Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
1. Introduction
The need for good working arrangements and understanding throughout the UK

1.11 Given the variety of interests and arrangements involved, a coherent and effective response to BSE required good working relationships and understanding between Whitehall, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. After looking at each territory in turn, we discuss some general points on this issue in Part 4.

1.12 It was not simply a matter of Whitehall keeping the others informed, important though that was. Many of those responsible for handling BSE in the Territorial Departments had valuable perspectives to offer, based on local knowledge and experience. In order to make this available, they needed to have access to key data and sufficient warning of the issues being considered. In this volume we explore how the two-way relationship actually worked in handling BSE.

1.13 We do not attempt to cover exhaustively all the actions taken by each of the Territorial Departments. Instead we focus on those parts of the story where the line they took, or contemplated taking, differed from that being followed in Whitehall and the reasons for this divergence. We have considered this evidence in the context of the powers and responsibilities of those concerned, and the processes traditionally used throughout the UK (as described in vol. 15: Government and Public Administration).

1.14 As a result of the recent process of devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, many of the circumstances we describe in the body of this volume have changed. However, that does not mean that the strengths and weaknesses of the previous systems have now all disappeared. Our analysis may be helpful for the future within the new constitutional arrangements.