A National Audit Office report which says Defra does not have sufficiently robust financial or performance information on controlling disease to underpin a transparent and equitable cost-sharing scheme backs up what the NFU has said since the start of discussions on responsibility and cost sharing.
The report, by the Comptroller and Auditor General, criticises the way Defra presents its financial information in respect of animal health issues. It says that financial information is currently focused on internal management structures and cannot readily be used to calculate accurate figures for the full costs of managing specific animal diseases.
The report makes some positive recommendations about how both exotic and endemic animal diseases should be dealt with and says the £33 million spent by Defra and Animal Health managing the avian influenza, foot and mouth disease and bluetongue outbreaks in 2007 represented good value for money when compared to the economic costs if the diseases had become more widespread.
But it is also critical of the progress made on tackling TB, which it says is now "firmly established" in the South West of England, and of Animal Health’s failure to rigorously enforce routine TB testing. It also criticises the lack of coordination on TB at a local level and recommends a pilot of consultative boards in hotspot areas.
NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: "The comments that Defra does not have sufficiently robust financial or performance information on controlling disease to underpin a transparent and equitable cost-sharing scheme reflect exactly what we have been saying to Defra since it started discussions on responsibility and cost sharing. We now have the Comptroller and Auditor General saying this and it will be interesting to see how Defra responds.
"I am also not surprised to see that the report highlights the frustration of farmers who believe that cattle testing for TB alone, in the absence of measures to tackle the level of TB in the local wildlife, will not deal with the TB problem. However, it is very important that farmers present their animals for testing on time. The recommendation of better coordination on TB at a local level is also positive and something the NFU would fully support."
