels of organisations. It is apparent that there has been limited engagement with the voluntary sector and care providers.

Devon

We want to be assured that there is meaningful consultation with all providers of health services to residents of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and this should include services located in Devon. The impacts of any changes Devon undertake as part of their STP and/or Success Regime should be considered and risk assessed by those responsible for the STP in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. This matter should not be retrospective or reactive.

Mental Health

The parity of esteem is not evidenced within the OBC and this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Others not Visible in the OBC

It is recognised that the ‘One Vision’ plan for services to children is being developed, but more information regarding this must feature in the FBC. We do not believe that those aged under 25 are visible in the document, and there is little evidence of those who have co-morbidities, who are not frail elderly.

Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group

The Interim Chief Officer at Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group acknowledged that they have severe financial challenges, and are still in discussion with NHS England. The increasing debt level within Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group is worrying and the impact on the whole system needs to be addressed.

Closure of Beds

Any proposals within the FBC to reduce the number of beds across the system must clearly demonstrate that they will meet the criteria for bed closures as set out by Simon Stevens. Whilst the test applies to ‘significant’ bed numbers this does not appear to have been nationally quantified as yet. We believe that reduction in bed numbers across the landscape resulting from the STP process would on the basis of aggregation meet this requirement. We wish particularly that it is unmistakably demonstrated that sufficient alternative provision will be in place alongside or ahead of bed closures, and that the new workforce will be there to deliver it.

Governance and Democratic Accountability

We believe that there is a weakness and a lack of clarity in the governance of the STP. The OBC does not adequately address these aspects. The FBC needs to be clear and will need to evidence how the STP programme is governed and how it will be democratically accountable.

Middle Management

We need to be assured in the FBC that there is full engagement with middle managers and they reflect the needs of the final plan. This cannot be ignored as it will increase insularity.

Accountable Care System/Organisation

There is a lack of clarity with regards to the mandate to create, and the future development of, an Accountable Care System/Organisation. We acknowledge that the current structure split by purchaser and provider is not suitable however; we are concerned about the lack of detail about how the Accountable Care System/Organisation model would be applied to the NHS and Social Care provision for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  The FBC needs to evidence how this model would work and what differences it would make, including for those who do not use Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust as their main provider. If there are legal or national organisational barriers to the progression of the discussions regarding an Accountable Care System/Organisation, these should be progressed through the Devolution Deal negotiations.

Strategic Workforce Planning

We are anxious at the apparent dichotomy of workforce planning and the strategic direction being set in the OBC. The forecast reduction in the workforce across the system, especially within primary care, does not seem to be considered as responsibilities and service provision alters. There must be a comprehensive and long term strategic workforce plan within the FBC.

Definition of System Models

In evidence we received, there was obvious concern about replacement service models to those that currently exist. The FBC must contain details about the services and facilities that will be offered to localities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. This detail should include clear specifications for urgent care centres and locality hubs in order for patients to fully understand the options they are being given.

Comprehensive Impact Assessment (CIA)

We are concerned that a CIA was not progressed with the development of the OBC. This should be completed and made publically available with the FBC.

The Use of External Consultants

We are worried about the use of external consultants and have concerns that funding has been taken from local NHS and Social Care budgets in order to pay for this work. We suggest that if such work is required in the future, instead of taking money from the system and spending it externally, the allocated monies should instead be invested locally to release experts within organisations to take forward the work.

Timeframe

The currently proposed timescale for the publication of the FBC is unachievable if it is to be the document required to effectively take forward the programme. We need clarity on when the FBC will be available, and information on any risks or impacts that a delay in its creation will bring. We will need assurance that the timeframes being given are realistic and whether there are alternative plans in the case of any significant risks.

Conclusion

Therefore, as a result of our considerations, concerns and research and the compelling information provided to us, we conclude that the OBC was not fit for purpose as a public document although it met NHS England requirements.  The engagement process was poor and ill judged.

The FBC must answer our concerns and have solid, clear, evidence for any proposals.

The role of scrutiny is as a critical friend, and we request that as the FBC is drafted, interim reports are brought at relevant intervals. These reports should include financial information”.

This goes to the heart of the matter, as the whole Government STP process is flawed and is not based on improving people health and giving a better service, but it is about cuts to the NHS. The Government wants Cornwall to save over £264m on what is spends on health.

I have long argued for a question to be answered. Are we doing the STP for the residents, or the Government? I believe it is the latter, and we should tell the Government to do their own dirty work if they want Cornwall to find all £264m worth of savings.

It is also not right to blame those professionals in Cornwall who are having to deliver the STP, as it is hard to deliver when the Government plan is so flawed in the first place.