UK Government face severe FMD criticisms
The UK Government is facing serious criticism of its handling of the £8 billion Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001, following the publication of a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee on Friday.
Mr Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the committee said that some aspects of the handling of the disease were inexcusable and that the Ministry of Agriculture was guilty of a serous misjudgement in assuming that the risks of the outbreak were low.
The outbreak caused the most damage to the tourist industry – which incurred losses of £5 billion. The report estimated the cost to the public sector at over £3 billion and the private sector at over $5 billion. Over 2,000 premises were infected and six million animals slaughtered.
It said the Government was too slow to impose a national ban on the movement of livestock; should have used an emergency vaccination, should have kept the countryside open and not allowed the blanket closure of footpaths for such a long time; should not have disposed of carcasses on mass funeral pyres and was too slow to call on the armed forces. The committee said the last lessons learned during the 1967/68 outbreak seemed to have “fallen out of the collective memory of the department.”
During the crisis the value of animals tripled, as the department did not employ adequate cost controls and allowed potential recipients to select and appoint valuers themselves. The compensation paid out to farmers totalled a massive £1,400 million. It also found itself in a “weak negotiating position” and was made to pay premium rates for farm cleansing and the construction of disposal sites. Consequently, £90 million is being held back as it is unknown if some of the work was actually carried out. It was also charged up to six times the going rate for land and vets, valuers and slaughterers demanded high fees, the report said.
