BUT DEVIL WILL BE IN THE DETAIL SAYS NFUS

NFU Scotland has welcomed today’s announcement that Scotland’s share of the Animal Health and Welfare Budget is to be devolved, but has cautioned that it will take time for the relative merits of the deal to become clear.

The announcement should bring to an end the anomalous situation whereby the Scottish Government oversees animal health and welfare policy in Scotland but the UK Treasury still holds the purse strings, meaning that Scotland, which has a good record in this area, has effectively been operating with one hand behind its back.

The Scottish Government has announced that a fund of £21 million will be transferred to Scotland to pay for animal health; the fund will decline incrementally on an annual basis to £17.9 million in 2014. The next UK Spending Review, which takes place in 2015, will see this fund become part of Scotland’s general share of the UK budget.

NFU Scotland’s President, Nigel Miller welcomed the move saying:

“This long overdue move to sit the animal health and welfare budget alongside policy making in Scotland is to be welcomed. The marathon negotiations that brought this about have not been helped by Treasury constraints and the final deal is a tough one; nevertheless, it should open the door to more targeted and dynamic spending on animal health in Scotland.

“The actual concept of the arrangement is right and, longer term, it should give Scotland’s animal health policy new impetus and focus, however, we will need a much deeper understanding of the detail and implications of how this allowance will work before our next steps become clear.

“The agreement requires the Scottish Government to assume responsibility for contingency spending in the event of a disease outbreak but opens a direct route to the EU veterinary fund to support spending on disease control.  Under the arrangement, the UK Government would have to facilitate access to the EU; this is vital, as is the need to avoid the impact of the UK rebate compromising the path to compensation.

“There is still a lot of work to do in partnership with Defra to delineate exactly how government agencies across the UK and how these efficiencies will be audited and allocated.  It is vital that these agencies’ activities and operating costs are in the best practical and financial interests of the industry.”

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