March 5,2015
ThreeMembers Appointed to the Board of Quality Meat Scotland
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment today announced the appointment of JockGibson, ScottHenderson and KatherineRowell to be Members of the Board of Quality Meat Scotland(QMS).
JockGibson runs his family Butchers Macbeth’s in Forres concentrating on marketing and promotion, particularly for the mail order business. He is customer facing and passionate about the butchery sector and is also involved in the family beef hill farm where they breed Highland, Shorthorn and Aberdeen Angus cross cattle.
ScottHenderson graduated with an Agriculture degree in1975, and since then has worked on the family farm on the outskirts of Dumfries. He has built up the business with his brother and they now run a herd of 450beef cows and a 450ewe flock with the help of their twosons. Their main enterprise however is finishing around1800 cattle annually. Scott has been a Member of the QMS Cattle and Sheep Standards Committee and served as Chair of the Scottish Beef Association. He was also a Member of the Beef2020 group and the Weather aid panel in2013.
KatherineRowell is a beef and sheep farmer from an upland LFA farm in Peebleshire which runs 75suckler cows, 430mule ewes and 350blackface ewes. She is a qualified vet and worked in a mixed practice in the North of England for eightyears before returning home to take over the family farm. She and her husband have been Monitor Farmers for the last twoyears and she has been involved in helping at her children’s schools and on other farm visits with the Royal Highland Education Trust. She is incoming President of Peebleshire Agricultural Society and is also on the local Common Riding Committee and runs a Girl Guide Unit in Peebles.
Appointments
The appointments will be for fouryears and will run from April1,2015 to March31,2019.
The appointments are part-time and attract remuneration of £160.49per day for a time commitment of 15days per year.
None of the new appointees hold any other Ministerial Appointments.
The appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland.
Political Activity
All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last fiveyears (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.
None of the appointees have undertaken any political activity within the last fiveyears.
Quality Meat Scotland
QMS is the body responsible for the development, marketing and promotion of the Scottish red meat industry. Established in 2000as a not for profit company limited by guarantee, QMS became a Non Departmental Public Body in April2008, accountable to Scottish Ministers and established by the Quality Meat Scotland Order2008.
Scotland’s beef, lamb and pork industries make an important contribution to the country’s rural economy contributing over £2bnto the annual GDP of Scotland and directly employing approximately 26,000people in the farming, agricultural supply and processing sectors.
QMS is funded through a statutory levy of Scottish producers and slaughterers. In the year to 31 March 2014, the turnover of QMS was just over £7mof which the levy contributed£4m.