Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
1. Introduction
The responsibilities and concerns of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

1.6 Although the lead on BSE was taken by Whitehall, decisions and action on many matters within their own geographical areas were the responsibility of the Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and their respective Departments, known colloquially as the 'territorial' Ministers and Departments. ¹ This responsibility required the exercise of independent judgement. Only some legislation applied to the UK as a whole. Scotland and Northern Ireland each had its own body of separately worded, though broadly similar, legislation on some matters, and much secondary legislation was made jointly by MAFF or DH with the Welsh Office. The legislative differences as they affected BSE are described in more detail in Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this volume.

1.7 Territorial responsibilities also included securing effective implementation on the ground. This was influenced among other things by the organisational arrangements in the territories. Each differed from the others in various ways and from England to varying degrees. In the case of Northern Ireland in particular, there was a different split of responsibilities between the Health and Agriculture Departments and a different division of enforcement responsibilities between Departments and central and local government. All these differences could create problems in securing synchronised action.

1.8 What constituted the local scene differed widely between countries and between them and England. Thus, England was easily the largest country with a population of 49 million, five times greater than the rest of the UK put together. At the other end of the scale, the Northern Ireland population of 1.6 million people lived in an area a tenth of the size of England. Its physical separation from Great Britain enabled it to act as a separate entity at one or two points in the BSE story. On the other hand, on animal and human health matters - no respecters of land boundaries - it had to operate closely with the Republic of Ireland. Moreover, with its smaller population, and less delegation to local government, there was much closer contact between the policy-making Departments and the people on the ground than in England. This allowed for direct communication, but also exposed them to more direct pressures from local authorities, local industries and other interest groups. Such comparative intimacy was also true of Scotland and Wales, though to a lesser extent.

1.9 All three territories were more economically dependent than England on agriculture, and on the export market for cattle and meat products. The variations in geography and climate favoured differing types of agriculture. In the case of cattle farming, English herds were predominantly dairy, while Scottish, Northern Ireland and to a lesser extent Welsh herds were focused more on beef production. This had considerable significance for their feeding regime, since dairy cattle were given higher levels of concentrates and thus greater exposure to the BSE agent.

1.10 Despite these differences, when faced with BSE the different territories had much in common. They had common established procedures for controlling animal epidemics and for safeguarding human health. All operated within the framework of EU legislation and international animal and human health requirements. Although the form and details of some of their legislation differed, it covered broadly the same matters. The role of their Secretaries of State was part of a wider collective government responsibility for the welfare of the UK as a whole. Farming practices, the slaughter and rendering industries, food production and marketing, and health arrangements were not dramatically different in character. Thus there was a unity of context in which decisions could be taken.