Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
1. Introduction

1.1 In this volume we look at the BSE epidemic and the way it was handled in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland during the period 1986-96. Other volumes in the Report examine the main strands in the history of BSE and the adequacy of the response to the epidemic in the UK as a whole. The policy on BSE, and any human health implications, was developed in England by two Whitehall Departments - the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Department of Health (DH). The corresponding Departments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland almost invariably followed the Whitehall lead.

1.2 There was no separate Secretary of State for England or Department exclusively charged with taking an overview of England's animal and human health status separately from the rest of the UK. Instead, its interests were a part of the brief of a number of Ministers and Departments, whose responsibilities in some cases also covered aspects of affairs in Wales, Scotland, Great Britain or the UK as a whole. In contrast, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each had its own Secretary of State, representing its interests in the Cabinet and Parliament across the whole range of policy-making. The Departments serving these Ministers largely mirrored those in Whitehall, though on a much smaller scale, spanning more functions. The purpose of this volume is to look at the effect of these arrangements on the response to BSE.