Wales making progress to cut red tape

“While progress so far is encouraging more work is needed to minimise the amount of red tape, save time and money for both the industry and the Assembly and to reduce farmer stress,” he told Pembrokeshire NFU members at a meeting in Llandissilio.

Examples of reduced bureaucracy included the combining of cattle identification inspections with bTB tests; improving communication with farmers through the increased presence of the Farm Liaison Service at livestock markets and simplifying the literature and forms sent to farmers.

Responding, Mike McNamara, the union’s county chairman, said the industry acknowledged there would always be a requirement for businesses to be inspected.

“But we believe the burden of inspections could be reduced further by the sharing of data and information between regulatory bodies,” he said.

“Nothing annoys farmers more than two or three different inspecting bodies turning up on the farm on different days and all of them essentially asking the same questions and looking at the same things.

“I am heartened by the progress that has been made to date but I believe that is just the start. The review group has to continue looking for ways to reduce the burden on farmers.”

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name