THE NATIONAL Audit Office is conducting a new inquiry into foot-and-mouth disease.

A spokesman for the NAO told farmers weekly that the behind-closed-doors inquiry had begun several months ago and took evidence from Sir Brian and former chief veterinary officer Jim Scudamore as long ago as July 2004.

disease origin

But it is not the kind of inquiry demanded by many, who want a further investigation into events surrounding the origin of the disease and its introduction into the UK.

Instead, the NAO's Parliamentary Accounts Committee investigation aims to establish what steps the government has taken to avoid a repeat of the 2001 disaster.