Volume 9: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Part 2: Scotland
11. Comment
The Scottish Office response when BSE emerged

11.1 As our chronology has indicated, the Animal Health administrators in DAFS did not learn about BSE until November 1987, at the same time as the first Scottish BSE suspect was in the process of being confirmed. Their relaxed view at this stage about its significance can be inferred from the fact that they did not put a note to their Agriculture Minister, Lord Sanderson, until the following February, after being told that MAFF was discussing a possible slaughter and compensation scheme with its Ministers. However, thereafter they acted promptly to mirror the steps being taken in England and Wales to counter the spread of the disease. As Mr Rennie in DAFS put it, 'there was not any indication that Scottish cattle were somehow different from cattle in England and Wales'. ¹

11.2 Although Scotland had a number of delegated animal health responsibilities, MAFF was accorded the lead on analysing and responding to this new and threatening animal disease. The Scottish Office saw its role as ensuring that Scottish interests were properly taken into account in that process. Lord Sanderson told us:

. . . whilst it was my purpose to take an independent view of the Scottish situation, I had no difficulty in agreeing with their legislative proposals or key policy objectives. ²

11.3 Mr Anderson, who dealt with animal health matters and meat hygiene, described the process of agreeing what to do as 'evolutionary':

. . . there may have been some differences of emphasis or view in the initial positions taken on any issue but once the issues involved were fully aired an agreed course of action emerged, and given that MAFF were taking the lead on GB/UK issues, our advice to Scottish Office ministers was to support the line being taken by MAFF. ³

11.4 Mr Davison, to whom Mr Anderson reported, saw his role in even more basic terms - his prime duty was to transmit MAFF advice to Scottish Ministers. ⁴

11.5 The timing of action taken on BSE in Scotland, apart from some minor differences associated with legislative processes, diverged from that in England on only two significant occasions after the early emergence of the disease, both of which we have chronicled in the previous chapter.