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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    Introduction 4 | On 20 March 1996, the Secretary of State for Health announced the possibility of a link between Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans. The same day, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced the Government’s acceptance of scientific advice on measures to reduce the risk to human and animal health. And on 3 April 1996 he announced his decision to exclude all cattle over 30 months old from the food chain. The Government required the development of a scheme, in negotiation with the European Union, to provide for the slaughter of such cattle and the safe disposal of the carcasses, to prevent the collapse of the beef industry, and to pave the way for the lifting of the ban imposed by the European Union on the export of British beef and beef products. The pressure on the Ministry and the Intervention Board at that time to respond quickly and effectively to this catastrophe was intense. There was no precedent for this situation, which struck uncertainty and fear into thousands of farmers, hundreds of companies in the trade, and millions of consumers. 2 The resulting Over Thirty Month Scheme was accompanied by eight new schemes designed to support different elements of the industry, and a further scheme to meet the European Union requirement for a selective slaughter programme that would reduce more quickly the incidence of BSE. Implementation of these schemes is the responsibility of the Ministry, the Intervention Board Executive Agency and Agriculture Departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 3 | In 1996-97, expenditure on BSE-related schemes amounted to £1.5 billion (see Figure opposite). Of which some £0.8 billion was eligible for reimbursement from the European Union, subject to compliance with regulations. Further expenditure of £1.9 billion is expected between 1997 and 2000. Between 2.6 million animals. 4 | In this report the National Audit Office examines: @ How the Ministry and Intervention Board have implemented the Over Thirty Month Scheme, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of total BSE-related expenditure;
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