Volume 15: Government and Public Administration
Annex 1: The organisation of MAFF and DH, 1986-96
How MAFF changed
Introduction
1986-90
1989-94
November 1994 to March 1996

Introduction

10 Among the many organisational changes in MAFF between 1986 and 1996, three in particular affected staff dealing with BSE:

1. the establishment of the Food Safety Directorate in November 1989;
2. the integration from 1990 of the State Veterinary Service with the Animal Health Policy Group to form the Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG); and
3. the demerger of the AHVG in 1994, following an internal management review. ¹

1986-90

11 The first set of charts illustrates the structure of MAFF between 1986, when BSE had just been identified, and 1990, by which time the Food Safety Directorate and the AHVG had been established:

• Chart A1 shows the structure of MAFF between 1986 and 1989. Reporting directly to the Permanent Secretary (Grade 1) were:
  
  1. three policy Commands headed by Grade 2 Deputy Secretaries;
  2. the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS), which until 1987 included the State Veterinary Service (SVS) - see paragraph 6(i) above. ADAS was headed by a Grade 2 Director-General, who was also Chief Scientific Adviser to MAFF and to whom the Ministry's Regional Organisation reported;
  3. the Legal Department headed at Grade 2 level, and
  4. the Management Services and Information, Establishments (Personnel) and Finance Groups headed at Grade 3 level.
• Chart A2 shows the Animal Health Group (AHG) prior to its merger with the SVS in 1990/91 and the creation of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. From December 1989, the AHG reported to the Grade 2 head of the new Food Safety Directorate.
• Chart A3 shows the Emergencies, Food Quality and Pest Control Group prior to the incorporation of its food standards and safety functions into the new Food Safety Directorate in November 1989.
• Chart A4 shows how ADAS changed between 1986 and 1990, by which time the SVS had become a separate organisation and its headquarters staff had merged with the AHG to form the Animal Health and Veterinary Group.
• Chart A5: the Chief Scientists' Groups.
• Chart A6: the organisation of the State Veterinary Service (SVS) prior to the merger of its headquarters staff with the Animal Health Group in November 1990.
• Chart A7: the Meat Hygiene Veterinary Section.
• Chart A8: the Central Veterinary Laboratory.

Chart A1: MAFF Structure, 1986 to October 1989

Chart A2: Animal Health Group, 1986 to October 1990

Chart A3: Emergencies, Food Quality & Pest Control, 1986 to October 1989

Chart A4: ADAS, 1986-89

Chart A5: Chief Scientists' Groups, including Food Science Group, January 1988 to October 1989

Chart A6: State Veterinary Service (SVS), 1986 to November 1990

Chart A7: Meat Hygiene (Veterinary Section) 1986 to March 1996

Chart A8: Central Veterinary Laboratory, 1986 to April 1990 (became a MAFF Executive Agency in April 1990)

The establishment of the Food Safety Directorate, November 1989

12 The Food Safety Directorate (FSD) was set up 'to strengthen the organisation of the Ministry for dealing with food safety issues by:

1. dividing food safety from food production responsibilities; and
2. bringing together under one MAFF junior Minister, designated as Food Minister, all the main aspects of food safety work for which the Ministry was responsible.' ²

13 The result is shown in Chart B2. The new Directorate brought together policy work on food safety and quality (composition, labelling, additives, contaminants and new production processes, etc), supported by advice from food scientists; policy work on meat hygiene, animal health and related public health issues, and animal welfare; pesticide safety approvals; and work on veterinary medicines and biotechnology issues.

14 The initiative for the creation of the FSD came from the MAFF Minister at the time, Mr John Gummer. ³ Mr Brian Dickinson, formerly head of the Food Safety Group within the FSD, confirmed to the Inquiry that this reorganisation was in response to public concern about what was perceived to be a conflict between MAFF's roles as sponsor of food producers and as protector of consumers, following criticism of its handling of the issue of salmonella in eggs. ⁴ This episode is described in vol. 6: Human Health 1989-96.

The creation of the Animal Health and Veterinary Group, 1990

15 In 1990 the SVS was separated from ADAS, which was becoming increasingly commercially oriented. ⁵ Those parts of the SVS involved in policy work were merged with the Animal Health Group, ⁶ as shown in Chart B2. The aim was to integrate the two parallel hierarchies (veterinary staff and administrators) into a new Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG) under the CVO, streamlining the headquarters organisation at MAFF's offices at Tolworth, Surrey 'to improve efficiency and accountability of decision taking'. ⁷ Another aim was to unify the accounting arrangements for veterinary and administrative resources used on animal health work, so that costs were properly accounted for. ⁸

16 The merger brought together 'under a single management line all the staff, veterinary and non-veterinary, engaged in policy advice, EU and international negotiations, implementation instructions and the coordination of programmes and resources', ⁹ although:

. . . the Animal Health and Welfare Veterinary Section continued to operate throughout as a separate team of veterinary surgeons advising administrative Divisions. ¹⁰

Two professional veterinarians became heads of integrated policy divisions dealing with international trade and zoonoses respectively. ¹¹

17 Traditionally, two Grade 3 veterinarians, the Director of the Veterinary Field Service (DVFS) and the Director of the CVL, had reported to the CVO who was also, nominally, a Grade 3. ¹² An unusual feature of the merged AHVG was that a Grade 3 administrator was 'under the leadership' ¹³ of the CVO. Mr Crawford, the DVFS, told the Inquiry that 'the Chief Veterinary Officer was the nominal head of the group at Grade 3 plus'. ¹⁴ For the purposes of their personal performance appraisal, ¹⁵ however, both the CVO and the administrative Grade 3 reported to the Grade 2 head of the Food Safety Directorate. Senior veterinarians reported to the administrative Grade 3:

From 1991-4 I reported on policy issues to the Administrative Grade 3, Martin Haddon (who was my reporting officer), and on professional matters to the CVO. ¹⁶

I reported directly to Mr M Haddon, Grade 3, Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG). ¹⁷

From that period, I reported for some time to Martin Haddon, who was the administrative Grade 3. ¹⁸

The exception was the Director of the Veterinary Field Service, who reported directly to the CVO. ¹⁹

18 Chart B2 illustrates these arrangements.

1989-94

19 The following charts illustrate the structure during this period:

• Chart B1: the overall structure of MAFF from the establishment of the Food Safety Directorate in November 1989. This remained essentially the same until late 1994, apart from the merger of the Animal Health Group and the SVS in 1990, and the creation of Agencies. Reporting directly to the Permanent Secretary were:
  1. three policy Commands headed by Grade 2 Deputy Secretaries;
  2. until 1992 (when ADAS became an Executive Agency), ADAS and the Regional Organisation, headed by a Grade 2 Director-General;
  3. the Chief Scientific Adviser to MAFF (Grade 2), who until ADAS became an Agency was also its Director-General;
  4. the Legal Department headed at Grade 2 level;
  5. the Management Services and Information (until 1992), Establishments and Finance Groups headed at Grade 3 level; and
  6. from 1992, Information (headed by a Grade 5 Chief Information Officer).
• Chart B2: the Animal Health and Veterinary Group as merged from 1990. The Meat Hygiene Division during this period and thereafter is shown in Chart C3.
• Chart B3: the Veterinary Field and Investigation Service.
• Chart B4: the Food Safety Group.
• Chart B5: the Food Science Group.
• Chart B6: the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), supplementing Chart A8 by focusing on the departments involved in work on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including BSE.

Chart B1: MAFF, November 1989 to October 1994

Chart B2: Animal Health & Veterinary Group, November 1989 to October 1994

Chart B3: Veterinary Field and Investigation Service, November 1989 to October 1994 (merged with AHG in 1990)

Chart B4: Food Safety Group, November 1989 to October 199

Chart B5: Food Science Group, November 1989 to October 1994

Chart B6: Central Veterinary Laboratory (1985-96), TSE Staff

The demerger of the Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG)

20 In March 1993 the Minister commissioned a Management Review of the merged AHVG. The review report noted that:

The integrated structure has undoubted merits, notably in enabling the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) to take overall command of operations in the event of a disease emergency. But it has led, unavoidably in our view, to a lack of transparency in relations between its constituent parts and confused accountability in decision making. ²⁰

It acknowledged that 'there is no suggestion that senior management have done other than their utmost to make the system work', but noted that 'they have faced an uphill task'. ²¹ The report concluded that:

. . . the Group would operate more efficiently and more effectively divided into its component parts than if it remained integrated. ²²

This recommendation was accepted and the results are shown in Charts C1-C4. Separate Animal Health Policy and CVO's Groups were established in 1994, and a year later the Veterinary Investigation Centres were merged with the CVL within a new Veterinary Laboratories Agency. ²³ However:

. . . two unified divisions were retained, the Zoonoses Division, reporting to Mr Haddon [the administrative Grade 3], and the International Trade Division, reporting to myself [the CVO] because of the high level of veterinary and international content of its work. ²⁴

November 1994 to March 1996

21 The following charts illustrate the structure of MAFF during this period:

1. Chart C1: the overall structure of MAFF.
2. Chart C2: the Animal Health Group following the Lebrecht review. ²⁵
3. Chart C3: the Meat Hygiene Division (from 1989 to 1996).
4. Chart C4: the State Veterinary Service, following the Lebrecht review.

Chart C1: MAFF, November 1994 to March 1996

Chart C2: Animal Health Group, November 1994 to March 1996

Chart C3: Meat Hygiene Division, November 1989 to March 1996

Chart C4: State Veterinary Service, November 1994 to March 1996