AWERB Minutes - 15 March 2022

Minutes of a meeting held on Tuesday 15 March 2022 at 2:00 pm via MS Teams

2.     Minutes of meetings held on 11^th October 2021, 16^th November 2021, 23^rd November 2021 and 15^th February 2022

16 Nov 21 –  4c: “preferred cut off for mild …” should be “[…] moderate”.

3.     Matters arising from previous Minutes – see Action Log

21-10: criteria to be drafted; carried over. NVS will discuss.

4.    New and revised RSPCA sheets for AWERB

Shared by the Chair; on shared drive.

BSD Head discussed with contact at RSPCA – proposing a focused AWERB to review and feedback to RSPCA on any improvements or any additional sheets that might be of use.

Agreed to start with the ‘culture of care’. Circulate to AWERB, PPLh, PILh, PELh, BSD staff two weeks ahead of the meeting for comments.

Considered to be of potential use for new members starting and those moving to new area of activity in BSD.

Could add a line to website to indicate we have a link in through to RSPCA guidance and advice.  Action: determine the best place for the information – preferably externally-facing.

5.     End of Term review of PPL

Review of PPL P3B8E12FC. Presented by the PPLh. No questions were raised.

6.     March 2022 PEL Holders report (BSD, NACWOs, NTCO, NIO, HOLC & openness)

(a)  PELh report: NVS did indicate that turnaround time may not be as long as indicated by the HO. Request for the HOLC to ask the HO where specific PPLs are in the system. HO is prioritising amendments and PPLs where animals need to be transferred. Action: Chair will discuss with HOLC

(b)  Refinement: report mentions that the 15% weight loss is mentioned in the PPL, but it’s not there (doesn’t need to be as not an end point for the Protocol). Action – update the report for accuracy.

(c)   Tamarin colony: QQR report may guide the future for this colony; colony is shrinking; health issues are arising more frequently; young animals are not thriving. Current colony, n=48 (historically n=~65); not sustained. Productivity down; survival down; tumours seen occasionally. Welfare impacts. Decision needs to be taken at senior level. BSD Head has raised this with PELh recently. Propose an Options Paper for presentation to an internal committee (tbc) and then decision owned/ratified by more senior team. Action – identify the route to decision making. Action – Secretariat to draft an options paper with NVS, NACWO and colony manager reports to be taken into consideration.

(d)  PPL renewals – Viral vaccine control testing one with AWERB for comment; Control of bacterial vaccines – due shortly; Chair to schedule the specific meetings; Hu mouse PPL – expires 08/22 – draft in progress.

7.     HOLC update report

Nothing specific for discussion.

8.     NVS reports

Feb/March reports were briefly discussed. The Tamarin colony health issues had already been discussed under 6c.

9.     3Rs / welfare initiatives
   Nothing specific for discussion.
   
   
10.     Any Other Business
    

(a)  The current and future staffing levels in BSD were discussed. 20 staff members under the new structure plus two temporary staff who have been extended, one to cover for a long term absence and one to help with the processing of caging and other equipment during the cage-washers replacement project. The BSD Head pointed out that one very experienced senior technician and trained operator for the polio intra-spinal technique resigned. As current BSD headcount now meets the Transformation target, this will not result in recruitment. The training of a replacement operator for the intra-spinal technique from existing BSD headcount will require six months and between 600-800 mice. The increased workload associated with this training may affect the polio work.

(b)  The BSD Head also pointed out that the new washer on the 2^nd floor has not been installed yet and the washer on the 1^st floor has broken down. For the next couple of weeks, cages have to be washed by hand.

The meeting concluded at 3.52 pm.

END

These Minutes have been viewed and approved by the Establishment Licence Holder (Director of NIBSC).

Signature: REDACTED

Date: 18^th November 2022