Stakeholder Group
It is important that stakeholders' views are taken into consideration on the continuing work being undertaken by the Scottish Government to promote, develop and implement Scotland's animal health and welfare policy. Reflecting this, the Scottish Government Animal Health and Welfare Division runs a series of key stakeholders meetings.
Remit of the group
To maximise benefit, the relationship between the Government and Stakeholders should be a reciprocal one with an emphasis on openness and communication. On its part, the Government hopes for stakeholders to provide practical and other advice to the department in formulating animal health and welfare policy and its implementation. Therefore the remit is:
- To allow the industry to raise issues of concern
- To maintain industry and government links
- To encourage communication within the industry
- To allow stakeholders an opportunity to have an input into policy formation and implementation
Membership of the group
A full Animal Health and Welfare stakeholder group is made up of a core membership, comprised principally of key industry organisations, but also contains a facility to invite other organisations along on an ad-hoc basis, depending on the agenda. Membership has recently been widened to include welfare clients (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and the veterinary profession (British Veterinary Association). A full list of the members can be found on this page. However, to prevent the group from becoming unwieldy, each organisation is ideally limited to a maximum of 2 representatives.
Frequency of meetings
Regular meetings of the full group are important, and are held at least every quarter. However, in line with current practice, discussion with stakeholders on specific issues continues as before. Also, should there be topical issues which require rapid resolution, the group will meet more frequently.