Consultation on the classification and price reporting of sheep carcases and the authorisation of automated grading methods for the classification of sheep and beef carcases.

Overview

The purpose of our policy is to establish a more transparent and productive sheep market. To achieve a robust system for the classification of sheep carcases, all methods of classifying carcases, manual and automated, need to grade carcases reliably and consistently to a prescribed scale. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, we aim to set out in legislation a clear and robust scheme for classification of sheep carcases and how sheep carcase prices must be reported.

We also intend to align the authorisation of automated grading methods in both the beef and sheep sectors as closely as possible so that they operate effectively in a domestic context. We are therefore including in this consultation proposals that put in place technical requirements on automated beef carcase grading methods, including some of those removed by operability amendments made when the UK left the EU.

Why your views matter

At present, sheep carcase classification and price reporting are voluntary. Live weight market prices of lambs being sold for slaughter are collated by the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA), whilst prices of lambs sold on a deadweight basis are supplied by a voluntary sample of abattoirs to AHDB, who collate and publish them. These two routes account for the majority of sheep slaughtered in Great Britain, with a smaller number of sheep slaughtered on a contract kill basis.

We would like your views on proposals for a mandatory carcase classification and deadweight price reporting scheme for the sheep sector, and on the mechanisms for authorising automated grading methods that could be used in England & Wales for the classification of beef and sheep carcases in abattoirs slaughtering these species. 

What happens next

We will summarise all responses once the consultation window has closed. This summary will include a list of organisations that respond but not individuals’ names, addresses or other contact details.

Defra and Welsh Government may publish the content of your response to this consultation to make it available to the public without your personal name and private contact details (e.g. home address, email address, etc.).

Consultation responses will be shared with the Welsh Government and may be shared with the Scottish Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA), each of whom will handle the data according to their individual privacy policies and in line with the Data Protection Act 2018. Each administration’s privacy notice may be found here:

• For the Scottish Government: Privacy - Privacy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• For the Welsh Government: Welsh Government privacy notice | GOV.WALES
• For the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland: DAERA Privacy Statement | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk)

There may be occasions when Defra will share the information you provide in response to the consultation with external analysts, including any personal data. This is for the purposes of consultation response analysis and provision of a report of the summary of responses only.

Members of the public may ask for a copy of the responses under the Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. If you do not want your response – including your name, contact details and any other personal information – to be publicly available, please say so clearly in writing when you send your response to the consultation. Please note, if your computer automatically includes a confidentiality disclaimer this will not count as a confidentiality request. Please explain why you need to keep the details confidential.

We will take your responses into account if someone asks for this information under the FOI legislation. However, because of the law, we cannot promise that we will always be able to keep those details confidential.