Animal-health budget split talks continue

A resolution has yet to be reached on splitting Britain’s animal health budgets, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn admitted yesterday.

He said in response to a question at the Royal Show that the talks between farming ministry Defra and the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast continued.

Defra currently holds the central funding pot for animal disease, but the devolved administrations, led by Scotland, want the budget split so that they can control their own spending without it having to be approved by mandarins in Whitehall.

There are, however, fears that Defra will strip the budget of most of its funds before it reaches the agreement and then eventually divides up the cash.

Mr Benn twice avoided answering the question directly, but conceded one way forward on the controversial plans for cost and responsibility sharing with the farming community was in copying the regime that had applied throughout bluetongue so far in that government paid for vaccines up front with farmers footing the eventual bill. That strategy has also involved industry in England in the decision-making process.

The only admission on budgets from Mr Benn was that Defra had other funding means for the costs that it faces over and above dealing with an actual animal disease outbreak. Mr Benn was explicit in saying there were “extra pots” he could go to.

NFU Scotland has, meanwhile, renewed its objections to what it says is cost dumping by Defra on industry as opposed to a genuine cost and responsibility debate.

It has renewed calls for the animal health budget to be devolved to Scotland, for an agreement on the provision of certain core animal health activities by the public purse, a proper study on the affordability of the cost sharing agenda on farmers and for the UK to take heed of EU proposals on the subject when they emerge.