Review process for JCF begins

The first meeting of the panel set up to review the Judges Competency Framework (JCF) has taken place at the Kennel Club’s London headquarters, the Kennel Club has confirmed.

At this meeting, Irene McManus was elected chairman of the panel. She had been appointed originally to represent the views of those connected to open shows.

In all, 16 delegates attended the meeting representing a wide range of interested groups within the dog world including established and novice judges, numerically small and large breeds and championship and open show organisers, among other groups. Also in attendance were Kennel Club Chairman Tony Allcock OBE and Judges Committee member Paul Harding.

The panel was formed as a result of a resolution passed at the Kennel Club AGM in May of this year, endorsed by the Board, that the JCF be placed on hold pending a complete assessment of the scheme by an independent review body.

Irene McManus said: “A very constructive discussion took place at this first meeting of the JCF review panel, at which delegates presented the views of interested parties who had answered an initial list of questions for this first phase. We now look forward to holding further meetings with a view to building a positive future for the education and training of dog show judges in the UK.”

The objectives of the review group and the terms of reference of the review were listed in a recent Kennel Club announcement.

The next meetings of the review panel will take place on September 23 and October 21.