Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 59


     
     1        hard work.  I do not think anybody would deny that.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  When the Farm Animal Welfare Council in the actual
     4        report on broiler chickens talks about, it says about a
     5        forum that is held before publication, it says the Council
     6        also held a forum which invited experts from industry and
     7        research bodies?
     8        A.  Yes.
     9
    10   Q.   That is a host draft pre-publication forum, is it?
    11        A.  I cannot remember at what stage that was held.  It was
    12        certainly an opportunity to discuss certain areas that
    13        would be related to in the report.  I would have thought it
    14        would have been done pre- or may be only at the sort of
    15        very earliest drafting stage.  I am not sure exactly.
    16
    17   Q.   So does that mean that the top experts from industry and
    18        research bodies would have been invited to comment on the
    19        proposals which you had drafted up in your Council
    20        meetings?
    21        A.  Yes.  As I remember it, certain research bodies were
    22        consulted as a group and industry were also consulted as a
    23        group, but I seem to remember there was a meeting when all
    24        parties were present as well.
    25
    26   Q.   So would that be one of the meetings that Clare Druce was
    27        invited to attend?
    28        A.  Well, as I remember there were also consultations with
    29        the various welfare organisations and I certainly remember
    30        that they came as a group.  I think probably they were
    31        actually consulted on a separate day or at a separate time
    32        at least to industry and research.  That is my
    33        recollection.
    34
    35   Q.   So when the Council or its working group of the Council
    36        were preparing their report and had a draft, and then they
    37        invited the various welfare experts, welfare organisations
    38        experts to come along, what was the purpose of that?
    39        A.  I think the purpose was a consultation exercise to find
    40        out the areas of concern and to give a rough outline of
    41        what the report would include to try to get some views, and
    42        to get as wide a range of views as possible.
    43
    44   Q.   So the Council did want to take the views of experts from
    45        welfare organisations; it wanted to take them seriously?
    46        A.  Yes, I think it is the duty of the Council to get as
    47        many views as possible from as a wide range of people as
    48        possible.
    49
    50   Q.   That was part of the official process in developing the 
    51        report? 
    52        A.  Yes.  I think there was consultation at the start and 
    53        at the end of the report as far as I remember.
    54
    55   Q.   Mrs. Druce was invited to give written evidence before the
    56        drafting of the report in the first place by your
    57        committee?
    58        A.  Yes.  I think there were a whole range of organisations
    59        that were invited to submit written comments for
    60        consideration.

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