News

We have published an initial review of DEFRA's Environmental Land Management schemes update. The CAAV Note can be found here: CAAV Note 230126 England - Environmental Land Management Schemes Prospectus Announcements....

DEFRA has advised that the BPS Application window opens on Tuesday 14th March 2023.

Chief Veterinary Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr. Robert Huey, has announced that the Avian Influenza Surveillance Zones in County Fermanagh have now been lifted and movement restrictions removed. The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) remains in place across the whole of Northern Ireland and that includes the need to adhere to those strict biosecurity measures and the mandatory housing order introduced in November for all kept and captive birds....

The CAAV office will close for Christmas at 1 p.m. on Thursday 22nd December 2022 and re-open on Tuesday 3rd January 2023. May we take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 21st December 2022 Christmas is a fixed point each year in the calendar of turbulent centuries, important for the faith of many and, with older roots close to the darkest day of the winter solstice, long-embedded in the customs of our people, as it is in the customs of others. That continuity over the ages brings comfort in a time of uncertainty as the world, juddering with shocks, enters a new age of risk. The power of...

The Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) 2022 application window will close at midnight on 31 December. The Scottish Government are encouraging those with eligible animal to apply now.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 15th December 2022 The CAAV is presenting an event for those attending the Oxford Farming Conference, meeting in-person for the first time since 2020. This Conference has been meeting for many decades at the start of the year, bringing together farmers, advisers, policy makers and others from across the UK and further afield, looking ahead at policy and practice critical in these challenging times. Last year, we used a...

The RPA increasingly corresponds with registered land manages and their agents via email, updating them about individual business but also general changes and actions. We have been informed by a member of a potential issue with recorded contact details. Where the member has submitted a grant application or claim on behalf of a client and has then subsequently updated their contact details, it appears that the RPA may on occasion retain and use the contact details from the submission. In the...

To support its avian influenza mitigation strategy, DEFRA has launched a new online reporting system for dead wild birds in Great Britain. The system is available for use 24/7, making it simpler and quicker to make a report. Any member of the public who finds:One or more dead wild bird of prey such as an owl, hawk or buzzardThree or more dead birds that include at least one gull, swan, goose or duckFive or more dead birds of any sort Is encouraged to make a report and to provide contact...

The government has announced a consultation on the ECO+, an extension of the Energy Company Obligation. Much of the consultation is about general design, including eligibility (mostly low income households living in the least efficient property), costs and targets but there are also specific issues relating to the private rented sector. Eligibility for the private rented sector is considered in two areas: EPC D and E but not F and G on the grounds that landlords should have spent up to £3,500...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th December 2022 We are now getting decisions again from the Government but they are often decisions made on the back foot, not as a fresh government with a mandate and programme but one navigating while pummelled by circumstances and firefighting successive shocks. The November Financial Statement was driven by a need to bring order and confidence in markets with the £100 billion reversal in fiscal position, just 55...

The Forestry Commission has updated 'operations note 42', their guidance on the interaction of woodland grant schemes and BPS. The note can be found here: Guidance on woodland grant schemes and BPS: operations note 42 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).