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.

    61/130 (page 55)
    EX] Abattoirs registered to operate under the scheme are paid a flat rate for each of the calves they slaughter. Farmers and abattoirs make their own contractual arrangements. The abattoirs are responsible for presenting calves into the scheme, for their slaughter and for the safe disposal of the resultant material. In 1996-97 the Board registered 122 abattoirs under the scheme, although only 89 participated in that year. The Board rejected seven abattoirs as not satisfying the conditions for registration. A full re-inspection and re-registration was undertaken in 1997 as a result of which 44 abattoirs were approved. Transaction testing by the National Audit Office ESt) The National Audit Office reviewed the system at the Intervention Board for processing Calf Processing Aid Scheme claims. In order to examine the operation of the controls in more detail, the National Audit Office examined 31 claims from abattoirs under the scheme in 1996-97. One of the claims selected at random was from an abattoir being investigated by the Board’s Anti-Fraud Unit but, in order not to interfere with that investigation, it was not examined. The remaining 30 claims covered the whole of the United Kingdom, including four from Wales; three from Scotland; one from Northern Ireland; and the remainder from England. The claims examined had a total value of £2.3 million and were for some 22,500 calves from 30 of the 89 participating abattoirs. EXns The National Audit Office reviewed whether the claims were arithmetically correct, had been properly checked and met the criteria for support under the scheme regulations and whether the Board had taken action to address weaknesses. The National Audit Office found errors in eleven cases, in seven of which the Board had already identified the mistake: HM three claims were signed but not stamped appropriately by the official veterinary surgeon; this occurred in the first few weeks of the scheme when guidance had not reached all official veterinary staff - no cases containing this error were found in the sample claims from May 1996 onwards; @ on one claim the official veterinary surgeon had signed some forms before the processor had completed it and it contained 10 ineligible animals; and M seven claims contained one or more ineligible calves which had been passed by the official veterinary surgeon at the abattoir. But this had been picked up by the administrative staff at the Intervention Board. 99