---

Farriers’ Qualification (European Recognition) Regulations 2008

My Lords, I think that this debate has been necessary, because we have drawn attention to concerns. As the Minister said, it is possible that there may even be slightly better regulation or processes, or new and developing processes, in Europe. One hopes, after what the Minister said, that if there are, we will now find out about them and have enough information coming in. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, is on my side, but praying in aid the great mother of parliaments when we are discussing this under negative procedure, when we can discuss it only after it has gone through, and slowly, means that possibly we are not that perfect all the time in how we handle secondary legislation. That is the conclusion I would draw. The way in which this was picked up by accident at the last minute, by me, suggests that we should look at that situation more carefully in future. I should have made one declaration of interest. At a dinner party several months ago it was decided that I had won something in Lambourn that was relevant to the equine fraternity. It was decided that I was possibly the most unlikely person in the town to be a jockey. The noble Lord, Lord Dear, with his wonderful explanation of how a horse’s foot works, might possibly challenge me for that if he turns up. However, I hope that the Government’s undertaking is to give us information in a way—a nod of the head is sufficient here—that we can actually understand and can get through to the general horse-owning public. If so, many of the fears here may well be allayed. We also have a process of reviewing this in case they are not. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion. Motion, by leave, withdrawn.