Volume 1: Findings and Conclusions
11. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Wales

1102 Welsh legislation and administrative arrangements closely resembled those of England. This simplified the task of coordinating action. We were struck by the quality of independent thinking that the Welsh Office medical team led by the CMO for Wales, Dr Deirdre Hine, applied to the issues raised by BSE. The team's attitude reflected its effective combination of medical and epidemiological skills with first-hand knowledge of the realities of slaughterhouse operation. A similar working combination of skills at national level in Whitehall Departments could well have been fruitful.

1103 There were no special features of the Welsh situation that dictated a different approach. However, the Welsh Office team had valuable insights to offer for national policy development and did their best to register them. Dr Hine wished to get closer to the thinking of SEAC. We applaud the alternative strategy she adopted towards its chairman, Dr Tyrrell, of successfully inviting him to Cardiff. Her interest in exploring the issues was natural in the context of her responsibilities to the people of Wales. It seemed to us that the various information blockages that she and her colleages encountered could have been overcome had there been a wish in Whitehall to involve the Territorial Departments more closely in the policy-making process.