Vets fighting bovine TB sent on £500,000 away days with bongo lessons

The entire staff of the Government's veterinary service has been sent on a series of taxpayer-funded away days in which they were taught to play the bongos. A total of 1,700 vets, animal health inspectors and officials, responsible for fighting diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and bluetongue, were told to take part in the drumming sessions as part of a series of "team building" days.

The Animal Health agency, which is part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spent about £500,000 on a series of one-day conferences around the country to allow staff to meet senior directors.

But many were angered when, amid talks and question and answer discussions, they were asked to spend up to an hour taking part in a bongo drumming game organised by a motivational "facilitator". Vets and animal health experts were given the instruments and told to make sounds in turn before joining in with others to learn about "building up rhythms".



One vet, who expected the day to be dominated by issues such as the bovine TB outbreak which saw tens of thousands of cattle put down last year and has led to plans to cull badgers, said it had been wasted "mucking about".

"Farmers are under stress, cattle are being slaughtered, sick badgers are suffering enormously and the disease is spreading to domestic animals, and what are we doing – banging drums," she said. "The management does not realise that every day is vital when you're tackling a disease. I cannot comprehend why we were taken away from our jobs for this."

A spokesman for Animal Health said that the drumming sessions had been part of a series of about 15 away days held around England, Scotland and Wales over a period of about four weeks which finished last month. "It was meant to emphasise how people working together can build up a rhythm," he said.