Written Ministerial Statement by Hilary Benn - Foot and Mouth Disease 2007: A Review and Lessons Learned, conducted by Dr Iain Anderson: 11 March 2008
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn)
The Prime Minister and I invited Dr Iain Anderson to lead an independent review into the lessons learned from the response to the 2007 outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease. Dr Anderson’s Report has been laid before Parliament today and I am very grateful to him for agreeing to undertake the Review and for the comprehensive nature of his Report. Dr Anderson led the lessons learned inquiry into the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak and has brought his considerable knowledge and expertise to the examination of whether the lessons learned from 2001 were implemented as well as to identifying what new lessons might be drawn from the handling of the 2007 outbreak.
The World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) has now officially declared that the UK has regained freedom from FMD without vaccination following a three month disease-free period. This is welcome news and is as the result of the co-operation and partnership there has been between Defra, Animal Health, Local Authorities, all our delivery partners and the farming and food chain industries. But any FMD outbreak is devastating for those affected, and the 2001 crisis demonstrated this all too clearly. Even when confined to a small number of infected premises in a limited geographical area, as in 2007, the impact of an outbreak can be far-reaching on the livestock sector, the food chain and the wider community.
Dr Anderson’s review commends the Government’s overall handling of the outbreak. He states that “many of the lessons identified in the 2002 report had been acted upon and performance, taken as a whole, was much improved”. “In analysing how the 2007 outbreak was handled, with its innumerable, interwoven decisions and actions, we found much to applaud, along with some deficiencies. On balance, the positive easily outweighs the negative”.
Many of Dr Anderson’s recommendations encourage us to build on the improvements that have already been made; for example in strengthening communications, assessing and managing risk and exercising and testing contingency plans. I agree that even when things have gone well, we can always do better in future.
As well as finding much progress compared to 2001, Dr Anderson’s review also points to things that didn’t go right and where further action is recommended.
In relation to Pirbright and IAH we have already taken action. The Government accepted all of the recommendations in Sir Bill Callaghan’s independent review of the regulatory framework for the handling of animal pathogens published in December 2007, including that responsibility for the regulation of animal pathogens should transfer to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Defra is working closely with the HSE and other departments, to implement all three phases of the work recommended by Sir Bill Callaghan. The formal legal transfer of SAPO enforcement and inspection responsibilities is well underway and is nearing completion.
In addition, following the review of biosecurity at Pirbright conducted by Professor Brian Spratt in August 2007, BBSRC asked Sir John Beringer to undertake a review of the governance, funding and risk management of the Institute for Animal Health. Sir John is due to report to the BBSRC in April 2008.
We now know that when the decision was taken to lift restrictions on 8 September 2007 the FMD outbreak was not over. As Dr Anderson’s report states the decision was based on a risk assessment that took into account all available epidemiological and veterinary knowledge, and the requirements set down by the FMD Directive had been met. The mandatory 30 days without any further outbreaks had occurred and based on previous experience, there was no reason to expect any further outbreaks of the disease. The decision was taken with the agreement and participation of the European Commission and other Member States. I therefore believe that the decision taken at the time was appropriate in the light of what we then knew. We will however look carefully at how we communicate disease freedom, where there is always some degree of uncertainty, in future.
A further area of concern raised in Dr Anderson’s report was the performance of the information and data management systems that are needed during a disease outbreak. We have not made the progress we would have liked in this area despite considerable efforts. However as part of Animal Health’s Business Reform Programme a new information and data management system is being implemented. This will deliver improvements between now and 2011.
Dr Anderson acknowledges that Government does not act alone in a disease outbreak. The improvements made since 2001 reflect efforts in a wide range of organisations. I would, therefore, like to pay tribute to all of those organisations who gave their time and experience and were an integral part of the response to the disease. Farmers, as well as Government, are well placed to take effective action to prevent the spread of disease, and that is why we are continuing to work closely with the farming sector and others on responsibility and cost sharing. The aim is to ensure that both Government and others have contingency plans in place to deal with disease outbreaks.
Dr Anderson makes a number of recommendations in his report and Government will consider them all carefully. In consultation with our partner delivery bodies and external stakeholders, we will decide what now needs to be done to make sure we are all as prepared as possible to prevent and control animal disease outbreaks in future. The Government will respond in full later this year.
I would like again to express my thanks to Dr Anderson and his team for their time and effort in producing this report, and to all of those people who submitted evidence to the review.
Copies of the report are available in the Vote Office and at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/fmdreview.
Further information
Page published: 11 March 2008