AQW 3170/22-27

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 20/09/2022
Answered On Date: 26/10/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to address staffing shortages in the veterinary sector.

Answer:

There is currently a shortage of vets within my Department and more widely, in both the private and public sectors, across all of the United Kingdom. I am aware of the difficulties veterinary employers in the local agri-food sector, including my own Department, have encountered and continue to experience, recruiting veterinary staff with the necessary skills for this work.

It is not within the gift of the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to address this shortage across the whole veterinary sector, although I am pleased that veterinarians have now been added to the UK Government’s Shortage Occupation List, facilitating their recruitment from outside the UK. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), which is responsible for the veterinary profession, held a Workforce Summit in November 2021 looking at potential solutions to the workforce crisis and subsequently released a report in February 2022, which identified six key themes around the issue of workforce shortages. My officials have been engaging with the RCVS in their work addressing the specific areas of recruitment and retention of vets across the UK.

However, there is an increasing acceptance that Northern Ireland requires a more assured supply of veterinarians in the long term, than is available from historical sources. There are a number of options for achieving this which merit further exploration, and last year I commissioned, from the Strategic Investment Board (SIB), a Baseline Report and Situational Analysis of Veterinary Services in Northern Ireland.

The SIB has completed their report, which is being actively considered. In the meantime, my priority is ensuring we have sufficient vets to carry-out the vital government veterinary services in our meat processing plants, in our field offices delivering disease control programmes, and providing support to the agri-food industry.

My Officials continue to explore all available avenues to recruit vets, including taking on permanent veterinary staff through NICS Recruitment and temporary vets through the agencies on the NICS Agency Framework.