Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Intervention Board : BSE, the cost of a crisis report / by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

  • National Audit Office
Date:
1998
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Intervention Board : BSE, the cost of a crisis report / by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    24 EX} During April 1996, Ministers required their staff to implement the scheme as quickly as possible in order to prevent the widespread collapse of the industry and to restore public confidence. There was also intense pressure on the Ministry and the Board from farmers, the meat processing industry and the public. Implementation involved extensive negotiations with the European Union to obtain statutory authority and financial support for the scheme; and with trade organisations and individual companies throughout the United Kingdom in order to negotiate the design and operation of the scheme. In addition, there was extensive administrative work in preparing scheme documentation and procedures, and in recruiting and training staff to operate them. The scheme came into operation on 29 April 1996 and the first animals were slaughtered on 3 May 1996. 82 European Union regulation 716/96, subsequently amended several times, forms the legal basis of the scheme and specifies various aspects of it including the level of compensation payments to farmers, the degree of European Union financial support, and the requirement for animals to be destroyed. The Ministry has lead United Kingdom responsibility for policy aspects of the scheme, with other territorial departments fully involved in policy decisions and the co-ordination of legislation. Ministers delegated the implementation of the scheme to the Intervention Board, which is responsible throughout the United Kingdom for all aspects of its operation. The Board has employed various agents in Great Britain (the Meat Hygiene Service and the Meat and Livestock Commission) and Northern Ireland (the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland Veterinary Service and the Livestock and Meat Commission) to implement the complex checks and regulations required in markets, abattoirs, renderers and other plants. EF] In designing and implementing the scheme, the Board was faced with significant constraints on how to dispose of carcasses from the scheme: @ it was impossible to incinerate all slaughtered carcasses at an acceptable rate, as there was insufficient carcass incineration capacity in the United Kingdom; @ cold storage capacity for carcasses was limited; and @ although rendered products could be stored more cheaply than carcasses, rendering capacity was extremely limited.