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Farriers’ Qualification (European Recognition) Regulations 2008

My Lords, it is undesirable that the packed Benches on this side of the House should be silent on this critical issue, so I shall join in by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Addington, on raising this matter. I should declare an unpaid interest as I am a trustee of the charity World Horse Welfare, previously the International League for the Protection of Horses, whose concern is for horse welfare throughout the world, and this is a central issue for us. I shall not elaborate because noble Lords have unanimously expressed their concerns on the main issue of standards. Let us be in no doubt that the result of the regulations will be that standards of farrier practice in this country will be to some extent lowered and undermined. We have the best standards in the world, but those standards are not matched throughout Europe. We know that in some parts of Europe, particularly eastern parts, it is difficult to establish what the standards are, and if people come here with certificates describing experience or qualifications, it will not always be absolutely clear what they mean. The issue of standards is at the centre of this. Lowering standards has implications for animal welfare and, as has been pointed out, animal welfare has links to human welfare because of the threats to human health if bad farrier work has been done. I look forward to hearing what my noble friend has to say as he is always individual and constructive. I should particularly like him to say something on the important point made by the noble Lord, Lord Addington, about information. This change was slipping through with most of our world unaware of it. When I started speaking to people in the horse industry, most of them were unaware that this was happening. If the regulations proceed, there is an obligation on the department or departments to make sure that everyone in related industries is fully aware. For instance, this morning I spoke to the British Horseracing Authority and suggested to it that it might be helpful if it considered whether part of the conditions for licensing trainers should be that they should guarantee to use fully qualified farriers. It may well be if the information is communicated to other parts of the horse industry they can take measures to try to protect standards and animal welfare. I look forward to what my noble friend—who, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, represents a perfect Government—has to say, and I hope he will assure us that should the regulations go through all parts of the industry will be fully informed of the implications and that the departments will look at every means possible to protect the high standards that we have so long enjoyed.