The number of veterinarians registered to practise in the UK is increasing year on year and currently stands at 27,000. The opening of new veterinary schools in the UK means that the numbers of veterinarians being trained here continues to grow. However, there has been a drop in the number of veterinarians registering in the UK having done their training abroad. This has a disproportionate impact on a small but vital part of the veterinary sector— official veterinarians working in abattoirs. This part of the profession has historically been dominated by veterinarians trained overseas. There are currently around 210 veterinarians carrying out these vital jobs in England and Wales with a further 27 veterinarians working in Scotland. This is around 20 per cent below the optimum level of personnel. The impact of Covid and travel restrictions are likely to have contributed to this drop in numbers. To practice in the UK, vets are required by the RCVS to have Level 7 English language. This has proved a barrier for most EU-based vets looking to move to the UK to work as Official Veterinarians since EU Exit (Prior to the end of EU Exit Transition Period, vets from the EU benefitted from mutual recognition of professional qualifications which meant that they did not formally have to meet the level 7 requirement). To make recruitment for these roles easier, the RCVS has temporarily allowed veterinarians trained overseas to improve Government Response: Moving animals across borders 17 their English while working in the UK with support and supervision, as temporarily registered veterinarians in England and Wales only. The RCVS will be reviewing this arrangement. Defra and the FSA will be in dialogue with RCVS. The Food Standards Agency is closely monitoring the situation and is satisfied that there has been no service interruption to date. This will be closely monitored during the busy period leading up to Christmas. export certification, these have now been addressed. The Government has taken following steps to mitigate this risk: • The Scheme for Temporary Agri-food Movements to Northern Ireland (STAMNI) Compliance Declaration was introduced for Authorised Traders. • Funding has been provided to make training for product export qualifications free. • From January to May 2021 Defra operated a GB-wide surge capacity to help fill certification gaps as needed. Demand for this was low with c.10 OVs deployed. calls with industry. • Since 2019, more than £1.8m in grant funding has been provided to key local authorities in England to help them build certifier capacity for exports. • A centralised training package is being developed for LA. Food Competent Certifying Officers (FCCOs). This will enable current FCCOs to build on their existing skills and enable other LA officers to qualify as FCCOs. • The role of Certification Support Officer has been created to reduce the burden of administrative workload on the OV. Working under the direction of a certifying offer, a CSO can undertake administrative and preparatory work to get a consignment ready for export making the work of OVs more effective. The number of official veterinarians (working in private practice) able to certify products of animal origin has increased from 643 in January 2019 to 1592 in January 2021 and has continued to grow to 1894 in October 2021. The number of CSOs has increased from around 100 in November 2020 to over 500 in March 2021 and continues to grow.