Volume 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health
1. Introduction
Separate legislative frameworks in Scotland and Northern Ireland

1.10 The United Kingdom (UK) comprised Great Britain - ie, England, Wales and Scotland - and Northern Ireland. The legal system in Scotland was different from that in place in England and Wales, while Northern Ireland was, in constitutional terms, separate from Great Britain.

1.11 The Government of Northern Ireland was separate from the Government of the UK and was staffed by a separate Northern Ireland civil service organised into Departments on lines similar to its counterpart in Great Britain. ¹ However, unlike their counterparts in the home civil service, these ministries were, under the Ministries of Northern Ireland Act 1921, bodies corporate with their own legal capacity and standing and as such were capable of acting in their own right where functions were conferred upon them directly by statute. The Northern Ireland Act 1974 provided that the Northern Ireland Departments were to discharge their functions under the direction and control of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who was, therefore, politically answerable in Parliament for those Departments.

1.12 Hence, legislation passed by Parliament did not necessarily apply throughout the UK. For example, while the Animal Health Act 1981 and the Food Safety Act 1990 both applied throughout Great Britain, the Slaughterhouses Act 1974 and the Food Act 1984 applied only to England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland had equivalent legislation of their own.

1.13 However, because 'animal disease is no more a respecter of administrative, national or political convenience than is human disease', ² the legislation relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland was for the most part very similar to that in place for England and Wales. This legislation is mentioned where appropriate in the following chapters, and any differences are described there.

1.14 In relation to BSE, the Scottish Office told the Inquiry that:

Policy on BSE for the UK as a whole was decided collectively by Agriculture and Health Ministers with MAFF and DH taking the lead. The aim was to implement the policy on a UK basis. ³

It added that:

The main Scottish Office aim was to ensure that the policy and its implementation took proper account of Scottish circumstances. ⁴

1.15 The Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (DANI) made a similar point:

Notwithstanding the degree of autonomy enjoyed by DANI, it is clearly desirable that, where there is a United Kingdom-wide threat to public and animal health such as that posed by BSE, there should be a uniform United Kingdom-wide response. Accordingly, as was usual in such cases, the lead in formulating the policy to combat BSE was taken by Whitehall Ministers, in particular the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State for Health . . .

While DANI was extremely concerned about the BSE epidemic, there [were] no specifically Northern Ireland features which suggested the need for measures additional to or different from those being applied in the rest of the United Kingdom. ⁵

1.16 As a consequence, the measures implemented to deal with BSE in Northern Ireland largely mirrored those adopted in England, Wales and Scotland. These are described in more detail in vol. 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.