Corporate report

APHA: business impact target assessments, 2017 to 2018

Updated 15 December 2022

The business impact target (BIT) is a cross-government target for the reduction of regulation on business. Find out more about the BIT.

Under the BIT, APHA assesses the financial impacts on business of qualifying regulatory provisions (QRPs). QRPs are changes to regulatory practices that are described in a written ministerial statement. We assess the impacts of these changes through BIT assessments.

We submit BIT assessments for QRPs to the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) for validation.

Non-qualifying regulatory provisions (NQRPs) are excluded from the BIT as set out in a written ministerial statement. We submit NQRPs summaries to the RPC for validation.

Read about the scope of QRPs and NQRPs in the written ministerial statement.

1. Qualifying regulatory provisions

APHA has no qualifying regulatory provisions for the reporting period 9 June 2017 to 20 June 2018.

2. Non-qualifying regulatory provisions

APHAs NQRPs summary for the reporting period 9 June 2017 to 20 June 2018 is listed in the table below:

Excluded category	Summary of measures, including any impact data where available
Measures certified as being below de minimis (measures with an EANDCB below +/- £5 million)	CPH England Project. In July 2016 APHA launched a new service for livestock keepers to register their use of temporary land. The first 18 months of the service were a transition period as livestock keepers were moved from the old to the new arrangements. Given the lack of data on temporary land used by keepers, the first year of the new process was a learning curve. During the first busy spring movement period (April to June 2017) some keepers had to wait up to 2 weeks for their applications to be approved. Since that time, APHA have adapted process and plan for how better to meet customers’ needs during busy periods. Feedback from livestock keepers and from APHA teams was taken on board and a significant amount of time and money has been invested in making improvements. Changes to processes, guidance and the supporting IT have all helped APHA to reduce turn-around times. During the same spring period in 2018, APHA received an even higher volume of applications than in 2017, but importantly 90% of applicants were resolved within 1 day, with 100% within 2 days (apart for those involving TB restrictions, where more detailed veterinary assessments are required).
Measures certified as being below de minimis (measures with an EANDCB below +/- £5 million)	The Field Activity programme is a Defra programme which was set up in 2015 in part to meet a manifesto commitment to reduce regulatory burden on farmers and reducing annual farm visits. During the qualifying period (June 2017 to June 2018), the Field Activity programme delivered projects relating to field services management, earned recognition and risk profiling; savings will be realised by transforming the way field based services are delivered and co-ordinated to be more efficient and effective. Deploying new in field mobile technology is enabling staff to carry out activities in the field enabling the optimisation of resources. The programme has observed that Defra agencies and local authorities have removed approximately 13,000 farm visits since 2014 to 2015 which has helped to reduce red tape burden on farmers. The programme is directly contributing to the overall removal of farm visits through combining and co-ordinating inspection visits. This has enabled approximately 1,000 inspection visits to be removed. Combining and co-ordinating inspections reduces the regulatory burden on farmers and reduces the cost of inspection visits.
Measures certified as being below de minimis (measures with an EANDCB below +/- £5 million)	Animal Disease Tracking System. APHA has implemented the Animal Disease Tracking System (ADTS), an online application tool that allows private veterinary customers of APHA’s laboratory diagnostic services to make submissions on line and select appropriate tests in order to monitor disease surveillance on animals under their care. This service allows Private Veterinary Surgeons to track their submissions, receive the results both on screen and as a PDF report, retrieve details of their farm clients in the system, find tests and information, and directly obtain test advice. Previously, these processes were via paper submissions. Since June 2017 APHA has seen a small increase in uptake with between 7-10% of submissions coming via the digital service per week (it was around 5-6% prior to June 2017) and there has been an increase in registered practices from 115 in June 17 to 150 to date.
EU regulations, decisions and directives and other international obligations, including the implementation of the EU Withdrawal Bill and EU Withdrawal Agreement	None
Measures certified as concerning EU Withdrawal Bill operability measures	None
Pro-competition	None
Systemic financial risk	None
Civil emergencies	Since 9 June 2017 APHA has dealt with 2 instances of positive bluetongue disease from imported animals resulting in restrictions being placed on both herds whilst additional surveillance testing was carried out. APHA dealt with plant health incidents involving potato ring rot in imported seed potatoes and potato brown rot in irrigation water. There were 2 findings of Asian hornets which pose a serious threat to UK native bee colonies and action taken in regards to the marketing of unauthorised ornamental GM fish.
Fines and penalties	None
Misuse of drugs	None
Pro-competition	None
Measures certified as relating to the safety of tenants, residents and occupants in response to the Grenfell tragedy	None
Casework	No activities listed in this section represent a change in the burden of regulation placed on business. Licensing, registration and inspection - APHA licences, approves or registers a range of premises, such as markets (and other animal gatherings including shows), animal by-products plants (including rendering facilities, knackers yards, hunt kennels, maggot farms), quarantine centres, nurseries and other plant production sites, designated inspection points and egg producers. We licence movements of animals, the export of animals, animal by-products, plants and plant products, the import of animals, plants and bees and trade in bovine and porcine semen and embryos. APHA issues authorisations to hauliers for the transport of animals. We licence trade in endangered species and register certain birds kept in captivity. These licensing activities are supported by risk-based inspection regimes, often in partnership with local authorities and are designed to ensure ongoing compliance with the conditions of approval for the premises and activities concerned. We inspect farms and other holdings in response to reports about disease risk or conditions of animal welfare and to check compliance with welfare standards for the purposes of the single farm payment scheme. APHA inspects zoos, museums and other establishments that hold collections of endangered species. Surveillance and testing - APHA undertakes surveillance to detect the presence or spread of animal diseases, for example bovine tuberculosis and salmonella, through testing samples taken on farm, at abattoirs, markets and at animal by-products plants. APHA performs surveillance to detect plant and bee pests and diseases to measure their spread. This is achieved through inspection and sampling on nurseries, in public spaces and in the natural environment. We also take samples as part of our activities to regulate the trade in endangered species, for example to establish the species or to verify that an animal has been captive bred. The majority of animal health and welfare legislation that APHA regulates is enforced by the Local Authorities who are the named statutory enforcers and prosecuting authority. APHA referred 828 cases to the RPA for consideration of imposing cross compliance penalties for those farmers who failed to TB test on time within their testing window. Severity of the penalty was dependant on the number of days overdue the test was when it was completed. Egg Marketing and Salmonella Controls: 34 Penalty Notices totalling £27,253 and 13 warning letters issued. Defra Investigation Service (DIS) referrals: 9 June 2017 to date; there have been 13 cases referred to DIS.
Education, communications and promotion	APHA have participated in 43 events in this qualifying period for education, training and communication purposes with industry and stakeholders.
Activity related to policy development	None
Changes to management of regulator	None

RPC18-DEFRA-APHA-4274(1) – awaiting validation by the RPC