DEFRA head unaware of looming animal welfare crisis from sheep shearer shortage

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today pressed senior civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on their planning for the “looming animal welfare” crisis around a shortage of sheep shearers in the UK.

During a session of the House of Commons Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, chaired by Mr Carmichael, it emerged that none of the senior civil servants giving evidence were aware of the growing problem, or aware of any DEFRA efforts to mitigate the issue, which has been created by a Home Office refusal to issue visas for sheep shearers from New Zealand and other countries.

Speaking during the committee session, Mr Carmichael said:

“There’s a fairly broad consensus in the industry now that we have a looming animal welfare crisis this year in relation to the availability of New Zealand or other foreign shearers for shearing sheep. We might have 1.5m sheep that there will not be available workforce to shear. What is DEFRA’s contingency planning to deal with that animal welfare crisis when it hits?”

“This is a significant problem. It’s one of the government’s own making because it’s the Home Office who have refused visas for these 75 foreign shearers. Has there not been any discussion between DEFRA and the Home Office on this?”

Paul Kissack, the Permanent Secretary for the department said:

“I confess I don’t know what our plan is on that. I suspect there has been conversation between DEFRA and the Home Office. It hasn’t hit my desk at this point.

“I can’t give you the details on this specific case but on the general point of “is DEFRA championing the interests of the sector with our departmental colleagues?”, we are.”

Mr Carmichael continued:

“What I’m suggesting to you is that this is seen in the industry as a looming crisis, and it might be interesting for you professionally to drill down into the reasons it has not filtered up through the system to your desk, if indeed there is anything being done about it at all. Does that not really illustrate why the industry holds the rather poor view that it does of the department?”

Mr Kissack replied:

“I don’t think you should judge how well the department is doing by what happens to hit my desk. I will go back to the department and work out what we are doing with that. We might be doing a very active programme of work engaging with communities affected. I don’t know.”