SEERAD - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Friday 8 June, 2007

by Rosemary at 7:48pm in Anything goes Comments closed

For those not in the know, SEERAD is the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. South of the border, it's DeFRA.

As I work in local government, I am well aware of our shortcomings.I am also well aware of central government's i.e. said Scottish Executive drive to "modernise government" and make evertyhing electronic.

I was rather surprised then when I phoned our local Animal Health Office in Perth for some advice about sheep tagging. The duty officer was not available, so I asked the person on the phone is she had an email address. I really didn't want to get into a series of missed telephone calls and since I wasn't going to around at my desk for long periods of time, I thought "email"."Yes", I was told "she has an email address, but we're not allowed to give it out."

So much for modern government, eh!