Volume 6: Human Health, 1989-96
4. Human health developments:January - December 1990
Creation of the Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG)

4.28 Until 1990, the organisational structure at MAFF was that officials responsible for policy on animal health formed the Animal Health Group headed by an Under Secretary (Grade 3), while the State Veterinary Service (SVS), headed by the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), was part of the Agricultural Development Advisory Service (ADAS). This organisational structure, and the responsibilities associated with it, are described further in vol. 15: Government and Public Administration and vol. 14: Responsibilities for Human and Animal Health. Here we note that Mr Alistair Cruickshank (Under Secretary, Animal Health Group) described how the CVO was line-managed by the Director of ADAS, but on policy would (in parallel with the Under Secretary in charge of the Animal Health Group) be supervised by the (Grade 2) Deputy Secretary, Land and Resources. Mr Cruickshank added that the CVO always had the right of direct access to the Minister. ¹

4.29 The organisational structure changed during 1990, when the SVS (except the CVL) merged with the Animal Health Group. The merger was designed to integrate the two parallel hierarchies (SVS and Animal Health Group) into a new Animal Health and Veterinary Group (AHVG). Mrs Attridge, Mr Cruickshank's successor, believed that the merged AHVG

brought the veterinarians much closer to the administrative part of the complex in that they were both reporting to the one grade 2 . . . ²

4.30 Mr Kevin Taylor told the Inquiry that this process was never completed. ³ In particular veterinarians in the Notifiable Diseases Section, which had assumed responsibility for BSE when the disease was made notifiable in November 1998, continued to be a separate team of SVOs reporting to Mr Kevin Taylor, who in turn reported to the ACVO responsible for notifiable diseases (Mr Kyle until he retired in April 1990 when his responsibilities were taken on by the ACVO already responsible for animal welfare, Mr Derek J Evans). ⁴