Written question asked by Duke of Montrose (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Monday, 14 June 2010.

Agriculture: Sheep Tagging

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether livestock markets and slaughterhouses will be required to check that there are no errors or omissions in the data they submit compared to the actual number of animals scanned.

Answer: Electronic identification of sheep is an EU requirement, but its administration and implementation is an issue for the devolved Administrations. It would not be feasible, given the volume and speed with which animals are handled at markets and slaughterhouses, to require them to put in place exception management procedures to identify animals whose identification has not been recorded. We are however aware that there are concerns about the ability of electronic reading equipment to capture individual information on every animal sent to central point recording centres (CPRCs), particularly where this could impact on keepers' single farm payments. In England, we will not penalise a keeper for incomplete data in respect of animals sent to a CPRC.

Secondary information