Dr. Lynn Hillyer:

No, but for inspections carried out on unlicensed premises where testing takes place, there will be a veterinary officer present because that is where the testing takes place. For other inspections, and this was in train before the authorised officer element came in, we would have had non-vets going out because it is important we achieve the coverage we need. As I said, our inspection process is intelligence-led and risk-based. In order to cover the number of premises we have to cover, we need to make sure we have a big enough team to do that. I do not have a team of 12 veterinary officers. The skills the others bring to us are as important as the skill of taking a blood sample. Of course, the veterinary officers on the team have a deeper understanding of veterinary matters. That goes without saying. We make sure we deploy the veterinary officers we have where they are really needed and we make sure the other skill sets are bought into play. For example, I mentioned one of the team was an authorised officer with the Department previously. His expertise and experience in taking statements and interviewing would far surpass ours. That mixture of skills was what was important to us. It is a very new role for us. It is not what we used to always do. We used to have a veterinary officer and an official go out on inspections five or ten years ago but that is not the case now.