Animal disease teams face cuts

Animal health teams are facing cuts of up to 12% because of a shortfall of more than £1 million between what councils were promised and the cash available, the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (Lacors) said.

Lacors, whose work includes overseeing local authority animal health services, said councils were promised a total of £9.77 million this financial year under a scheme set up to fight animal disease following the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.

But they have now been told only £8.5 million is available under the Animal Health and Welfare Framework Agreement, with the overspend the result of Defra losing track of how much it had allocated to individual councils, Lacors said.

Farming Minister Lord Rooker has said the Environment Department will cover in full the shortfalls of the smallest claimants.

But large county councils, including Surrey and Suffolk - which have been at the heart of this year's outbreaks of foot-and-mouth and bluetongue - must cut 12% from their annual budgets for controlling animal disease in the last five months of the financial year.

Council leaders have hit out at the decision to make councils meet the cost of the mistake and warn that animal health officers face losing their jobs.

Lacors chairman Geoffrey Theobald said: "This has been an extremely challenging year for councils' animal health teams, and they have risen to that challenge magnificently.

"It is simply unacceptable that at a time when resources are being stretched to breaking point by the twin challenges of foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue, Government should force local councils to pick up the pieces caused by its own financial mismanagement.

"This decision will result in animal health officers across the country losing their jobs at a time when the Government is expecting strict enforcement of disease control measures whilst we try to eradicate foot-and-mouth and bluetongue."