Defra welcomes the Committee’s recognition of the work taken to increase certifier capacity before 01 January 2021. Between January 2021 and April 2021, Defra, APHA and FSA made a group of Official Veterinarians available to certification providers and local authorities across Great Britain in case significant certifier shortages emerged. There was limited take up of this offer, with just nine requests for support in total. Whilst we continue to monitor certifier availability and acknowledge that some individual businesses may struggle to identify a certifier in their local area, particularly at short notice, we are not aware of any significant certifier capacity shortfalls. of veterinary services in abattoirs (in England and Wales) to date. The FSA has deployed effective contingency measures to continue to deliver 100 per cent of OV-led official controls in abattoirs in England and Wales. Temporary Registration of suitably qualified veterinarians was introduced on 1 June 2021 following RCVS approval. This currently applies to OVs that deliver these official controls, verify the delivery of food safety and animal health, and welfare standards in abattoirs, while the changes in demand for veterinary skills begins to level out. Official Veterinarians temporarily registered for this purpose with the RCVS will be fully trained and qualified vets. They will have European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) accredited veterinary degrees and will have successfully undertaken the relevant OV training. 6 Fourth Special Report of Session 2021–22 We currently have no plans to formally request the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to admit vets to the temporary register for export health certification roles. We will continue to monitor the situation and initiate discussions on this topic with RCVS, if needed. If a formal request is submitted to the RCVS on this, we shall inform the Committee.