A note on the footnotes
During the course of its deliberations, the BSE Inquiry published many thousands of documents, along with transcripts of its oral hearings. These formed the evidence on which the Inquiry based its chronological accounts, discussions and conclusions. When footnotes refer to these sources, they are coded according to the Inquiry’s filing system, with a hypertext link from the footnote to the referred document.
As from Spring, 2001, The Public Record Office will also have a copy of all the evidence
in electronic form on a series of CD-ROMs. These can be bought by the
public from The Stationery Office.
YB codes: eg, YB88/12.22/4.1
YB refers to Year Books. These are documents collected in chronological order, year by year. They come from a variety of sources, but many of them are letters, memoranda and minutes of departmental meetings. For example, the one mentioned above refers to a document dated 22 December 1988 (YB88/12.22), which is the fourth document filed for that day and, specifically, its first page (4.1).
S codes (written
witness statements): eg, S387 Tomlinson para. 6
A witness statement is written evidence supplied to the Inquiry. In the example above, the 'S' classifies the evidence as a witness statement, and it is number 387, paragraph 6. 'Tomlinson' shows that it was written by Sir Bernard Tomlinson. When people have sent in more than one witness statement, these statements are classified S387, S387A, etc.
T codes (transcripts
of oral hearings): eg, T40 pp. 121-2
A number of witnesses gave oral evidence to the Inquiry, and the 'T' references indicate transcripts of the relevant hearings. The example above refers to day 40 of the oral hearings, pages 121-2.
IBD codes: eg, IBD1 tab 2 para. 5.3.5
These are Initial Background Documents - a selection of published material that was supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at the start of the Inquiry. The example refers to the first file, or 'bundle', of such background documents, and to the second document in that bundle. In this case, it is the Report of the Southwood Working Party on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, paragraph 5.3.5.
M codes: eg, M29 tab 3
These are further bulky documents from a variety of sources ('M' stands for 'Materials'). They have been filed in series of bundles in the same way as the Initial Background Documents and the other series of bundles described below.
L codes: eg, L3 tab 6
These refer to legislation (ie, Statutory Instruments - Regulations, Orders, etc - and Acts), which is generally available in published form. For convenience the legislation most frequently referred to at hearings was filed in a series of L bundles.
DM codes: eg, DM01
Documents from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
DH codes: eg, DH01
Documents from the Department of Health
DW codes: eg, DW01
Documents from the Welsh Office
DS codes: eg, DS01
Documents from the Scottish Office
DN codes: eg, DN01
Documents from Northern Ireland Departments
DO codes: eg, DO01
Documents from other Departments
SEAC codes: eg, SEAC1
Documents relating to the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee
FEG codes: eg, FEG1
Documents relating to the Lamming Committee (the Expert Group on Animal Feedingstuffs).
Tyrrell codes: eg, Tyrrell1
Documents relating to the Consultative Committee on Research into Spongiform Encephalopathies chaired by Dr David Tyrrell
