Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Dear Colleague

CONSULTATION ON THE PRINCIPLES OF COST AND RESPONSIBILITY SHARING FOR ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE

I attach a consultation document about Responsibility and Cost Sharing in Animal Health and Welfare. This is part of a long term area of work aiming to establish a better balance between Government and industry. The Consultation does not make any specific proposals but rather attempts to agree a set of principles for longer term engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders. Similar consultations are being undertaken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Comments on the proposals should be sent to the address below by 5 March 2007. I should be grateful if you would clearly indicate in your response which parts of the consultation document you are responding to as this will aid the analysis of the response. You should also complete and return the Respondee Information Form (which is attached to this document) with your response. This will let us know how you wish your response to be handled.

Address for reply:
Brian Logan

or by email: responsibilityandcostsharing@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

The Scottish Executive now has an email alert system for SE consultations (SEconsult). This system allows stakeholders, individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new SE consultations (including weblinks). SEconsult complements, but does not replace SE distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up-to-date with all SE consultation activity, and therefore to be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest.

Consultation is an essential and important aspect of Scottish Executive working methods. Given the wide ranging areas of work of the Scottish Executive, there are many varied types of consultation.

However, in general, Scottish Executive consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance work.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body. Consultation exercises may involve seeking views in a number of different ways, such as public meetings, focus groups or questionnaire exercises.

Typically, Scottish Executive consultations involve a written paper inviting answers to specific questions or more general views about the material presented. Written papers are distributed to organisations and individuals with an interest in the area of consultation, and they are also placed on the Scottish Executive website enabling a wider audience to access the paper and submit their responses. All the responses to this consultation will be made available to the public in the Scottish Executive Library by 5 April 2007, unless confidentiality is requested. All responses marked confidential will be checked for any potentially defamatory material before being logged in the library or placed on the website. The library is located at Saughton House, (K Spur, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD, telephone 0131 244 4552).

The views and suggestions detailed in consultation responses are analysed and used as part of the decision making process. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review;
• inform the development of a particular policy;
• help decisions to be made between alternate policy proposals;
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

If you have any comment about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Brian.

Yours sincerely
NEIL RITCHIE