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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    likely to have been caused by contaminated feed which they may have eaten in the first six months of their lives; and that other animals most at risk are those which may also have been exposed to the same feed, namely those born around the same time and within the same herds as confirmed BSE cases. By identifying these animals and slaughtering them, experts thought that the incidence of the disease would be reduced more quickly than would otherwise be the case, but that the selective cull would not advance the date of final eradication. E®2} Soon after 20 March 1996, pressure for the United Kingdom to operate a selective cull, with the objective of speeding the elimination of the disease, was applied by the European Commission. This reflected the views in other member states. However, calculations by the Ministry indicated that a selective cull on its own would have only a very limited effect on the epidemic. But the concept had also to be viewed against the political situation, in particular the desirability of reducing political confrontation in Europe and finding a way forward which could lead to the lifting of the ban on United Kingdom exports. It was for these reasons that proposals for a selective cull were included in the United Kingdom eradication programme, approved by the European Standing Veterinary Committee on 19 June 1996, which formed an integral part of the Florence agreement reached by the European Council on 21 June 1996. However, the final decision by the United Kingdom to proceed was not taken until December 1996. E®s8 Following the Florence agreement in June 1996, the Ministry began more detailed planning for a selective cull. This work was suspended in September when the Government announced that it would not proceed until the rationale for the scheme had been considered further. This decision was partly influenced by the publication of research suggesting that the BSE epidemic would decline to negligible proportions in the United Kingdom by the year 2000 and that BSE would die out even in the absence of any form of selective cull. In December 1996, the suspension of work on the cull was lifted in view of continuing European Union concerns and the export ban. However, implementation of the scheme required a lot of work and the design of two separate computer systems in the Ministry and one in the Intervention Board to assist in identifying animals and calculating the payments due. The scheme came into operation in January 1997, the first animals being slaughtered on 28 February 1997 in Northern Ireland and 21 March in Great Britain. Eft] The statutory basis of the scheme is European Commission Decision 96/385 and European Regulation 1484/96, which came into force on 1 August 1996. The Regulation provides for 70 per cent of the market value of animals slaughtered to be reimbursed from European Union funds. Responsibilities for policy aspects of