March 17, 2011

UK assigns animal health and welfare budgets to handle diseases

England, Scotland, and Wales will be allocated their own budgets to prevent and handle animal diseases, and manage animal welfare, according to UK Agriculture Minister, Jim Paice.

The budgets will be devolved from April 1, 2011 and have been shared based on historic spending and animal numbers.

Animal health and welfare funding is spent mainly on preventing, controlling and eradicating exotic and endemic diseases, notably bovine TB, and ensuring high standards of animal welfare.

Paice said, "England, Scotland, and Wales have had policy responsibility for preventing and tackling animal diseases for a long time, so I have worked with my colleagues in the devolved administrations to ensure that each country will now have their own budget."

"We already work closely on our policies on animal health and welfare. We will work even closer to protect Great Britain from animal disease outbreaks and ensure the best welfare standards possible."

Research and surveillance will continue to be centrally funded to maintain scientific capacity and capability in the UK. Each administration will acknowledge their needs and decide together what research and surveillance to commission, and will work closely with Northern Ireland.

In the event of a disease outbreak, all countries will continue to work very closely together to ensure the most effective measures are taken across Britain.